Juan Ponce de Leon was born in San Tervas de Campos, Spain. In his younger years he served as a squire and earned the nickname the "poor knight." From that day on he trained himself in the arts of war and survival to prepare himself for a future of daring and unimaginable adventures to the unknown.
He joined Columbus on his second voyage to the Americas in 1493. After that, Ponce de Leon settled in the Caribbean, where he became a military commander and deputy governor.
In 1506 he discovered a close-by island, Puerto Rico, where he became governor two years later.
Still wanting more adventure, Ponce de Leon, at his own expense, equipped an expedition to the north in 1513. Ponce heard Native Americans tell of Bimini, a fabulous island in the north.
With his able navigator, Anton Alaminos, Ponce sailed and charted the ocean's main artery, the Gulf Stream, shaping the destiny of oceanic transport for all time to come.
In his quest for the discovery of the "Fountain of Youth", he discovered Florida on Easter Sunday April 3, 1513. He named the peninsula "Pascua de Florida", (feast of flowers).
He explored the coast of Florida between 1513 and 1521.
He died in Cuba after returning from his second trip to Florida from an arrow wound in July 1521.