Juan Ponce de León in the context of "Puerto Rico"

Ponce (US: /ˈpɔːnseɪ, ˈpoʊn-/ PAWN-say, POHN-, UK: /ˈpɒn-/ PON-, Spanish: [ˈponse] ) is a city and a municipality on the southern coast of Puerto Rico. The most populated city outside the San Juan metropolitan area, Ponce was founded on August 12, 1692 and is named after Juan Ponce de León y Loayza, the great-grandson of Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León. Ponce is often referred to as La Perla del Sur (The Pearl of the South), La Ciudad Señorial (The Manorial City), and La Ciudad de las Quenepas (Genip City).

The city serves as the governmental seat of the autonomous municipality as well as the regional hub for various government of Puerto Rico entities, such as the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico. It is also the regional center for various U.S. federal government agencies. Ponce is a principal city of both the Ponce Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Ponce-Yauco-Coamo Combined Statistical Area with, as of the 2020 US Census, a population of 278,477 and 333,426 respectively.

Florida (/ˈflɒrɪdə/ FLORR-ih-də; Spanish: [floˈɾiða] ) is a state in the Southeastern and South Atlanticregions of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, the Straits of Florida to the south, and The Bahamas to the southeast. About two-thirds of Florida occupies a peninsula between the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. It has the longest coastline in the contiguous United States, spanning approximately 1,350 miles (2,170 km), not including its many barrier islands. It is the only state that borders both the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of over 23 million, it is the third-most populous state in the United States and ranks seventh in population density as of 2020. Florida spans 65,758 square miles (170,310 km), ranking 22nd in area among the states. The Miami metropolitan area, anchored by the cities of Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and West Palm Beach, is the state's largest metropolitan area, with a population of 6.138 million; the most populous city is Jacksonville. Florida's other major population centers include Tampa Bay, Orlando, Cape Coral, and the state capital of Tallahassee.

Various Native American groups have inhabited Florida for at least 14,000 years. In 1513, Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León became the first documented European to make landfall in the region and named it La Florida (Spanish for "land of flowers"; [la floˈɾiða]), giving the territory its present name. Spain subsequently incorporated Florida into the Spanish Empire in the early 16th century. In 1565, it founded St. Augustine, the oldest continuously inhabited European-established settlement in the continental United States. The region was frequently coveted and attacked by Great Britain throughout the 18th century. Britain briefly gained control of Florida in 1763, but Spain recovered it in 1783 following the British defeat in the American Revolutionary War. Florida remained under Spanish rule until it was ceded to the United States in 1821, in exchange for U.S. recognition of Spanish sovereignty in Texas and the resolution of the border dispute along the Sabine River. Florida was admitted as the 27th state on March 3, 1845, and was the principal location of the Seminole Wars (1816–1858), the longest and most extensive of the American Indian Wars. The state seceded from the Union on January 10, 1861, becoming one of the seven original Confederate States, and was readmitted to the Union after the Civil War on June 25, 1868.

Santervás de Campos is a municipality located in the province of Valladolid, Castile and León, Spain. As of 2009, the municipality has a population of 137 inhabitants and is known as the birthplace of Juan Ponce de León.

Puerto Rico Governor Luis Fortuño, during a trade mission to Spain, presided over a ceremony there on January 21, 2011, commemorating the Quincentennial of the Governorship of Ponce de León, the United States territory's first Governor and discoverer of Florida and the continental United States, in which a statue of that municipality's famous explorer was unveiled.

This list of governors of Puerto Rico includes all persons who have held the office of Governor of Puerto Rico since its establishment under the rule of the Spanish Empire (1508–1898) to the present under the sovereignty of the United States (1898–present).

The archipelago and island of Puerto Rico was annexed by the United States during the Spanish-American War in 1898, ending 390 years of active rule by the Spanish Empire, which began the European exploration, colonization, and settlement of the main island under conquistador Juan Ponce de León in 1508. Ponce de León was the first person to hold the title and office of governor by orders of King Ferdinand II of Aragon in 1509. The governor remained an appointee of the Spanish Crown during Spanish rule, and was an appointee of the President of the United States during American rule until 1948, when the residents of Puerto Rico began to popularly elect the governor, starting with Luis Muñoz Marín, who took office in 1949.

Explorers are listed below with their common names, countries of origin (modern and former), centuries of activity and main areas of exploration.

The Florida Current is a thermal ocean current that flows from the Straits of Florida around the Florida Peninsula and along the southeastern coast of the United States before joining the Gulf Stream Current near Cape Hatteras. Its contributing currents are the Loop Current and the Antilles Current. The current was discovered by Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León in 1513.

The Florida Current results from the movement of water pushed from the Atlantic into the Caribbean Sea by the rotation of the Earth (which exerts a greater force at the equator). The water piles up along Central America and flows northward through the Yucatán Channel into the Gulf of Mexico. The water is heated in the Gulf and forced out through the Florida Straits, between the Florida Keys in Hawk Channel and Cuba and flows northward along the east coast of the United States. The Florida Current is often referred to imprecisely as the Gulf Stream. In fact, the Florida Current joins the Gulf Stream off the east coast of Florida.

San Juan Bay (Spanish: Bahía de San Juan) is a semi-enclosed bay, estuary, and harbor connected to the North Atlantic Ocean in the northeastern coastal plain of the main island of Puerto Rico. Surrounded by the capital municipality of San Juan and adjacent municipalities within its metropolitan area, namely Guaynabo, Cataño, and Toa Baja, the bay is home to Port of San Juan, the primary seaport in the archipelago and island. About 3.5 miles (5.6 km) in length and 0.55 to 2 miles (0.89 to 3.22 km) in width, it is the largest body of water of several interconnected lagoons, channels, rivers, and creeks in the San Juan Bay Estuary, which covers about 83 square miles (215 km) of land and 14 square miles (36 km) of water in the San Juan metropolitan area in northeastern Puerto Rico.

Named after John the Baptist, whose name explorer Christopher Columbus gave to the main island of Puerto Rico as San Juan Bautista (Saint John Baptist) upon its discovery during his second vovage in 1493, San Juan Bay was first discovered and explored by Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León, who began the European colonization of the archipelago along its shorelines.

Juan Ponce de León II (1524–1591) was a Spanish official and an interim governor of Puerto Rico. Ponce de León II was the first governor to be born in Puerto Rico. He was named after his grandfather, Juan Ponce de León, who became the first European explorer and governor of Puerto Rico in 1508.