Comme bien d'autres professeurs, il m'est arrivé de simplifier l'histoire de la première colonie en Amérique du Nord (Ste-Augustine, Floride) en mentionnant le passage de Ponce de León. Cet article du New York Times me permet de remettre les pendules à l'heure.
"THIS week is the celebration of the 500th anniversary of Juan Ponce de León’s purported discovery of Florida. Commemorations include the unveiling of “The First Landing,” a larger-than-life statue of Ponce in Melbourne Beach, as well as the introduction by the Postal Service of “La Florida,” a four-stamp series timed to honor what is being presented as the founding moment in our country’s history."
(...)
"Florida probably was first sighted by Portuguese navigators, or perhaps by the Cabots sailing from England. Either way, it started appearing on maps as early as 1500. By 1510, its distinctive peninsular shape had emerged clearly on maps in Europe. By 1513, when Ponce de Léon first arrived, so many Europeans had visited Florida that some Indians greeted him in Spanish.
Ponce never went anywhere near St. Augustine, the city where he is said to have discovered the Fountain of Youth. He was not an old man. That tale was concocted by Washington Irving more than 300 years later. Ponce was after gold, but Florida had none to be found. He left and might never have returned but for the news that Cortés had found gold in Mexico. In 1521 Ponce — envious, vigorous, avaricious — made the fatal mistake of trying his Florida luck again."
La suite:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/02/opinion/ponce-de-leon-exposed.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20130402
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