Sunday, September 27, 2009

Ponce de Leon and his Indian encounters

Although much of the ora surrounding Ponce de Leon focuses on his search for the Fountain of Youth in Florida, I am focusing more on his relations with the native floridians and their reaction to the first European intruders. It was interesting to find out that Ponce de Leon was characteristically not as rough and aggressive toward the native people like so many future explorers would be known for. In Douglas Peck's Ponce de Leon and the discovery of Florida , he tells a story of an encounter with Natives off the east coast of Florida that is"an insight into the character of Ponce de Leon which shows that he was not one of the bloodthirsty "treat 'em rough" school like Cortes, De Soto, and others(Peck 51). This grabbed my attention very quickly and it was interesting to find that Ponce de Leon may have been more of a gentleman than a conquistador.

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