Juan Ponce de Leon Juan Ponce de Leon was born in 1460, in Tierra de Campos Paleia, in Leon, Spain. He came from a noble family and entered the royal household as a page for Pedro Nunez de Guzman, at the Court of Aragon. Later, young Ponce de Leon would become a solider for Spain and fight in the battles to drive the Moors from Granada. In 1493, Leon sailed with Christopher Columbus on his second voyage …showed first 75 words of 1096 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1096 total…off the beach during their retreat. The plans for a settlement were now destroyed. There was no doctor aboard their ship, so the crew had no choice but to immediately set sail for Havana. Juan Ponce de Leon did not make it; he died before they reached Cuba. Other explorers would try to follow Ponce de Leon example in the exploration of Florida, but most of them would encounter the same result as he did.