The Portolá expedition was a Spanish voyage of exploration in 1769–1770 that was the first recorded European exploration of the interior of the present-day California. It was led by Gaspar de Portolá, governor of Las Californias, the Spanish colonial province that included California, Baja California, and other parts of present-day Mexico and the United States. The expedition led to the founding of Alta California and contributed to the solidification of Spanish territorial claims in the disputed and unexplored regions along the Pacific coast of North America.
Although already inhabited by Native Americans, the territory that is now California was claimed by the Spanish Empire in 1542 by right of discovery when Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo explored the Pacific coast. Cabrillo's exploration laid claim to the coastline as far north as forty-two degrees north latitude. This northern limit was later confirmed by the United States in the 1819 Adams–Onís Treaty.
A competing claim was established for England in 1579 by the privateer Francis Drake, who followed the trans-Pacific route from the Philippines established by the Manila galleons and reached the California coast near Cape Mendocino, from which he then sailed south along the coast at least as far as Point Reyes. In 1596, a Portuguese captain sailing for Spain, Sebastião Rodrigues Soromenho (Spanish: Sebastián Rodríguez Cermeño) explored some of the same coastline, leaving a description of coastal features. The Portolà expedition carried a copy of Soromenho's writings to guide them along the coast.
Soromenho was followed in 1602 by Sebastián Vizcaíno, whose coastal explorations in 1602 surveyed several California locations for future colonization, including San Diego, the California Channel Islands and Monterey. Vizcaíno sailed north from Mexico (as Cabrillo had done), a much more difficult undertaking because of the prevailing winds and ocean currents. After Vizcaíno, however, the Spanish Empire did little to protect or settle this region for the next 160 years, and accomplished almost no exploration by land. Affairs in Europe took precedence, keeping all of the maritime powers occupied. The little settlement that did occur included the establishment of several missions on the Baja California peninsula by Spanish Jesuit missionaries.
Then, in 1767, Charles III of Spain expelled the Jesuit order from the Spanish kingdom. Gaspar de Portolà, a Catalan military officer and colonial administrator, was appointed governor of the new province of Las Californias and sent to dispossess the Jesuits and replace them with Franciscans, who would set up their own network of missions in the colony. Gaspar came from a military background and had served as a captain of the dragoons of the Regiment of Spain immediately before being appointed governor. When he first sailed to Baja California as the new governor he brought with him 25 dragoons and 25 infantrymen in order to help him with his expulsion of the Jesuits and, eventually, the further exploration of the rest of California. His military background would prove very helpful during the expedition.
Decision to send an expedition
By the late 1760s, the Spanish king and a handful of other European rulers began to realize the importance the Pacific coast of North America would have in maritime trade and activity. The Russians had been advancing south from their strongholds in present-day Alaska, and the British had been pushing west in Canada and were approaching the Pacific coast. In order to secure Spain's claims in California, Charles III wanted to explore and settle the coastline so that he could create a buffer zone to protect Spain's territories from the threat of invasion.
Upon hearing about the king's desire to explore Alta California, New Spain's visitador (inspector general) José de Gálvez organized an exploratory expedition and placed Governor Portolà in overall command. The plan called for a joint land-sea movement up the Pacific coast. The job of the ships was to keep the land contingent supplied with provisions and to carry communications between them and New Spain. Portolà decided to travel by land.
The expedition's original assignment was to travel to the "port of Monterey" described by Vizcaíno and establish a settlement there. After that, the explorers were to continue north to locate Soromenho's "Bay of San Francisco", chase away any Russians encountered, claim the area for Spain and determine whether the bay would make a good port.
The first leg of the expedition consisted of five groups all departing from Baja California and heading north for San Diego. Three groups traveled by sea while two others traveled by land in mule trains. Three galleons, hastily built in San Blas, set sail for San Diego in early 1769: the San Carlos, captained by Vicente Vila, a lieutenant of the royal navy (whose diary survives); the San Antonio, captained by Juan Pérez, a native of Palma de Majorca; and the San José. All three ships, crossing the Gulf of California from San Blas, arrived leaking on the east coast of Baja, requiring repairs there.
On the shore of La Paz on January 9, 1769, friar Junípero Serra blessed the flagship San Carlos and its chaplain, friar Fernando Parrón. José de Gálvez, addressing the men waiting to board, declared their final destination as Monterey and their mission to plant the holy cross among the Indians. Friar Parrón boarded the San Carlos along with captain Vicente Vila, followed by lieutenant Pedro Fages with his 25 Catalan volunteers; cartographer Miguel Costansó, who made maps and drawings to describe the journey; surgeon Pedro Prat; and a crew of 23 sailors, plus two blacksmiths, two boys, four cooks, and mate Jorge Estorace – a crew of 62 in all. Weighing anchor, the San Carlos headed south down the Gulf of California to round Cabo San Lucas and then head north along the Pacific coast.
On February 15, Gálvez dispatched the San Antonio, captained by Juan Pérez, from Cabo San Lucas; Franciscan friars Juan Vizcaíno and Francisco Gómez served as chaplains. With sailors plus cooks, carpenters and blacksmiths, the San Antonio carried a total of around 30 men. These ships left ahead of the land groups. The San Carlos and San Antonio were followed by an additional supply ship, the San José, which was named after the patron saint of the Portolà expedition, Saint Joseph. The San José never reached San Diego and was presumed lost at sea.
Captain Fernando Rivera, moving north through Baja California, gathered horses and mules from the fragile chain of Catholic missions to supply his overland expedition. José de Gálvez had ordered Rivera to requisition horses and mules from the missions without endangering their survival and to give the friars receipts for the number of animals taken; those missions would later get restocked with animals brought over from the Mexican mainland. Friar Juan Crespí, selected as chaplain for the Rivera party and diarist for the Franciscan missionaries, traveled for 24 days from Mission La Purísima, approximately 400 miles (640 km) north to Velicatá, then the northern frontier of Spanish settlement in Baja California. There Crespí met up with the Rivera party, which set out from Velicatá on March 24.
Portolà himself led the second land group, which set out from Loreto on March 9. Junípero Serra, assigned by José de Gálvez to head the Franciscan missionary team into Alta California, joined the Portolà party as chaplain and diarist. The 55-year-old Serra suffered a chronic infection of his left foot and leg, which Portolà believed had now become cancerous. He tried to dissuade Serra from joining the expedition, but Serra refused to withdraw; he told Portolà to go ahead, saying he would follow and meet up with Portolà on the frontier. Meanwhile, Serra assigned friar Miguel de la Campa from Mission San Ignacio to join the Portolà party. The party, driving a supply train and food animals, included 25 leather-jacket soldiers under sergeant José Francisco Ortega; muleteers; artisans; and 44 Christian Indians from Baja California, acting as servants and interpreters to communicate with Indians along the way. This group traveled slower than the Rivera party. Serra, trekking much of the way on a broken-down mule, finally caught up with Portolà, De la Campa and the other members of their party on May 5, just south of Velicatá. Following the trail blazed by the Rivera party, and less burdened by livestock, the Portolà party moved somewhat faster. Even so, they had an arduous trek over deserts and through ravines.