Juan Ponce de León (1474-1521)/biography

Juan Ponce de León was born in the village of Santervás de Campos in the northern part of what is now the Spanish province of Valladolid. Although early historians placed his birth in 1475, more recent evidence shows he was likely born in 1474. The surname 'Ponce de León' is of Basque origin, and dates from the XI century. He was descended from Ponce Vélaz, a nobleman from León, who was the son of Vela Gutiérrez and Sancha de Cabrera. Vela Gutiérrez was the great-grandson of Vermudo Nuñez, fifth child of Nuño Vela, count of Álava, who was descended from the kings of Vasconia. Ponce de León was also related to another notable family, Núñez de Guzmán, and as a young man he served as squire to Pedro Núñez de Guzmán, Knight Commander of the Order of Calatrava. A contemporary chronicler, Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés, states that de León became an experienced soldier fighting in the Spanish campaigns that defeated the Moors in Granada and completed the re-conquest of Spain in 1492.