Felipe de Neve

Felipe de Neve was the Spanish governor of Las Californias, an area that included present-day California (USA), Baja California (Mexico) and Baja California Sur (Mexico). His tenure as governor was from 1777 to 1782. It was during his 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.

Moraga founded San José on orders from Antonio María de Bucareli y Ursúa, Spanish Viceroy of New Spain, the city was founded in honor of Saint Joseph on 29 November 1777 as the first town 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.cite book |title=Clyde Arbuckle's History of San Jose |date=1986 |author=Clyde Arbuckle |publisher=Smith McKay Printing |isbn=978-9996625220 ]

Later in Neve's tenure the city of Los Angeles was also founded. Neve recommended to the viceroy of Mexico at the time to establish a settlement where Father Juan Crespi met local Indians. With the approval of 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". [en The Town of Our Lady Reina of the Angels on the Porciúncula river.] With time, shortened to "Los Angeles", Neve is regarded as one of the founding fathers of today's Los Angeles, California. During his stay, he quarreled constantly with Junipero Serra over the secularization of the Missions and the redistribution of land to the neophytes and soldiers.

References

Bibliography

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

External links

* [http://www.usc.edu/libraries/archives/la/historic/de_neve.html USC Libraries]
* [http://www.californiahistory.net/4_PAGES/pueblos_nuestra.htm California History]