Dr. Sam Turner began writing a new series of articles on the history of Juan Ponce de Leon’s voyage of discovery that are running in a number of Florida newspapers.
Dr. Sam Turner, one of LAMP’s archaeologists and a historian specializing in reading 16th century Spanish script, was invited to write a series of articles on Juan Ponce de Leon for the local newspaper, the St. Augustine Record. Debuting on January 20, the articles were picked up by a number of other Florida newspapers, including the Tallahassee Democrat. We are proud that Dr. Turner will reach such a wide readership as he explores the history of this fascinating Spanish conquistador, who 500 years ago this year was the first European to formally discover and name the land of Florida.
In the port of Yuma, in the province of Higüey on the eastern end of the island of Espanola, a fleet assembled. The province of Higüey had been conquered by Juan Ponce de Leon and Spanish troops in 1504 and Ponce was selected by the governor of Espanola to administer the newly conquered territory. It was the big break that put Ponce on the stage of history.
Thus began the epic voyage that would lead to the discovery of Florida in April of 1513, and culminate with Ponce de Leon’s death in an attempt to colonize the peninsula. We hope everyone will read along with each installment as we apply some serious scholarship to the dramatic story of Ponce de Leon!
Read the first installment, 20 January 2013, here.
Read the second installment, 03 February 2013, here.