After about a month of sailing northwest from Puerto Rico, de Leon’s expedition spotted what they initially believed to be an island. When they landed, he called dibs, of course, and set about naming the place. According to History.com, he decided on Florida as a reference to the Easter holiday, which is sometimes called “Pascua Florida” in Spanish. The word means “flowery,” so it also served to highlight the verdant landscape he had “discovered.” He did a coastal exploration of the peninsula, in the process discovering the Gulf Stream, which in turn helped further Spain’s expansion into the Americas.

After returning to Spain to be granted a military governorship of Florida and Bimini, de León embarked on his second expedition in early 1521. While the details of what went down on that second trip are not clear, historians believe that de León was wounded during an attack by Native Americans in July of that year. He had received an arrow to the leg, so he sailed to Havana, Cuba, for treatment, but was unable to pull through. He died, but the foothold he dug allowed Spain to extend its colonial reach into Florida, which it would hold until the 19th century (not including the two decades in the 18th in which it was under British rule). Oh, and as you can deduce from the fact that he died, de León never found the mythical fountain of youth.