Juan Ponce de León
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Juan Ponce de León was a Spanish explorer and conquistador known for leading the first European expeditions to Puerto Rico in 1508 and Florida in 1513. He was born in Santervás de Campos, Valladolid,
Engraving depicting Ponce de León, in Torquemada's Monarquía Indiana (1615)
The ruins of Juan Ponce de León's residence at Caparra
Juan Ponce de León Conquistador monument in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico
Ponce de León's statue in Plaza San José, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Calusa
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The Calusa were a Native American people of Florida's southwest coast. Calusa society developed from that of archaic peoples of the Everglades region. Previous Indigenous cultures had lived in the are
Juan Ponce de León
…Southwest Florida with the first large-scale attempt to establish a Spanish colony in what is now the continental United States. However, the native Calusa people resisted the incursion, and Ponce de Léon was seriously wounded in a skirmish. The colonization attempt was abandoned, and he died from his…
Diorama of a Calusa chief at the Florida Museum of Natural History
Calusa carving of an alligator's head
Watercolor of mask excavated at Key Marco, made by Caloosas or a closely related people