José de Gálvez y Gallardo, 1st Marquess of Sonora (2 January 1720, Macharaviaya, Spain – 17 June 1787, Aranjuez, Spain)George M. Addy, "José de Gálvez" in Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture vo. 3, p. 11. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons 1996. was a Spanish lawyer and Visitador general (inspector general) in New Spain (1764–1772); later appointed to the Council of the Indies (1775–1787).Priestley, H. I. (1916). José de Gálvez: Visitor-general of New Spain (1765–1771). Berkeley (Calif.): University of California press, page 311. Online at Google Books He was one of the prime figures behind the Bourbon Reforms.Clara Elena Suárez Argüello, "José de Gálvez" in Encyclopedia of Mexico. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn 1997, p. 552. He belonged to an important political family that included his brother Matías de Gálvez and nephew Bernardo de Gálvez.

Early career Following the death of his noble but impoverished father, Gálvez became a shepherd, then studied at an elite Catholic seminary in Málaga.Suárez Argüello, "José de Gálvez", p. 552. After he realized he was not cut out for a priestly vocation, the local bishop sent him to study law at Salamanca. He received his law degree at the University of Alcalá.

Practicing law in Madrid, he handled many legal cases involving the Indies. He gained the attention of powerful people in Madrid, including the marqués de Equilache and the marqués de Grimaldi, ministers of Charles III.Addy, "José de Gálvez", p. 11. Gálvez married María Magdalena de Grimaldo, who died a year later. He then married Lucía Romet y Pichelín, an elite woman of French origin, well connected at the royal court. Lucía's connections enabled Gálvez to work as legal adviser at the French embassy in Madrid. Climbing the social and political ladder, he secured a job as personal secretary to Jerónimo Grimaldi, minister to the newly ascended king Carlos III. In 1762, Gálvez secured a position as attorney to prince Carlos, the future king Carlos IV. In 1765, he was appointed visitador (inspector) of New Spain, where he both gathered information and implemented royal policy to increase crown revenues.Suárez Argüello, "José de Gálvez", p. 552.

Visitador (inspector general) in New Spain In 1765 at the age of 45, Gálvez arrived in New Spain, which included all of Spanish North America. As visitador del virreinato de Nueva España (inspector general for the Viceroyalty of New Spain) he exercised sweeping powers; the most in Spanish North America. The visitador served as the king's special deputy, with special powers overlapping and sometimes exceeding those of the viceroy. Gálvez was given the task of reforming the finances of New Spain to increase its revenues for the crown — part of the energetic attempts to reorganize King Carlos III's government after the costly Seven Years' War, which had in 1762 seen the British capture both Havana, Spain's main Caribbean port, and Manila, Spain's governmental and commercial center in the Philippines and also resulted in Spain ceding Florida to Britain.James J. Rawls and Walton Bean. California: An Interpretive History, 8th edition. McGraw-Hill, 2003, p. 31.

As visitador, Gálvez instituted quick and decisive changes in tax collection, accounting, and jailed corrupt officials. He created a state monopoly of tobacco and imposed new taxes on pulque and flour. He also took measures to combat contraband and reformed the system of customs collection in Veracruz and Acapulco. (He ended the farming of customs.) He also established general accounting offices in the municipal governments. Government revenues rose from 6 million pesos in 1763 to 8 million in 1767 and 12 million in 1773. In 1765 Gálvez assisted in reorganizing the army, a project of viceroy Joaquín de Montserrat, marqués de Cruillas under the direction of general Juan de Villalva. When Cuillas opposed Gálvez's actions, he was soon replaced by a new viceroy, Carlos Francisco de Croix. Gálvez privileged peninsular-born Spanish merchants over American born, which had the effect of funneling capital into mining. He boosted the mining industry further by reducing the price of mercury, a crown monopoly, which allowed a greater volume of silver ore to be refined.Addy, "José de Gálvez", p. 11.

In 1767, Spain's king Carlos III decreed expulsion for the Jesuits throughout his empire. In Mexico, this decree led to riots and other disturbances. Gálvez suppressed these by summary trials and sentences of life imprisonment, mainly in San Luis Potosí, Guanajuato and parts of Michoacán.

Management of Baja California missions With the expulsion of the Jesuits from the Baja California peninsula, Gálvez engaged the Franciscan Order to take over the spiritual affairs of the missions there. Even after the arrival of Junípero Serra and his fellow Franciscan friars, the Spanish military — having evicted the Jesuits from the missions they had established — continued running the missions' practical business. In 1768, Gálvez toured the Baja chain of missions. Angered over the sloppy administration he found there, he reprimanded the soldier commissioners stationed at the missions. In August, he signed a decree turning all of Baja's missions — except mission Loreto — over fully to the Franciscan friars. He banned card-playing and gambling at mission settlements. Overruling the Franciscans' appeal for clemency for miscreant soldiers, Gálvez punished most of them by assigning them to the upcoming expedition to Alta California — and discharged the rest from military service.Maynard Geiger. The Life and Times of Fray Junípero Serra: The Man Who Never Turned Back. Academy of American Franciscan History, 1959, vol. 1, pp. 202, 203.

Continuing to manage Baja California affairs into 1769, Gálvez sought to balance scarce natural and human resources in the fragile chain of missions: Some missions lacked enough land and water to sustain all their Indian converts; other missions, endowed with ample land and water, lacked enough workers to cultivate their fields. Gálvez ordered Indians moved from one mission to another — despite the Indians' reluctance to leave their home villages — to correct such imbalances. He also had some young Indian orphans sent to Loreto for training in handling coastal boats and ships. Gálvez worked with the Franciscan president of the Baja missions, Junípero Serra, in his projects to improve the lives of the natives, whom he called "the poor Israelites." Yet he insisted that Baja Indians pay the royal tax, standing by his order despite Serra's efforts to persuade him that collecting such a tax would prove impractical.Maynard Geiger. The Life and Times of Fray Junípero Serra. Academy of American Franciscan History, 1959, vol. 1, pp. 202–203.

Plan to expand into upper California Ambitious to reinvigorate the imperial fortunes of New Spain, Gálvez proposed consolidating and developing the far northwest under a huge governmental unit to embrace the regions of Sinaloa, Sonora, Chihuahua, and the Californias — including claimed but unsettled upper (Alta) California. Playing on long-standing fears in Spain's ruling circles that rival powers would muscle in on territories Spain claimed along the Pacific coast, Gálvez spread rumors of schemes by the British and Dutch rulers to add California to their own empires.James J. Rawls & Walton Bean. California: An Interpretive History, 8th edition. McGraw-Hill, 2003, p. 32. Then, when a report arrived from the Spanish ambassador in Russia that Catherine the Great planned to establish settlements down the California coast towards Monterey, Gálvez trumpeted the Russian threat. King Carlos gave the go-ahead, and Gálvez prepared a series of expeditions of soldiers, sailors, artisans, Christian Indians and missionaries to push north into unexplored upper California. In 1768, Gálvez sailed from San Blas to Loreto to finish planning the coming year's expeditions.

To free the Franciscan missionaries from their posts in Baja California, Gálvez called upon friars of the Dominican Order to take charge of the Baja missions. Gálvez assigned Junípero Serra to head the missionary team in the Alta California expedition — without bothering to ask padre Serra if he agreed to his new mission.Herbert Ingram Priestly, José de Gálvez, Visitor-General of New Spain (1765-1771), University of California Press, 1916, pp. 253-4. As it turned out, Serra, eager to pioneer in evangelizing Indians in Alta California, readily joined in. Gálvez established a naval base at San Blas and, in 1768–9, organized sea and land expeditions up the California coast to the projected Spanish outpost at the harbor named Monterrey (originally spelled with a double "r") by Sebastián Vizcaíno in 1603. Gaspar de Portolá, governor of Las Californias, commanded the second overland expedition. Closely attending to the logistical details of the expeditions, Gálvez issued thorough instructions to the key officers and technicians. He ordered Miguel Costansó, the young engineer and cartographer, to make observations of the ports of San Diego and Monterey, compare his findings with the older sailing charts, draw new maps, and examine the countryside around both ports. Gálvez issued further instructions for building a proper fortification at Monterey; reconnoitering the ports of Monterey and San Francisco; and preparing detailed accounts destined for top officials in Mexico and Spain."Pedro Fages and Miguel Costansó: Two Early Letters From San Diego in 1769". Journal of San Diego History, vol. 21, no. 2, spring 1975. Translated and introduced by Iris Wilson Engstrand.

Expeditions from Baja to Alta California

On January 9, 1769, Gálvez, padre Serra and town dwellers gathered on the shore of La Paz to bless and send off the San Carlos, the expedition's flagship captained by Vicente Vila, a native of Andalusia. The hastily built galleon San Carlos, along with the two ships to follow — the San Antonio and San José — had arrived from San Blas leaking, requiring repairs at La Paz bay. Gálvez personally superintended the repairs and loading of the San Carlos, carrying some of the mission furniture aboard with his own hands.James J. Rawls & Walton Bean. California: An Interpretive History, 8th edition. McGraw-Hill, 2003, p. 35. In his speech on the shore, Gálvez proclaimed that the ship's crew, including Franciscan friar Fernando Parrón, had the mission of planting the holy cross among the Indians at Monterey. In the name of king Carlos and viceroy Carlos Francisco de Croix, Gálvez urged the explorers to keep peace among themselves and respect their chaplain, padre Parrón. When the San Carlos set sail, Gálvez followed in a launch to see the ship round Cabo San Lucas.Don DeNevi & Noel Francis Moholy. Junípero Serra: The Illustrated Story of the Franciscan Founder of California's Missions. Harper & Row, 1985, pp. 70-1.

On February 15, Gálvez dispatched the San Antonio, the second ship of the sea expedition, from Cabo San Lucas. Captain Juan Pérez, a native of Palma de Majorca, commanded the San Antonio. Franciscan friars Juan Vizcaíno and Francisco Gómez served as chaplains.Maynard Geiger. The Life and Times of Fray Junípero Serra: The Man Who Never Turned Back. Academy of American Franciscan History, 1959, vol. 1, p. 207. The third ship, the San José, disappeared at sea on the way to San Diego.James J. Rawls & Walton Bean. California: An Interpretive History, 8th edition. McGraw-Hill, 2003, p. 35.

While Gaspar de Portolá prepared his overland expedition to San Diego, Gálvez issued him strict instructions: