An Early Florida Poem: “Elegía a la muerte de Juan Ponce de León”

Abstract

In spring 1513 Juan Ponce de León sailed north from Puerto Rico, cruised the Bahamas, and touched land somewhere on the southeastern corner of what is now the mainland United States. The season being Easter, and because of the “beautiful view of the many cool woodlands,” Ponce de León called the peninsula, which he believed an island, la Pascua Florida (T. Davis 17, 57). The rest of the story is decidedly less poetic. A squabble with Christopher Columbus's family, involving broader matters of legal jurisdiction, had driven the conquistador to new territories. His time in la Florida was brief but violent. After claiming ownership, Ponce de León provisioned his ships, skirmished with the natives, took hostages, then rounded the Martires (or Keys), where he met unfriendly Calusa on the gulf side (T. Davis 17-22). In February 1521 he returned, this time as adelantado, or governor, and again met the Calusa—who dealt him a mortal wound to the thigh. Ponce died in La Habana (Fernandina) the following July, and he now lies in the cathedral of San Juan, Puerto Rico.