Who Was Ponce de León?

By (author) Pollack, Pam; By (author) Belviso Meg; By (author) Who HQ; Illustrated by Putra, Dede
Description
Learn the story of Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León and how he shaped the history of both Florida and Puerto Rico during the Age of Exploration in this new book from the #1 New York Times bestselling series.

In the early 1500s, Ponce de Leon was one of the most important Spanish military figures in the Caribbean. He made his first voyage across the Atlantic with Christopher Columbus and then, after years of battle with the native Taino, became the first governor of Puerto Rico. Although the story of his search for the Fountain of Youth is entirely fictional, his noteworthy expedition to - and naming of - Florida is one of his greatest legacies.
Biographical note
Pam Pollack and Meg Belviso are authors of several Who HQ books, including Who Is George Lucas?, Who Was Alfred Hitchcock?, Who Is Neil deGrasse Tyson?, and Who Was Celia Cruz?
Excerpt
Who Was Ponce de León?
 
 
Today, the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean is divided into two separate nations, Haiti and the Dominican Republic. In the early 1500s, the whole island had been invaded and forced to become a colony of Spain. Hispaniola was ruled by a Spanish governor, Nicolás de Ovando. In 1508, Governor Ovando sent one of the Spanish men living on Hispaniola to explore the nearby island of Borinquén, which the Spanish called San Juan Bautista, but today is called Puerto Rico. The man’s name was Juan Ponce de León.
 
The Spanish governor considered the island of Hispaniola and the people there to be the property of his king and queen. The Spaniards had heard that there was gold in Borinquén, and they wanted all the gold they could get. Any they found had to be shared with King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I of Spain, but that still left plenty for a conquistador—­or conqueror—­to keep for himself.
 
In 1509, Juan Ponce de León returned to Hispaniola from Puerto Rico. Governor Ovando was eager to learn what he had seen and done there. Juan reported that he and his team of fifty men had founded a new settlement they called Caparra. The Taino people who already lived in Puerto Rico were no match for Juan’s soldiers and their guns.
 
Governor Ovando was very pleased with Juan’s report. The Spanish had already taken over the island of Hispaniola, enslaving the Indigenous people who lived there. Now, he hoped the Spanish could also rule Puerto Rico.
 
Governor Ovando rewarded thirty-­five-­year-­old Juan by making him the first governor of Puerto Rico. He would pay him a good salary. He said that Juan could take a large piece of land in Puerto Rico and build a house on it. He could force the native people of the island to help him build it and work the land. The people of Puerto Rico did not have any choice in the matter.
 
Juan was thrilled with his new title and the riches that came with it: land, power, and gold. These were the reasons that Juan had left his home in Spain and traveled across the Atlantic Ocean to a world he had never seen before.
 
 
Chapter 1: A Young Page
 
 
Juan Ponce de León was born in 1474 in Santervás del Campo, in the Valladolid province of northwest Spain. His father was Count Juan Ponce de León, a nobleman from a well-respected aristocratic family. The Ponce de Leóns were descended from the Visigoth kings of the Roman period in Spain.
 
We don’t know who Juan’s mother was, because his parents weren’t married. That wasn’t unusual for the Spanish nobles at that time. Juan’s father was said to have had twenty children from different mothers. By the time Juan was a young boy, an older relative, Rodrigo, was already famous for his bravery as a soldier. Rodrigo was named Duke of Cádiz in 14