Pedro Fages

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Pedro Fages (* 1734 in Guissona , Catalonia , † after 1794 in Mexico City , Mexico ) was a Spanish soldier, explorer and colonial governor of Upper California .

resume

Pedro Fages was born in Catalonia, where he stayed until 1767. He joined the Spanish military and was promoted to lieutenant in 1767. In the same year he joined volunteers from Catalonia who were supposed to fight Indians in Sonora . The force left Spain via the port of Cadiz and reached Mexico. There Fages took part in some advances against the Indians. In 1769 he and 25 other men from his Catalan unit were posted to support an expedition led by Gaspar de Portolà to Upper California. He initially belonged to a naval unit that supported the expedition from the sea. He then also took part in forays into northern Mexico as part of Portolà's mission. He was involved in the founding of San Diego and in the discovery of the place where San Francisco would later arise. Fages is also one of the European explorers of the San Joaquin Valley . In Upper California he became the first lieutenant governor under Portolà. After he left this office, he succeeded him as governor. He held this office between 1770 and 1774. During this time there were conflicts with the Franciscan order . He then commanded a Catalan unit that was stationed in Guadalajara . In 1777 Fages, who had meanwhile risen to lieutenant colonel, was again ordered to Sonora, where he fought the Apaches . Between 1782 and 1791 he was again Colonial Governor of Upper California. He resided in Monterey, which was founded in 1770 and has served as the capital since 1776 . In 1789 he achieved the military rank of colonel. His time as governor was largely peaceful. After his governorship, he moved to Mexico City, where he died after 1794.

Web links

literature

  • Donald A. Nuttall, "Pedro Fages and the Advance of the Northern Frontier of New Spain, 1767-1782" (Ph.D. diss. University of Southern California, 1964).
  • Joseph P. Sánchez, Spanish Bluecoats: The Catalonian Volunteers in Northwestern New Spain, 1767-1810 (1990).
personal data
SURNAME Fages, Pedro
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Governor of Upper California
DATE OF BIRTH 1734
PLACE OF BIRTH Guissona , Catalonia
DATE OF DEATH after 1794
Place of death Mexico City , Mexico