Vicente Manuel de Céspedes
| Vicente Manuel de Céspedes y Velasco | |
|---|---|
| 1st Governor of Spanish East Florida | |
|
In office June 27, 1784 – July 1790 |
|
| Preceded by | Patrick Tonyn (in the British East Florida) |
| Succeeded by | Juan Nepomuceno de Quesada y Barnuevo |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1721? Valencia, Spain |
| Died | 1794 Cuba |
| Spouse(s) | Conception Basabe Arostegui |
| Profession | Governor |
Vicente Manuel de Cespedes (1721?-1794), also known as Vicente Manuel de Zéspedes, was a Spanish governor of Santiago de Cuba (1781-1782) and the Spanish province of East Florida (1784-1790).
Vicente Manuel de Cespedes y Velasco was born in Valencia, Spain, probably in 1721. His paternal grandfather, José de Céspedes, was a lieutenant general in the Spanish Royal Army and Governor of Rosalcazár in Oran, (Algeria), and his maternal grandfather, Martín Arostegui Larrea, was a Knight of Santiago (1750) in Spain. He joined the Spanish Royal Army in his youth, attaining the rank of colonel and field marshal.
In 1781, Cespedes was elected acting governor of Santiago de Cuba, but this assignment lasted only until 1782.
In 1783, he was appointed Governor of East Florida by Bernardo de Gálvez, assuming the office on June 27, 1784. On July 12, British Governor Patrick Tonyn turned over the Castillo de San Marcos to Cespedes, which marked the end of the British regime in East Florida and the renewal of Spanish administration. Thus, the British who had migrated there during British rule of the province moved to the British colonies in the Caribbean.
For other way, Céspedes proposed that all the vacant property in St. Augustine should be confiscated by the Crown for distribution to returning Floridanos. He also recommended that the King impose time limits for the repossession of unoccupied property to avoid confusion when the former proprietors or their heirs asserted their claims. Zéspedes wanted to register all legitimate proprietorships purchased from such realtors during the British Period; by this means he hoped to forestall disruption of the traditional real estate system in St. Augustine. Following the Spanish exodus of 1763, twenty years of British rule, and the retrocession of Florida to Spain in 1784, Céspedes faced many problems concerning the disposition of property; his manner of addressing them was expeditious and suitable to the complex situation in St. Augustine.
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