The Maps That Change Florida's History: Revisiting the Ponce de León and Narváez Settlement Expeditions

Juan Ponce de León, the discoverer and first governor of La Florida, briefly established the first European colony in the United States on the west coast of Florida in 1521. Although its location has never been determined, historians have theorized that it likely occurred somewhere in the Charlotte Harbor area. In 1528, seven years after the Ponce de León settlement had been abandoned, Pánfilo de Narváez landed just north of the entrance to Tampa Bay with a settlement expedition of 400 men and 10 women. On one of their first inland expeditions they encountered the Tocobaga Indians at their main village in today's Safety Harbor, where they found many cargo boxes and European artifacts. Using rare and seldom-seen Spanish maps produced by the royal mapmakers in Seville in 1527, MacDougald produces compelling evidence that the first European colony established in what is now the United States occurred in Tampa Bay, likely in or near the Tocobaga village visited by Narváez.