Felipe de Neve

Felipe de Neve y Padilla (1724–1784) was the fourth governor of Las Californias, a province of New Spain, from 1775 to 1782.[1][2] Felipe de Neve is considered a founder of Los Angeles, California[3] and helped to settle towns of Santa Barbara and San José whose surrounding communities became California cities.[4][5][6] In 1781, de Neve issued the first rules regarding governance of secular pueblos like Los Angeles, the "Regulations for the Government of the Province of the Californias" (Reglamento para el gobierno de la provincia de Californias)[7]

Felipe de Neve
Statue of Felipe de Neve in the Los Angeles Plaza.
4th Governor of the Californias
In office March 1770 – 4 March 1775
Preceded by	Fernando Rivera y Moncada
Succeeded by	Pedro Fages
Personal details
Born	1724 Bailén, Province of Jaén (Spain)[1]
Died	1784 Coahuila, Mexico
Nationality	Spanish
Occupation	Explorer and Governor of California
Awards	Cross of Carlos III
Military service
Allegiance	Spain
Branch/service	Army of Spain
Rank	Captain General

Career highlights

First capital

Felipe de Neve was appointed governor of the Californias in 1775.[6] For two years he was based at Loreto, Baja California, then moved to Monterey, California.[4][8]

New settlements

Las Californias

It was during de 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, the present day city of San Jose, California. On 29 November 1777, Moraga founded San José on orders from Antonio María de Bucareli y Ursúa, the Spanish Viceroy of New Spain. It was the first Spanish colonial pueblo in the northern region of Las Californias Province, which became its own Alta California Province in 1804. The city served as a farming community to support the Presidio of San Francisco and the Presidio of Monterey.

In 1781, later in de Neve's tenure, he founded the Pueblo de Los Ángeles. Governor de Neve had applied to Viceroy Bucareli for permission to establish a settlement (pueblo) near the Los Angeles River (Río de Porciúncula), where Father Juan Crespí had met local Tongva Indians. With the viceroy's approval, de Neve was granted authority from The Crown, Charles III of Spain, to found and establish the second pueblo in upper Las Californias, El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles del Río de Porciúncula (The Pueblo of Our Lady Queen of the Angels of the Porciúncula River), the present day city of Los Angeles, California.

During de Neve's tenure as governor, he quarreled constantly with the missionaries' leader, padre Junípero Serra, over the secularization of the Missions and the redistribution of land to the Mission Indian neophytes and soldiers. During his tenure four missions were founded: Mission San Francisco de Asís also called Mission Dolores (29 June 1776), Mission San Juan Capistrano (1 November 1776), Mission Santa Clara de Asís (12 January 1777) and Mission San Buenaventura (31 March 1782).

Comandante general

Governor de Neve's success as provincial governor won him promotion in 1783 to succeed Teodoro de Croix as Comandante General of the Provincias Internas, a position that had authority over all the northern provinces (including Las Californias). He held that position until his death in 1784.

Honors

Statue

A 7½ foot cast bronze statue of Felipe de Neve by Henry Lion was installed in 1932 at Plaza Park in the El Pueblo district of Los Angeles, California, by the City of Los Angeles. The statue is mounted on a 4-foot boulder and includes a bronze plaque with the following inscription:

"FELIPE DE NEVE (1728-84). SPANISH GOVERNOR OF THE CALIFORNIAS 1775-82.  IN 1781, ON ORDERS OF 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 SPANISH PUEBLOS HE FOUNDED IN ALTA CALIFORNIA."[9]

See also

• History of Los Angeles

References

1. "NEVE, FELIPE DE (1724–1784)". tshaonline.org. Retrieved 14 April 2010.
2. "Landmarks of Hispanic Los Angeles". USC Library archives. Archived from the original on 15 October 2012. Retrieved 14 April 2010.
3. "The founder of the city of Los Angeles". Turismo Bailén. Retrieved 28 January 2019.
4. "Spanish Governors". missiontour.org. Retrieved 14 April 2010.
5. "CHAPTER III". usgennet.org. Retrieved 14 April 2010.
6. "The True Origins of Spanish Colonial Officials and Missionaries". sandiegohistory.org. Retrieved 14 April 2010.
7. Spanish reprint plus English translation in Land of Sunshine magazine, volume 6, January 1897. Available online at Internet Archive (retrieved July 2018)
8. "Phelipe de Neve First Governor of the Californias, 1777–1782". sbthp.org. Archived from the original on 10 May 2006. Retrieved 14 April 2010.
9. ""Felipe De Neve" (1932) by Henry Lion". Public Art in Public Places. 21 August 2018. Retrieved 21 August 2018.

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. (in English)

Bibliography

• Edwin A. Beilharz (1971). Felipe de Neve, first Governor of California. San Francisco: California Historical Society.

External links

• Public Art in Public Places | "Felipe de Neve" (1932) by Henry Lion
• USC Libraries: Felipe de Neve
• California History - Felipe de Neve