Felipe de Neve

Felipe de Neve
Statue of Felipe de Neve in the Los Angeles Plaza. The inscription reads: "Felipe de Neve (1728-84). Governor of California 1775-82. In 1781, on orders from King Carlos III of Spain, Felipe de Neve selected a site near the River Porciuncula and laid out the town of El Pueblo de La Reina de Los Angeles, one of two pueblos he founded in Alta California."[sic]
Born	1724 Bailén, Province of Jaén (Spain)[1]
Died	1784 Coahuila, Mexico
Nationality	Spanish
Occupation	explorer and governor

Felipe de Neve (1724–1784) was a Spanish governor of Las Californias, an area that included present-day California (United States), Baja California (Mexico) and Baja California Sur (Mexico). His tenure as governor was from 1775 to 1782.^[1][2] Neve is considered a founder of Los Angeles, California and helped to settle Missions Santa Barbara and San José whose surrounding communities became California cities.^[3][4][5]

Career highlights

First capital

Felipe Neve was appointed governor of the Californias in 1775.^[5] For two years he was based at Loreto, Baja California but decided to establish the Californias' new capital at Monterey, California.^[3][6]

New settlements

It was during Neve's administration that Lieutenant José Joaquín Moraga is credited with building the Presidio of San Francisco after the site was selected by Juan Bautista de Anza in 1776. Moraga is also known as the founder of El Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe, later known as San Jose, California. On 29 November 1777, Moraga founded San José on orders from Antonio María de Bucareli y Ursúa, Spanish Viceroy of New Spain. It was the first pueblo in the Spanish colony of Nueva California, which later became Alta California. The city served as a farming community to support the Presidio of San Francisco and the Presidio of Monterey.

Later in Neve's tenure, he founded the pueblo of Los Angeles. Neve applied to the viceroy for permission to establish a settlement where Father Juan Crespí met local Indians. With the viceroy's approval, Neve was granted authority from The Crown, Charles III of Spain, to found and establish El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Angeles del Río de Porciúncula. During Neve's tenure as governor, he quarreled constantly with Junípero Serra over the secularization of the Missions and the redistribution of land to the neophytes and soldiers.

See also

• History of Los Angeles

References

Sources

• Clyde Arbuckle (1986). Clyde Arbuckle's History of San Jose. Smith McKay Printing. ISBN 978-9996625220.
• The Town of Our Lady Reina of the Angels on the Porciúncula river. (English)

Bibliography

Beilharz, Edwin A. Felipe de Neve: First Governor of California. San Francisco: California Historical Society, 1971.

External links

• USC Libraries: Felipe de Neve
• California History - Felipe de Neve

v t e Governors of California Before US 1 de Portolà 2 Fages 3 Rivera 4 de Neve 5 Fages 6 Roméu 7 Arrillaga 8 Arrillaga 9 Borica 10 Alberní 11 Arrillaga 12 J. Argüello 13 Solá 14 L. Argüello 15 Echeandía 16 Victoria 17 P. Pico 18 Zamorano / Echeandía 19 Figueroa 20 Castro 21 Gutierrez 22 Chico 23 Gutierrez 24 Alvarado 25 Carrillo 26 Alvarado 27 Micheltorena 28 P. Pico 29 Flores 30 A. Pico 31 P. Pico 32 Riley 33 Burnett After US 34 Burnett 35 McDougall 36 Bigler 37 J. Johnson 38 Weller 39 Latham 40 Downey 41 Stanford 42 Low 43 Haight 44 Booth 45 Pacheco 46 Irwin 47 Perkins 48 Stoneman 49 Bartlett 50 Waterman 51 Markham 52 Budd 53 Gage 54 Pardee 55 Gillett 56 H. Johnson 57 Stephens 58 Richardson 59 Young 60 Rolph 61 Merriam 62 Olson 63 Warren 64 Knight 65 P. Brown 66 Reagan 67 J. Brown 68 Deukmejian 69 Wilson 70 Davis 71 Schwarzenegger 72 J. Brown Before US After US US list by time in office US list by age