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Don Pedro Fages

Pedro Fages (Pere Fages i Beleta)
Pedro Fages.jpg
Royal Banner of the Crown of Castille (Habsburg Style)-Variant.svg 2nd Governor of Alta California
In office
July 9, 1770 – 1774
Preceded by Gaspar de Portolá
Succeeded by Fernando Rivera y Moncada
Royal Banner of the Crown of Castille (Habsburg Style)-Variant.svg 5th Governor of Alta California
In office
July 12, 1782 – April 16, 1791
Preceded by Felipe de Neve
Succeeded by José Antonio Roméu
Personal details
Born 1734
Guissona, Lérida/Lleida province, Catalonia, Spain
Died 1794 (aged 64)
Mexico City
Nationality Spanish
Spouse(s) Eulalia Callis
Profession soldier, explorer, and military Governor of Las Californias
Religion Roman Catholic
Military service
Allegiance Spain
Service/branch Emblem of the Spanish Army.svg Army of Spain
Rank Oficial5.png Colonel

Pedro Fages (1734–1794), original name Pere Fages i Beleta, nicknamed L'Ós ("The Bear", in Catalan) was a Spanish soldier, explorer, first Lieutenant Governor of the Californias under Gaspar de Portolá, and second (1770–74) and fifth (1782–91) Governor of Alta California.

Fages was born in Guissona, Lérida/Lleida province, Catalonia, Spain. In 1762 he entered the light infantry in Catalonia in 1762 and joined Spain's invasion of Portugal during the Seven Years' War. In May 1767 Fages, commissioned as a lieutenant in the newly formed Free Company of Volunteers of Catalonia, set sail from Cádiz along with a company of light infantry, voyaging to New Spain (Mexico). He and his men served under Domingo Elizondo in Sonora.

In 1769, Fages was selected by visitador (Inspector general) José de Gálvez to lead the ship-borne portion of the Gaspar de Portolá-led expedition to found San Diego, California. Lieutenant Fages sailed from Guaymas to the Baja California port of La Paz. Then on January 9, 1769, he boarded the galleon San Carlos, captained by Vicente Vila and bound for San Diego. Also on board were Franciscan friar Fernando Parrón, engineer and cartographer Miguel Costansó, surgeon Pedro Prat, and 25 soldiers under Fages' command along with a crew of sailors. After sailing nearly 200 miles (320 kilometers) beyond San Diego due to cartography errors, the San Carlos doubled back south. It finally arrived in San Diego Bay on April 29, with scurvy-ridden troops and crewmen.


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