PR's opinion of Ponce de Leon (house, island, rain)

[TheLastVigilante]

Hey y'all I was reading up on the conquistadors of what would become Latin America and was wondering what is the overall opinion,if any, of Juan Ponce de Leon?He is considered by historians to be the first full conquistador and most Latin countries have a very negative view of Spanish conquerors.I always wondered what do the residents of the island think of him.I know a lot of PRs share his surname,so I assume he has left ancestral roots there.Can anyone from Puerto Rico give any insight?Thanks.

[mym]

my dad worked with a guy who was a descendant of Ponce de Leon. i recall he was tall.

other than that we only learn about him in history class. like you said he was a conquistador. he had a dog called becerillo that was trained to rip off the testicles of indians. he had a house in Caparra, you can see the remains and he was the first inhabitant of Casa Blanca. they say he left for florida from the Anasco bay.

we spend more time on a guy like Bartolomé de las Casas who is probably a complete unknown outside of the caribbean/south america but i could be wrong.

[AntonioR]

Juan Ponce de Leon is buried in San Juan's Cathedral.