Ponce de León was the first Governor of Puerto Rico, appointed to the position by King Ferdinand of Spain around 1509. Just a few years later, he was replaced in this position by one of the sons of Christopher Columbus.
King Ferdinand then offered de León another island to administer. This island was known as Bimini, and was reputed to be the location of a wonderful natural fountain. The exact location of Bimini was uncertain, but Ponce de León set out in search of it.
Seeking the island
Looking for fabled islands was not an unfamiliar task for Ponce de León. Columbus had visited Puerto Rico and claimed it for Spain, but had not explored its beautiful land. Ponce de León believed that Puerto Rico had gold, so he applied for permission to explore the Island. As a reward for his discovery of gold, he received the position of governor.
Serving as a governor for Spanish colonies was a gamble. Spanish governors were generally expected to finance their colonies from their own resources, hoping to be able to profit from the land. The King’s warrant to explore and settle Bimini included details of this arrangement. Since Puerto Rico had gold, good farming, and useful ports, Ponce de León became rich during his tenure there. When it was time for him to move on, he was able to mount his own expedition to Bimini.
Getting there was another matter. Ponce de León appears to have reached the Bahamas, where Bimini is located, but was not convinced that he had found the island he was looking for. After scouring the Bahamas for the fabled fountain, he went on in hopes of finding the island with the fountain. He ended up in Florida, but was not welcomed by the people living there at the time and was not able to land.
Heading back to the Bahamas, he was able to find — with the help of two elderly indigenous women, according to later chroniclers — the island now known as Bimini. The King of Spain named him Governor of Bimini and of Florida. Ponce de León returned to Puerto Rico and traveled back to Spain more than once, but in 1521 he set out again in search of the island with the fountain. He returned to Florida, where he hoped to determine just how large an island it was, but he was killed in a conflict with the indigenous people before he had the opportunity to complete his plans.
Seeking the Fountain of Youth?
It is clear from Ponce de León’s own writings that he was looking for an island with a special natural fountain. Was it the Fountain of Youth that he was looking for? Nothing from existing documents in his own words mentions waters with magical powers.
Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés, a Spanish historian known for his highly sensational writings, wrote in 1535 — 14 years after the death of Ponce de León — that he had been searching for the Fountain of Youth. Antonio de Herrera wrote the official history of the Indies for Spain in 1601, and described the voyages of Ponce de León in detail, possibly based on the report Ponce de León sent to the king, which has not survived. Herrera wrote of Ponce de León’s desire to visit Bimini to find “that particular spring so the Indians said that restores aged men to youths, the which he had not been able to find.”
However, no contemporary records or writings from Ponce de León’s lifetime mention the folktale or his quest to find the Fountain of Youth. He found, for Spain, Florida and the Gulf Stream, gold and profitable crops, and humans to enslave. He was probably seeking his fortune and possibly checking out a legend along the way. The story of the quest for the Fountain of Youth is a good enough story that it took on a life of its own.
Both St. Augustine and Bimini have springs which they have identified as the Fountain of Youth, though neither has proven miraculous powers. Ponce de León is buried in the Catedral Basílica Metropolitana de San Juan Bautista, in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
