Bruno de Heceta

Bruno de Heceta (Hezeta) y Dudagoitia (1743–1807) was a Spanish Basque explorer of the Pacific Northwest. Born in Bilbao of an old Basque family, he was sent by the Viceroy of New Spain, Antonio María Bucareli y Ursúa, to explore the area north of Alta California in response to information that there were colonial Russian settlements there.

The Spanish claim to Alaska and the Pacific Northwest had dated back to a 1493 papal bull (Inter caetera) and rights contained in the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas. These two formal acts formed the basis of Spain's claim of the exclusive right to colonize all of the Western Hemisphere (excluding present day Brazil), including all of the west coast of North America. The first European expedition to actually reach the Pacific coast was led by the Spaniard Vasco Núñez de Balboa, which reached the western coast of present-day Panama in 1513. Balboa claimed the Pacific Ocean for the Spanish Crown, as well as all the lands touching it. This action of Balboa further solidified the Spanish claim of exclusive control over the entire west coast of North America.

Confident of their claims, the Spanish Empire did not explore or settle the northwest coast of North America in the 250 years after Balboa's claim. By the late 18th century, however, learning of Russian and British arrivals along the Pacific Northwest and Alaskan coasts, Spain finally grew sufficiently concerned about their claims to the region and set out to discover the extent of any Russian and British encroachment.

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