Fernando Rivera y Moncada
| Fernando Rivera y Moncada | |
|---|---|
-Variant.svg){kind=small} 3rd Governor of Alta California
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In office 1774–1777 |
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| Preceded by | Pedro Fages |
| Succeeded by | Felipe de Neve |
| Personal details | |
| Born | c. 1725 near Compostela, Mexico |
| Died | July 18, 1781 lower Colorado River |
| Profession | Soldier and governor |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | Spain |
| Service/branch |
 Army of Spain
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| Rank |
 Captain
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Fernando Javier Rivera y Moncada (c. 1725 – July 18, 1781) was a soldier who served in the Baja California peninsula and Alta California, participating in several early overland explorations. Fernando Rivera y Moncada served as third Governor of Alta California from 1774-1777.
Rivera was born near Compostela, New Spain (Mexico). His father, Don Cristóbal de Rivera, was locally prominent and a local office holder. Rivera was born of Don Cristóbal's second wife, Josefa Ramón de Moncada. Rivera had a total of 10 siblings and half-siblings; he was ninth in birth order.
Rivera entered military service in 1742, serving in Loreto, Baja California, at a time when that peninsula was almost totally under the control of Jesuit missionaries. In 1751 Rivera was elevated over several older and higher ranking soldiers to the command of that presidio. He participated in the important reconnaissances of the northern peninsula together with the Jesuit missionary-explorers Ferdinand Konščak and Wenceslaus Linck.
In 1755 Rivera married Doña María Teresa Dávalos; a marriage probably arranged by their parents. The couple had four children; three boys and a girl. Rivera's tenure as military commander of Baja California was generally successful and he was highly thought of by the Jesuits, though he was also embroiled in conflicts with local ranchers and miners who were in conflict with the Jesuits.
Rivera's situation changed in 1768 when the Jesuits were expelled and replaced in Baja California by the Franciscans and by the civil authorities of New Spain. The story of the Jesuit expulsion from is related to European power struggles of the time, but it had the effect of bringing to Baja California two important individuals who otherwise would not have been there: Gaspar de Portolá, a Spanish soldier from a noble family, and Junípero Serra, the head of the Franciscan missions. Portolá, Serra, and Fernando de Rivera were thus together in remote Baja California at the moment when King Carlos III of Spain, concerned about Russians trespassing on Spain's claims in Western North America, ordered an expedition north to settle Alta California.
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