Visions of a New World

Born of noble background, Juan Ponce de León joined the Columbus crew on his second voyage and is infamously known as the seeker of the fountain of youth, though there’s debate as to whether or not he actually pursued this line of research. Imagine living at a time when people think it’s possible to find an elixir that would confer long life. The Chinese Taoists believed that one had to make the elixir with painstaking and dangerous alchemical research. Barring that, a series of complex physical and spiritual practices could have the same immortal effect. Ponce de León wanted the fountain already made, or so the myth goes. A few historians are not so sure that this legend is true.

His other exploits include being the first European to set foot on the place he named “La Florida”; governor of Puerto Rico (where this shot was taken); discovered the Gulf Stream; and in 1521, he got shot in Florida by a Calusa native with a poisoned arrow, which he survived but caused complications that led to his eventual death in Havana, Cuba.

Juan Ponce de León, Old San Juan, Puerto Rico

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