Editing Biscayne National Park (section)

===Exploration===
[[Juan Ponce de León]] explored the area in 1513, discovering the Florida Keys and encountering the Tequesta on the mainland. Other Spanish explorers arrived later in the 16th century and Florida came under Spanish rule. The Tequesta were resettled by the then-Spanish government in the Florida Keys, and the South Florida mainland was depopulated.<ref name=npsbisc3/> Ponce de León referred to the bay as "Chequescha" after its inhabitants, becoming "Tequesta" by the time of Spanish governor [[Pedro Menéndez de Avilés]] later in the century. The present name has been attributed to a shipwrecked [[Basque people|Basque]] sailor known as the "[[Biscayne (ethnonym)|Biscaino]]" or "Viscayno" who lived in the area for a time, or to a more general allusion to the [[Bay of Biscay]].<ref name=blank1>{{cite book|last=Blank|first=Joan Gill|title=Key Biscayne: A History of Miami's Tropical Island and the Cape Florida Lighthouse|year=1996|publisher=Pineapple Press|isbn=978-1-56164-096-6|page=13}}</ref>

Spanish treasure fleets regularly sailed past the Florida Keys and were often caught in hurricanes. There are 44 documented shipwrecks in the park from the 16th through the 20th centuries. At least two 18th-century Spanish ships were wrecked in the park area.<ref name=miller1>Miller, p. 6</ref> The Spanish galleon ''Nuestra Senora del Popolo'' is believed to have been wrecked in park waters in 1733, though the site has not been found.<ref name=npca33/> [[HMS Fowey (1744)|HMS ''Fowey'']] was wrecked in 1748<ref name=npca32>NPCA, p. 32</ref> in what is now Legare Anchorage, at some distance from the Fowey Rocks. The discovery of the ship in 1975 resulted in a landmark court case that established the wreck as an archaeological site rather than a salvage site.<ref name=skowronek1>{{cite journal|last=Skowronek|first=Russell K.|author2=Vernon, Richard H.|author3=Fischer, George R.|title=The Legare Anchorage shipwreck site—Grave of HMS Fowey, Biscayne National Park, Florida|journal=International Journal of Nautical Archaeology|date=November 1987|volume=16|issue=4|pages=313–324|doi=10.1111/j.1095-9270.1987.tb00606.x}}</ref>  43 wrecks are included on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] in the [[Offshore Reefs Archeological District]], which extends for {{convert|30|mi|abbr=on}} along the seaward side of the Biscayne National Park keys.<ref>Leynes, Cullison, Chapter 2, p. 12</ref><ref name=fdhr1>{{cite web|title=Offshore Reefs Archeological District|url=http://www.flheritage.com/facts/reports/places/index.cfm?fuseaction=FullImage&id=137|publisher=Florida Division of Historical Resources|access-date=12 January 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121008032217/http://www.flheritage.com/facts/reports/places/index.cfm?fuseaction=FullImage&id=137|archive-date=8 October 2012}}</ref>  During the 18th century, Elliott Key was the reputed base of two different pirates, both called [[Black Caesar (pirate)|Black Caesar]], commemorated by Caesar's Creek between Elliott and Old Rhodes Key.<ref>Miller, p. 9</ref><ref name=bnmproposal4>{{cite web|title=Man and the Coral Reefs|url=http://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/bisc/proposal/sec5.htm|work=Biscayne National Park: A Proposal|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=12 January 2013}}</ref>