Misunderstood explorers: Juan Ponce de León

Gabriela Tovar

Throughout life we’ve been taught about many stories or legends about certain
historic figures that are not really true, but people still continue on believing in
them. One example of this would be the case of Juan Ponce de León and the
Fountain of Youth. According to Christopher Minster, the most valuable source
of information about Ponce the Leon was from an historian called Antonio de
Herrera y Tordesillas, who said that Ponce the León knew the stories about the
Fountain, so he sent some people to find it in and island called Bimini. At the
end those people found the island but there was no Fountain at all. He made
another trip to Florida, and as he was a very practical man, he did not waste his
time on finding the Fountain, but instead tried to gain wealth by exploding the
lands of Florida (Minster). Despite of this, Ponce de León’s story will still be
misunderstood by some people, because seeing him as the man who tried to
find that magical Fountain can be more fun than to know his real story.

Source:

Minster, Christopher. "Ponce de Leon and the Fountain of Youth." Latin

American History. About.com n.d. Web 14 Nov. 2015