Spanish Conquest of Florida

Juan Ponce de Leon sighted land somewhere on the east coast of Florida on April 2, 1513. Because it was around Easter, he named the place, which thought was an island, La Florida for the Spanish Festival of Flowers. The following day the expedition landed to take possession of this new land for Spain. A woman, a black slave, and a female Indian guide and ship’s boys were on that early expedition.

1513 is the date set by historians for the “discovery of florida” by Juan Ponce de Leon, although Spanish slavers had been cruising the coast for some years by then.