Juan Ponce de León: The First Conquistador of Puerto Rico, La Florida, and the islands of Bimini.

Juan Ponce de Leon, Santervas de Campos (Valladolid), c. 1465 – Havana (Cuba), 1521. Spanish discoverer and conqueror, first governor of Puerto Rico and advance and discoverer of Florida and Bimini.  The World War II Liberty Ship SS Ponce De Leon was named in his honor.

Juan Ponce de Leon: The First Conquistador | Full Documentary | Biography, https://youtu.be/sOtF0Q2MvH0. He sought the Fountain of Youth and discovered Florida. This profile of Ponce de Leon, the "First Conquistador", chronicles how he brutalized native populations in his quest for riches, in this documentary from Biography.

He was able to participate in the Granada War and it is not ruled out that he accompanied Christopher Columbus on his second trip, settling on the island of Hispaniola. The first years of his life in Santo Domingo took place in the most absolute anonymity. He married Leonor and had a son, Luis, and three daughters: Juana, María, and Isabel.

Beginning of the colonization of Puerto Rico: the first great performance of Ponce de León on the island of Hispaniola had to do with the Higuey wars carried out between 1502 and 1503. Nicolás de Ovando appointed Juan de Esquivel captain general of the troop Spanish at the head of some four hundred Spaniards from the towns of Santo Domingo, Concepción de la Vega, Bonao and Santiago, in addition to between one hundred and two hundred "guaitiao" Indians, that is, Indian friends of the Christians, who always accompanied them wherever they went. Commanding the troops from Santo Domingo was Captain Juan Ponce de León.

Once the pacification of Higuey was concluded, Ovando ordered the founding of two towns or villages in that territory: Salvaleón de Higuey and Santa Cruz de Aycayaguna, naming Juan Ponce de León lieutenant and captain of the village of Salvaleón.

Some years later, especially during 1508, Ponce de León began to discuss with Governor Ovando the possibility of exploring the island of Borinquén (the indigenous name for the island of San Juan Bautista or Puerto Rico, discovered by Columbus in 1493), since he must have heard that there was gold there and it is even possible that he carried out some tasting. Ovando, after informing the King (May 17, 1508) of his intentions and without waiting for a response, despite the fact that the Monarch's response (July 13, 1508), will be favorable, decided to formalize the first capitulation on June 15, 1508 with Ponce de León, according to which he promised to make friends with the Indians, not to abuse the Indians, to locate and extract gold, to grow food for the Spaniards and to build a fortress house. 

Once the expedition was organized, with fifty men under his command, Juan Ponce left the town of Santo Domingo on July 12, 1508 and headed for the port of Yuma, which was the port of Higuey and the town of Salvaleón, where he was surprised by a storm on August 3, then continued its journey through the island of La Mona and the strait between the two great Antilles to the island of San Juan, arriving on August 12, 1508 in the southern region of Boriquén, in the lands of chief Agüeybana. There they established friendly relations with the natives, and following an Indian custom, the cacique Agüeybana became Guaitiao de Ponce de León, changing his name to the Spanish, who asked him for help to explore the island, which he did. They explored the Ana River, where they built some huts. In the northern zone, they found a port so beautiful that Juan Ponce called it 'Puerto Rico'. And a month later, on the banks of the Toa River (La Plata), they began the construction of a farm. Back in Puerto Rico and further inland, they built roads, a landing stage, and a stone house.

With this, in addition to complying with the terms of the capitulation, the foundations of the future population of Caparra were laid, which Juan Ponce would later baptize, recalling the Roman Caparra that existed in the lands of Ovando in Cáceres.

Ponce de León, governor of the island of San Juan: in April 1509, Ponce de León returned to the island of Hispaniola where he signed a second capitulation with Ovando on May 1, in which he was appointed captain general of the island of San Juan or, better to say, of San Juan Bautista, the first name given by the Spaniards to what would later be known as Puerto Rico, receiving the city thus called until then the most common place name of San Juan.

While this was happening in Hispaniola, Diego Columbus, second admiral of the Indies and heir to the discoverer, had been appointed Governor General of the Indies on October 29, 1508. After more than seven months of preparations, he put to sea arriving on July 9, 1509 to the capital of the Indies, Santo Domingo, in order to replace Nicolás de Ovando. Diego Columbus's intentions were very clear: to personally control and direct, without anyone's interference, everything related to the discoveries and settlement of the New World. This personal Columbian policy soon collided with that of the King.

Both wanted to populate the island “by their hand”. Even the first Colombian intention was to appoint Ponce de León as his lieutenant on the island of Borinquén.

Fernando el Católico, for his part, not only did not lose interest in Juan Ponce, always defended by Ovando and even more strongly if possible by the general treasurer Miguel de Pasamonte, but on August 19, 1509 he appointed him interim governor of said island.

However, when this decision was known by Diego Columbus, he disobeyed it and appointed Juan Cerón as mayor of the island of San Juan, who arrived on October 28 accompanied by Martín Cerón as major bailiff.

In principle, Juan Ponce did not put up any resistance and waited for the Monarch's decision, which arrived on March 2, 1510. The Monarch ordered the Admiral to receive Ponce de León "by our judge and Captain of that said island of San Juan." Immediately, he arrested Juan Cerón and Miguel Díaz, who had replaced Martín Cerón as alguacil mayor, and sent them to Spain on July 10, 1510 in a ship captained by Juan Bono de Quejo.

The colony was flourishing with the support of the Crown and on June 15, 1510, the King ordered the ships going to Hispaniola to stop in San Juan. On July 10, the first gold smelting took place in the town of Caparra. Mayor Cristóbal de Sotomayor began to build the town of Tavora, in the vicinity of Guainia, but it did not materialize due to the many difficulties that arose. Even that same year they had to endure a terrible plague of ants.

A good part of the indigenous population, through the repartimientos and later encomiendas in favor of the Spanish, was employed in the mines, in agriculture and in the construction of houses, receiving very harsh treatment. The unrest grew after the death of chief Agüeibana, a friend of the Spanish, by his brother Guaybaná, their enemy. The result of this unrest was the violent Indian rebellion in the west and south of the island at the end of 1511, which ended after the triumph of Ponce de León in the battle of Yagüeca, led by the indigenous, according to some historians, by the cacique Guaybaná. and according to others by the cacique Mabo el Grande, from Jagüey.

After this battle, the Tainos returned to their work, although some fled to the mountains and others took refuge on other nearby islands.

In 1511, with the judgment of Seville (May 5) handed down in the Columbian Lawsuits, the island of San Juan became part of the Columbian Viceroyalty, and with it Diego Columbus was recognized with the right to be able to name his lieutenants in the aforementioned island. For this reason, Juan Ponce de León was immediately replaced as governor captain, since that position had been proposed by Ovando and not by Diego Colón. On June 15, the King informed Ponce de León to hand over the government of the island to Juan Cerón, who will return to his position on November 28. A few days before (November 8, 1511), the Monarch granted the first coat of arms to the island of San Juan Bautista.

In order to protect Ponce de León, the Catholic King forbade Cerón to implement the customary residency judgment that any ruler who left office had to comply with, and in which all the complaints of those governed during his tenure were collected. For the function of residence judge, the King appointed the lawyer Sancho Velázquez, who would arrive three years later.

At the end of 1511 or the beginning of 1512, Viceroy Diego Colón ordered the founding of a new town on the island and proposed that it be called San Germán in honor of Germana de Foix, the new wife of Ferdinand II of Aragon.

The same region of the disappeared Tavora or very close was chosen and was carried out by Miguel Díaz de Aux.

Cerón's government was not exemplary and the Indians revolted. Therefore, Diego Columbus replaced him with Commander Rodrigo de Moscoso. Around the same time (December 25, 1512), the first bishop to go to America, Alonso Manso, arrived on the island.

On June 2, 1513, Viceroy Diego Colón visited the island, arriving at the town of San Germán. He was accompanied by the new governor Cristóbal de Mendoza chosen by the viceroy.

During the summer of 1513, while Ponce de León was discovering Bimini and Florida, the Caribs attacked the town of Caparra, where he had built his manor house and where his wife and children resided. The invasion took place when Admiral Diego Colón was in the town of San Germán, which allowed him to send Captain Juan Enríquez with a force to help Caparra and to fortify the seat of Daguao, in the eastern part of the island where they had landed the caribs.

Discoverer and advance of La Florida and Bimini: when he was released and always with the support of the Monarch and the treasurer Miguel de Pasamonte, he wrote to the King asking for permission to explore the imprecise and not very distant "island of Bimini", where there was, according to the Indians, a "source that made old men rejuvenate or turn young men", that is, the myth of the Source of Eternal Youth. After requesting a capitulation with very demanding conditions and which was denied, Ferdinand the Catholic granted him on February 23, 1512 a reasonable capitulation in the eyes of the King and with the hope that it would satisfy him, since Bartholomew Columbus —he tells him— wanted discover said island offering better conditions for the royal treasury than those proposed by Ponce de León. The King sent the capitulation to the officials of Hispaniola and, in a special way, entrusted them to be advised in everything by the treasurer Miguel de Pasamonte.

The conditions of the capitulation given on February 23, 1512 are, among others, the following: the provisions herein will be respected if the settlement begins before three years from the presentation of this document to the officials of Hispaniola; He will pay with his resources the expenses of the people he hires; it will have the government and civil and criminal jurisdiction; The property of everything that he raises at his expense will be respected; the Monarch will reserve the fortresses; he will receive a tithe of all royal revenues and profits, except royal granderies; the distribution of the Indians will be reserved to the King; gold will be paid between the tenth and fifth progressively to settle on the fifth; He will have the governorship of all the neighboring islands discovered by him; he will obtain the title of advance of the island of Bimini and of the others that he discovers; the entry of foreigners will be prohibited; he has to provide bonds before embarking on the journey; and will report in detail on what he discovers.

Accepting the conditions, Ponce de León left the port of Yuma, province of Higuey, on the Spanish island, on January 29, 1513, with two ships Santa María de la Consolación and Santiago, en route to the port of San Germán, where a third was incorporated, the brig San Cristóbal. From there, on March 3, 1513, he left for the island of Bimini, sighting on March 27, Easter Sunday, a land that they believed to be an island and for that reason they called it Florida. A few days later, on April 2, they set foot on land and took possession of it at parallel 30º N. From there they traveled south along the coast, fighting against a very strong sea current. It was the Gulf Stream that the expert pilot Antón de Alaminos studied and later used in sailing to Spain. On May 8, they doubled the current Cape Canaveral, in the southern tip of Florida, which they baptized with the name of Cape Corrientes. After crossing the peninsula, they sailed along the west coast of the peninsula to the north, arriving, according to some as far as Tampa Bay and for others as far as Appalachian Bay.

Once they decided to return in mid-June, they ran into indigenous groups that were not very peaceful, which they confronted, they toured some islands in the Bahamas believing that one of them was Bimini, they checked again the current of the sea that shakes that area, they made watered down on an island of the Lucayos, and before returning he sent the pilot Antón de Alaminos and the captain Pérez de Urtubia to recognize and verify the riches of the island of Bimini. On September 21, Ponce de León headed for San Juan, where he arrived twenty-one days later. Four months later on February 20, 1514 Alaminos and Pérez de Urtubia did so, confirming the benefits of the island of Bimini, but without being able to ensure the Fountain of Eternal Youth, since they did not stop to look for it. Immediately, Ponce de León decided to embark on his way to Castilla to inform the King and ensure his discovery. Before the trip, on February 11, 1514, the officials of the island of San Juan decided to make a special foundry so that the King's share (5,000 gold pesos) could be taken and personally delivered by Ponce de León to the Monarch. On April 14, 1514, he arrived in Bayonne de Galicia and shortly after went to the Court to give an account of what he had discovered and manage a new capitulation.  Bimini is a district of the Bahamas and consists of two main islands located 50 miles east of Florida.

On September 27, 1514, the Monarch granted Ponce de León a new capitulation to populate the islands of Bimini and Florida, largely confirming the one previously given on February 23, 1512. They insisted on a three-year term for go to populate the new lands, counting from the day he embarked; As a novelty, it was insisted that when coming into contact with the Indians, the requirement imposed by the lawyers and theologians for them to convert amicably to the Catholic faith be read to them before a notary public, and only if they rejected it could war be waged and enslaved; Armadas in search of Indians were prohibited unless they carried the authorization of Ponce de León; the first settlers would receive financial compensation and would pay the treasury progressively from 10 percent the first year until stabilizing in the fifth, reducing the privilege on gold, metals and other benefits to twelve years in total; on the construction of houses owned by him he would have to adjust to the usual limitations; I could farm bread, wine and all kinds of fruit trees or those that are not; he could use the navy against the Caribs once pacified; Ponce de León would provide bonds before embarking on the trip.

Upon returning from the trip to Bimini and Florida, Ponce de León found himself with the consequences of the Carib attack on Caparra and the eastern coast of Boriquén.

Therefore, on September 27, 1514, Ponce de León was appointed captain of the army against the Caribs. He commanded this army between 1514 and 1516. He had to go immediately to the Caribbean islands from where the island of San Juan has received and is receiving damage. The army was very poor. He left Seville on May 14, 1515 and arrived at the island of San Juan on July 25 after a stopover in the Canary Islands and another in Guadalupe, where the Caribs defeated him, wounding some and capturing others, without Ponce de León give them battle.

By a Royal Provision of September 27, 1514, Juan Ponce de León was appointed captain of the island of San Juan "for as long as my grace and will be". This prerogative was withdrawn from Cristóbal de Mendoza, the admiral's lieutenant. He enjoyed this appointment until his death in 1521.

On the same date, Sancho Velázquez was named distributor of the Indians of the island of San Juan, at the same time that he was ordered that everything be done in common agreement with the person of Ponce de León and recommending compliance with the new laws issued in favor of of the Indians. His delay in reaching the Indies made his intervention useless.

At the same time on September 27, 1514, he received a power to "divide and mark the territory."

In everything they decided on gold, on smelters, and on founding new towns, they always had to take into account the opinion of Ponce de León. By this last appointment, Ponce de León divided the island into two parties: Puerto Rico, to the east, and San Germán, to the west (partition that was in force for several centuries), and he was appointed perpetual alderman of the Cabildo de Caparra, in addition to obtain on February 25, 1515 a number notary of the city of Puerto Rico.

From the end of 1516 to the middle of 1518, Ponce de León remained in Spain. He opposed the authorization given by the Jerónimos fathers and Mr. Rodrigo de Figueroa to transfer the town of Caparra to the islet where San Juan is today.

Faced with the news of new discoveries in Central and North America, Juan Ponce de León once again requested royal permission to continue exploring.

This trip was somewhat delayed because Leonor had been widowed at that time. He equipped two caravels, people and supplies to her coast and it seems that he left San Germán on February 26, 1521 following the same route that he had when he discovered it. In Florida, fighting with the Indians, he was wounded by an arrow, which made him return to Havana, where he died. Oviedo tells it like this: “Ponce de León was badly wounded by an arrow, and agreed to go to Cuba to heal to return with more strength; but arriving at the port of Havana, he lived shortly, and died as a Catholic and received the holy sacraments”. His remains, probably transferred in the mid-16th century by his grandson to San Juan and buried in the main chapel of the church of Santo Tomás, were taken in 1913 to the Cathedral where they were buried.  https://dbe.rah.es/biografias/9947/juan-ponce-de-leon.

 

San Jose Costa Rica, Wednesday, January 18th, 2023, alberto.doer@gmail.com.  Rafael A. Vilagut-Vega.