Abstract
Two decades after the momentous encounter between two worlds in 1492, still unaware of the scope of the lands opened up by Christopher Columbus, Juan Ponce de León sailed from the town of San Germán in Puerto Rico in search of the island of Bimini. On Easter Sunday, March 27, 1513, somewhere between St. Augustine and Cabo Cañaveral, the explorer and conquistador from Valladolid imposed the name La Florida on the land, a Spanish name signifying both beauty and salvation. Authoritative sources such as Pietro Martire d’Anghiera and Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas declare that Ponce de León believed that