Juan Ponce De León

As Indian slaves on Española died in large numbers, Spaniards raided the Lucayan Islands between 1509 and 1512 for Taíno captives, nearly depopulating those islands, and during this period Florida was first discovered by Diego Miruelo after a storm drove his ship north. His crew traded peacefully, but a later Spanish crew seized Florida Indians by luring them aboard ship and carrying them to Española, and this chance discovery and the beginning of slave raids in Florida became critical factors in Juan Ponce de León's 1513 voyage. After Diego Columbus's lawsuit led the King to remove Ponce de León from the governorship of Puerto Rico, the King directed him to lead an exploratory voyage northward. Ponce prepared the expedition on Española in January 1513, sailed by way of Puerto Rico, and departed San Germán on March 4, 1513, with the caravels Santiago, Santa Maria de la Consolación, and San Cristóbal. After charting islands in the Lucayan group and leaving Guanahani, the fleet sighted the east coast of Florida on Easter Sunday, March 27, 1513, then moved north along the coast until a storm struck on April 1. On April 2, pilot Antón Alaminos took a noon sun observation that gave a latitude of 30 degrees 8 minutes north, placing the fleet near present-day Saint Augustine in the vicinity of South Ponte Vedra. The ships anchored offshore, went ashore on April 3 to claim the land for Spain, and Ponce named it La Florida because of its lushness and its discovery during Easter. After five days in the area, the expedition continued, later rounded the Florida Keys, reached the west coast of Florida on May 23, 1513, and encountered the Calusa, who possessed guanines of low-grade gold; the Spaniards traded for these ornaments and for animal hides, but some encounters were violent and at least one Spaniard was killed. The expedition left West Florida on June 15 and returned to Puerto Rico in the middle of October 1513 after about seven and a half months at sea.

St. Augustine, Florida · United States