Felipe de Neve y Padilla (1724 – 3 November 1784) was a Spanish soldier who served as the 4th
Governor of the Californias, from 1775 to 1782.
Neve is considered one of the founders of Los Angeles and was instrumental in the foundation of
San Jose and
Santa Barbara.
Early life and career
Early life
Born in
Bailén,
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, ...
, Neve was the son of Mary D. Padilla y Costilla and Felipe de Neve Noguera Castro y Figueroa and was born into one of the well-respected families of
Andalucia
Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a "historical nationality". The ...
. Neve entered the military in 1744 at about 16 years of age. Neve served as a soldier in Cantabria, Flanders,
Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city ...
, and
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of th ...
before arriving in New Spain. During his time as a major he administered the colleges of
Zacatecas
, image_map = Zacatecas in Mexico (location map scheme).svg
, map_caption = State of Zacatecas within Mexico
, coordinates =
, coor_pinpoint =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type ...
,
New Spain
New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( es, Virreinato de Nueva España, ), or Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain during the Spanish colonization of the A ...
.
Neve was appointed as acting Governor of Las Californias on October 18, 1774 by
Viceroy Antonio Maria de Buareli y Ursua. For the first two years of his appointment, Neve was based in
Loreto, Baja California and later moved to
Monterey California
Monterey (; es, Monterrey; Ohlone: ) is a city located in Monterey County on the southern edge of Monterey Bay on the U.S. state of California's Central Coast. Founded on June 3, 1770, it functioned as the capital of Alta California under bot ...
.
Las Californias
It was during Neve's administration that Lieutenant
José Joaquín Moraga
José Joaquín de la Santísima Trinidad Moraga (22 August 1745 – 13 July 1785), usually simply known as José Joaquín Moraga, was a Spanish colonial expeditionary and soldier who founded San Jose, California, in 1777.
Life
José Joaquín Mor ...
is credited with building the
Presidio of San Francisco
The Presidio of San Francisco (originally, El Presidio Real de San Francisco or The Royal Fortress of Saint Francis) is a park and former U.S. Army post on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula in San Francisco, California, and is part ...
, after the site was selected by
Juan Bautista de Anza
Juan Bautista de Anza Bezerra Nieto (July 6 or 7, 1736 – December 19, 1788) was an expeditionary leader, military officer, and politician primarily in California and New Mexico under the Spanish Empire. He is credited as one of the founding f ...
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
San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popu ...
. On November 29, 1777, Moraga founded San José on orders from
Antonio María de Bucareli y Ursúa
Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language-speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top 400 most popular ...
, 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
Alta California ('Upper California'), also known as ('New California') among other names, was a province of New Spain, formally established in 1804. Along with the Baja California peninsula, it had previously comprised the province of , but ...
Province in 1804. The city served as a farming community to support the Presidio of San Francisco and the
Presidio of Monterey
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). ...
.
In 1781, later in Neve's tenure, he founded the ''
Pueblo de Los Ángeles''. Governor Neve had applied to
Viceroy Bucareli for permission to establish a settlement (''pueblo'') near the
Los Angeles River
, name_etymology =
, image = File:Los Angeles River from Fletcher Drive Bridge 2019.jpg
, image_caption = L.A. River from Fletcher Drive Bridge
, image_size = 300
, map = LARmap.jpg
, map_size ...
(''Río de Porciúncula''), where Father
Juan Crespí
Joan Crespí or Juan Crespí (1 March 1721 – 1 January 1782) was a Franciscan missionary and explorer of Las Californias.
Biography
A native of Majorca, Crespí entered the Franciscan order at the age of seventeen. He came to New Spain ...
had met local
Tongva Indians
The Tongva ( ) are an Indigenous people of California from the Los Angeles Basin and the Southern Channel Islands, an area covering approximately . Some descendants of the people prefer Kizh as an endonym that, they argue, is more historically ...
. With the viceroy's approval, de Neve was granted authority from
The Crown
The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has differ ...
,
Charles III of Spain
it, Carlo Sebastiano di Borbone e Farnese
, house = Bourbon-Anjou
, father = Philip V of Spain
, mother = Elisabeth Farnese
, birth_date = 20 January 1716
, birth_place = Royal Alcazar of Madrid, Spain
, death_da ...
, 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. Neve is credited with being one of the first urban planners because he personally drew the plans for the pueblo. Neve traveled north to inspect the Presidio and mission of San Francisco and the mission of Santa Clara and issued several reports on recent happenings in the Californias and recommendations for establishments, including the recommendation for the site of the city of Los Angeles. "The site had been scheduled for a mission since 1769 when Franciscan Father Juan Crespi first saw it and named it Nuestra Señora de Los Angeles de la Porciuncula for the river on which it was located."
In 1781, Neve issued the "Reglamento para el gobierno de la provincia de Californias (Regulations for the Government of the Province of the Californias), the first rules regarding governance of secular pueblos like Los Angeles.
Los Angeles
The location of the site was already inhabited by Native Americans who Father Crespi described as "very docile and friendly." The town was called Yabit and the attitude of the Natives towards the foreigners did not change over time. Neve arrived to the site in 1779 where he selected three dozen boys and girls for conversion to Christianity and acted as the godfather to twelve of the children. Neve also selected a young married couple, renamed them as Felipe de Neve and Phelipa Theresa de Neve and remarried them.
Governor de Neve had applied to
Viceroy Bucareli for permission to establish a settlement (pueblo) near the
Los Angeles River
, name_etymology =
, image = File:Los Angeles River from Fletcher Drive Bridge 2019.jpg
, image_caption = L.A. River from Fletcher Drive Bridge
, image_size = 300
, map = LARmap.jpg
, map_size ...
(Río de Porciúncula), where Father
Juan Crespí
Joan Crespí or Juan Crespí (1 March 1721 – 1 January 1782) was a Franciscan missionary and explorer of Las Californias.
Biography
A native of Majorca, Crespí entered the Franciscan order at the age of seventeen. He came to New Spain ...
had met local
Tongva Indians
The Tongva ( ) are an Indigenous people of California from the Los Angeles Basin and the Southern Channel Islands, an area covering approximately . Some descendants of the people prefer Kizh as an endonym that, they argue, is more historically ...
. The area chosen is described below:
''“The habitable spots which border the Camino Real from San Diego to Monterey with sufficient pro- portion of waters for developing cultivation are the river Santa Ana at 28 leagues from San Diego, has abundant water and it is not difficult to draw it out as it proves, at seven leagues is the river San Gabriel with much water and lands for large planting, and to raise water not proven very difficult. One league distant from the Mission of this name, which does not use its waters because they obtain abundant and suf- ficient water for lands from the various springs which flow at the foot of the mountains. At 3 leagues from the Mission is the river of Porsincula
icwith much water easy of access for both banks and beautiful lands in which we can make use of all."''
With the Viceroy's approval, de Neve was granted authority from
The Crown
The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has differ ...
,
Charles III of Spain
it, Carlo Sebastiano di Borbone e Farnese
, house = Bourbon-Anjou
, father = Philip V of Spain
, mother = Elisabeth Farnese
, birth_date = 20 January 1716
, birth_place = Royal Alcazar of Madrid, Spain
, death_da ...
, 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 was founded on September 4, 1781. Of the sixteen families Neve planned on moving to the newly established pueblo, only eleven families made it. Throughout the journey some stayed back or became too ill to travel.
Other Settlements
During Neve's tenure as governor, he quarreled constantly with the missionaries' leader, padre
Junípero Serra
Junípero Serra y Ferrer (; ; ca, Juníper Serra i Ferrer; November 24, 1713August 28, 1784) was a Spanish Roman Catholic priest and missionary of the Franciscan Order. He is credited with establishing the Franciscan Missions in the Sierr ...
, 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
Mission San Francisco de Asís ( es, Misión San Francisco de Asís), commonly known as Mission Dolores (as it was founded near the Dolores creek), is a Spanish Californian mission and the oldest surviving structure in San Francisco. Located i ...
also called Mission Dolores (June 29, 1776),
Mission San Juan Capistrano
Mission San Juan Capistrano ( es, Misión San Juan Capistrano) is a Spanish mission in San Juan Capistrano, Orange County, California. Founded November 1, 1776 in colonial ''Las Californias'' by Spanish Catholic missionaries of the Franciscan ...
(November 1, 1776),
Mission Santa Clara de Asís
Mission Santa Clara de Asís ( es, Misión Santa Clara de Asís) is a Spanish mission in the city of Santa Clara, California. The mission, which was the eighth in California, was founded on January 12, 1777, by the Franciscan order. Named for ...
(January 12, 1777) and
Mission San Buenaventura (March 31, 1782). Neve was given orders to establish a presidio at Santa Barbara and other pueblos with the goal of obtaining land and water for cultivation purposes. He also led a campaign against the
Yumi Indians in Arizona and Southern California.
Jean-François de la Pérouse
Jean-François is a French given name. Notable people bearing the given name include:
* Jean-François Carenco (born 1952), French politician
* Jean-François Champollion (1790–1832), French Egyptologist
* Jean-François Clervoy (born 1958), Fre ...
, on his expedition around the world in 1786, describes the ill treatment of natives by the ecclesiastical authorities, comparing the mission to a "
plantation
A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Th ...
at
Santo Domingo
, total_type = Total
, population_density_km2 = auto
, timezone = AST (UTC −4)
, area_code_type = Area codes
, area_code = 809, 829, 849
, postal_code_type = Postal codes
, postal_code = 10100–10699 ( Distrito Nacional)
, webs ...
or any other
West Indian
A West Indian is a native or inhabitant of the West Indies (the Antilles and the Lucayan Archipelago). For more than 100 years the words ''West Indian'' specifically described natives of the West Indies, but by 1661 Europeans had begun to use it ...
island," noting the use of "irons and stocks," lashes of the whip, and the recourse to military authority to repossess any native converts who had chosen to return to their "relations in the independent villages." La Pérouse visited Monterrey under the governorship of
Pedro Fages
Pedro Fages (1734–1794) was a Spanish soldier, explorer, first Lieutenant Governor of the Californias under Gaspar de Portolá. Fages claimed the governorship after Portolá's death, acting as governor in opposition to the official governor ...
, but has the following to say about de Neve:
Final years and honors
Felipe de Neve recited the Cross of the Order of San Carlos and was made a Brigadier General. Governor de Neve's success as provincial governor won him a promotion in 1783 to succeed
Teodoro de Croix
Teodoro de Croix (June 20, 1730, Prévoté Castle, near Lille, France – 1792, Madrid) was a Spanish soldier and colonial official in New Spain and Peru. From April 6, 1784 to March 25, 1790 he was viceroy of Peru.
Background
Teodoro de Cro ...
as Commandante General of the Provinicas Internas, a position that had authority over al the northern provinces, including Las Californias. He held the position of Comandante General of the Frontier Provinces until his death on November 3, 1784, in hacienda Nuestra Señora del Carmen de Pena Blanca,
Chihuahua Chihuahua may refer to:
Places
* Chihuahua (state), a Mexican state
**Chihuahua (dog), a breed of dog named after the state
**Chihuahua cheese, a type of cheese originating in the state
**Chihuahua City, the capital city of the state
**Chihuahua Mu ...
, New Spain.
Legacy
A 7½ foot cast bronze statue of Felipe de Neve by Henry Lion was installed in 1932 at La 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 dedication plaque with the following inscription:
FELIPE DE NEVE 1728-84 , SPANISH GOVERNOR OF THE CALIFORNIAS 1775-82 , IN 1781, ON THE 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.
The pueblo was proclaimed a city on May 23, 1835, by the Mexican Congress.
De Neve Drive in the
Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles is named after him, as are the student housing buildings of De Neve Plaza at the
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the Californ ...
. The Felipe de Neve Branch Library of the
Los Angeles Public Library
The Los Angeles Public Library system (LAPL) is a public library system in Los Angeles, California. The system holds more than six million volumes, and with around 19 million residents in the Los Angeles Metropolitan area, it serves the lar ...
is located in Lafayette Park in
Westlake, Los Angeles is dedicated to him.
See also
*
History of Los Angeles
References
Sources
*
Clyde Arbuckle
Clyde Arbuckle (1903–1998) was an American historian of, and lifelong resident of, San Jose, California. He is the author of ''Clyde Arbuckle's History of San José''. This 500 page bookSingh, Gary"History in the Making" ''MetroActive''. has be ...
(1986). Clyde Arbuckle's History of San Jose. Smith McKay Printing. .
* The Town of Our Lady Reina of the Angels on the Porciúncula river.
Bibliography
*
External links
USC Libraries: Felipe de Neve
{{DEFAULTSORT:Neve, Felipe De
Spanish explorers of North America
Explorers of California
Governors of the Californias
American city founders
People from the Province of Jaén (Spain)
History of Los Angeles
History of San Francisco
History of Baja California
18th-century Spanish people
1724 births
1784 deaths
Californios