Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcalá was the second Franciscan founded mission in The Californias, a province of New Spain. Located in present-day San Diego, California, it was founded on July 16, 1769, by Spanish friar Junípero Serra, in an area long inhabited by the Kumeyaay people. The current church, built in the early 19th century, is the fifth to stand on this location. The mission site is a National Historic Landmark.
The Golden Gate is a strait on the west coast of North America that connects San Francisco Bay to the Pacific Ocean. It is defined by the headlands of the San Francisco Peninsula and the Marin Peninsula, and, since 1937, has been spanned by the Golden Gate Bridge. The entire shoreline and adjacent waters throughout the strait are managed by the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.
Captain Gaspar de Portolá y Rovira was a Spanish Army officer and colonial administrator who served as the first governor of the Californias from 1767 to 1770. Born in Catalonia into an aristocratic family, he is best known for leading the Portolá expedition into California, which laid the foundations of Spanish rule in the region Californian cities like San Diego and Monterey, and bestowed names to geographic features throughout California, many of which are still in use.
The Presidio of Monterey (POM), located in Monterey, California, is an active US Army installation with historic ties to the Spanish colonial era. Currently, it is the home of the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center (DLI-FLC). It is the last and only presidio in California to have an active military installation.
Pedro Fages (1734–1794) was a Spanish soldier, explorer, and first lieutenant governor of the province of the Californias under Gaspar de Portolá. Fages claimed the governorship after Portolá's departure, acting as governor in opposition to the official governor Felipe de Barri, and later served officially as fifth (1782–91) governor of the Californias.
Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra was a Spanish Criollo naval officer operating in the Americas. Assigned to the Pacific coast Spanish Naval Department base at San Blas, in Viceroyalty of New Spain, he explored the Northwest Coast of North America as far north as present day Alaska. Bodega Bay in California is named for him.
Juan Manuel de Ayala y Aranza was a Spanish Navy officer who played a significant role in the European exploration of California, as he and the crew of his ship San Carlos were the first Europeans known to have entered the San Francisco Bay, having sailed there from the Port of San Blas, Nayarit, Mexico.
The Portolá expedition was a Spanish voyage of exploration in 1769–1770 that was the first recorded European exploration of the interior of the present-day California. It was led by Gaspar de Portolá, governor of Las Californias, the Spanish colonial province that included California, Baja California, and other parts of present-day Mexico and the United States. The expedition led to the founding of Alta California and contributed to the solidification of Spanish territorial claims in the disputed and unexplored regions along the Pacific coast of North America.
José Francisco Ortega was a New Spanish soldier and early settler of Alta California. He joined the military at the age of twenty-one and rose to the rank of sergeant by the time he joined the Portola expedition in 1769. At the end of his military duty he would be granted land which he named Rancho Nuestra Senora del Refugio near Santa Barbara.
José de Gálvez y Gallardo, 1st Marquess of Sonora was a Spanish lawyer and Visitador general in New Spain (1764–1772); later appointed to the Council of the Indies (1775–1787). He was one of the prime figures behind the Bourbon Reforms. He belonged to an important political family that included his brother Matías de Gálvez and nephew Bernardo de Gálvez.
Bruno de Heceta (Hezeta) y Dudagoitia (1743–1807) was a Spanish Basque explorer of the Pacific Northwest. Born in Bilbao of an old Basque family, he was sent by the viceroy of New Spain, Antonio María Bucareli y Ursúa, to explore the area north of Alta California in response to information that there were colonial Russian settlements there.
Fernando Javier Rivera y Moncada was a soldier of the Spanish Empire who served in The Californias, the far north-western frontier of New Spain. He participated in several early overland explorations and later served as third Governor of The Californias, from 1774 to 1777.
San Blas is both a municipality and municipal seat located on the Pacific coast of Mexico in Nayarit.
During the Age of Discovery, the Spanish Empire undertook several expeditions to the Pacific Northwest of North America. Spanish claims to the region date to the papal bull of 1493, and the Treaty of Tordesillas signed in 1494. In 1513, this claim was reinforced by Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa, the first European to sight the Pacific Ocean, when he claimed all lands adjoining this ocean for the Spanish Crown. Spain only started to colonize the claimed territory north of present-day Mexico in the 18th century, when it settled the northern coast of Las Californias.
Pedro de Alberní y Teixidor; Tortosa, January 30, 1747 – Monterrey, New Spain, March 11, 1802) was a Spanish soldier who served the Spanish Crown for almost all his life. He spent most of his military career in colonial Mexico. He is notable for his role in the exploration of the Pacific Northwest in the 1790s, and his later term as ninth Spanish governor of Alta California in 1800.
This timeline of the Portolá expedition tracks the progress during 1769 and 1770 of the first European exploration-by-land of north-western coastal areas in what became Las Californias, a province of Spanish colonial New Spain. Later, the region was administratively-split into Baja and Alta. The first section of the march was on the Baja California peninsula, and the northern section of the expedition's trail was in today's US state of California.
Miguel Costansó (1741–1814), original name Miquel Constançó, was a Catalan engineer, cartographer and cosmographer. He joined the expedition of exploration of Alta California led by Gaspar de Portolá and Junípero Serra, serving aboard ship as cartographer and on land as engineer.
The Portolá Trail Campsite or Portolá Trail Campsite No. 1 is the spot of the first Europeans to travel and camp overnight in what is now Central Los Angeles, California. The Portolá expedition camped at the site on August 2, 1769. The Portolá Trail Campsite No. 1 was designated a California Historic Landmark (No.655) on Sept. 26, 1958. The Portolá Trail Campsite is located in what is now the Elysian Park entrance, at the NW corner of North Broadway and Elysian Park Drive in the City of Los Angeles in Los Angeles County. The campsite is near the Los Angeles River, which they used as their water supply for the camp. Military officer Gaspar de Portolá was the commander of the expedition for the Spanish Empire with the goal of the Spanish colonization of the Americas. The expedition led to the founding of the first mission in the Los Angeles Basin, the Mission Vieja, on September 8, 1771, and of Alta California. The expedition arrived at Portolá Trail Campsite No. 1 from the San Gabriel Valley, were the Mission San Gabriel would be built later in 1776. As they depart Portolá Trail Campsite No. 1 they traveled west towards Santa Monica Bay, stopping at Portolá Trail Campsite 2, which is in present-day Beverly Hills. Portolá Trail Campsite 2 is also a California Historic Landmark (No.665). At San Monica Bay the expedition turned and traveled north to were the future Mission San Fernando would be built in 1797. Form San Fernando the expedition turned west to Ventura, the site of the future Mission San Buenaventura built in 1782.
The Portolá Trail Campsite 2 or Portolá Trail Campsite No. 2 is the spot of the first Europeans to travel and camp overnight in what is now Beverly Hills, California. The Portolá expedition camped at the site on August 3, 1769. The Portolá Trail Campsite No. 2 was designated a California Historic Landmark (No.665) on Nov. 5, 1958. The Portolá Trail Campsite is located in what is now 325 South La Cienega Boulevard between Olympic Boulevard and Gregory, in Beverly Hills. in Los Angeles County. Military officer Gaspar de Portolá was the commander of the expedition for the Spanish Empire with the goal of the Spanish colonization of the Americas. The expedition led to the founding of the first mission in the Los Angeles Basin, the Mission Vieja, on September 8, 1771, and of Alta California. The expedition arrived at Portolá Trail Campsite No. 2 from the Portolá Trail Campsite No. 1 in what is now Elysian Park. They came to camp site 1 from the San Gabriel Valley, were the Mission San Gabriel would be built later in 1776. As they depart Portolá Trail Campsite No. 2 they traveled west towards Santa Monica Bay. At San Monica Bay the expedition turned and traveled north to were the future Mission San Fernando would be built in 1797. Form San Fernando the expedition turned west to Ventura, the site of the future Mission San Buenaventura built in 1782.
El Desembarcadero, or The Landing, is a historical site in San Diego, California, in San Diego Bay. The El Desembarcadero site is a California Historical Landmark No. 64 listed on December 6, 1932. It is the site of the landing by Spaniards coming to New Spain, Pueblo de San Diego, now Old Town, San Diego. Small ship's boats brought cargo and passengers to the San Diego Mission, Presidio of San Diego and Pueblo San Diego. It most likely that ships San Antonio and San Carlos landed at the site in 1769, looking fresh water on the San Diego River, on their San Diego expedition. San Antonio arrived in San Diego Bay on April 11, 1769, and the San Carlos on April 29. They landed on May 1, 1769, Some of the ships grew died in San Diego and Father Serra and Father Vila, remain in San Diego. T
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