Produced by cartographers of many nations over the course of six centuries, maps detailing Florida and the North American continent tell tales of exploration, conflict, and change. Before 1492, Europeans were unaware of what existed on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. That reality is illustrated quite well on two maps that show the "known world" from the European perspective in the years preceding Christopher Columbus's voyages: Hartmann Schedel's Liber Chronicarum (Nuremberg Chronicle--Map of the World) published in 1493; and Martin Waldseemuller's Strassburg Ptolemy, published in 1513 as a refinement of Claudis Ptolemy's world map, but without information regarding the New World. By the turn of the sixteenth century, Spain and other powerful European countries were well aware of the New World and the incredible potential across the Atlantic Ocean. Columbus followed his initial 1492 expedition with cross-Atlantic voyages in 1493, 1498, and 1502. There was still an incredible amount to learn about this strange land, and no shortage of people eager to explore what lay outside the borders of Schedel's and Waldseemuller's maps. In this article, the author uses maps to explore Florida's early Spanish history weaving the stories of Juan Ponce de Leon, Hernando de Soto, Pedro Menendez de Aviles, Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas, and Francisco Maria Celi. (Contains 3 notes.)