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Early Spanish and French Exploration
Although the Florida peninsula was probably sighted by earlier navigators, the Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de LeOn is credited as the first European to visit the area. Seeking the fabled Fountain of Youth, Ponce de LeOn landed near the site of Saint Augustine in 1513. He claimed the area, which he thought was an island, for Spain and named it Florida, probably because it was then the Easter season (Pascua Florida). Other Spanish adventurers, notably PAnfilo de NarvAez and Hernando De Soto, later explored the region and established the fact that Florida was not an island. The vast region that comprises most of the SE United States was claimed for Spain, the whole being known as Florida.
It was the activity of the French in the area, however, that led to actual Spanish settlement of the Florida peninsula. In May, 1562, Jean Ribaut had discovered the St. Johns River, and two years later RenE de LaudonniEre built Fort Caroline at its mouth. Alarmed at this encroachment by the French, Philip II of Spain commissioned Pedro MenEndez de Aviles to drive the French out of the area; this he did ruthlessly. Spanish colonization began when MenEndez founded St. Augustine in 1565. Florida had no precious metals to spur conquest (as in Mexico and Peru), its soil seemed infertile (Spanish Florida was never self-sufficient agriculturally), and the Native Americans resented their encroachment. However, the Spanish were compelled to hold Florida because of its strategic location along the Straits of Florida, through which rich treasure ships from the south sailed for Spain.
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