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The Portolá expedition was the first recorded Spanish (or any European) land entry and exploration of the present-day state of California, in 1769–1770, and paved the way for Spanish colonization of Las Californias Province in the Viceroyalty of New Spain (colonial Mexico). It was led by Gaspar de Portolá, governor of ''Las Californias'', the Spanish colonial province (part of New Spain) that included California, Baja California and other western areas of present-day Mexico and the United States. ==Background== Although it was 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 of North America. This initial exploration by Cabrillo laid claim to the coastline as far north as forty-two degrees north latitude. A competing claim was established for England by the privateer Francis Drake, who followed the route from the Philippines across the Pacific established by the Manila Galleons, reaching the California coast near Cape Mendocino and sailing south along the coast at least as far as Point Reyes in 1579. In 1596, a Portuguese captain sailing for Spain, Sebastião Rodrigues Soromenho (Spanish: Cermeño) explored some of the same coastline, leaving a description of coastal features. The Portolá expedition carried a copy of Cermeño's writings to guide them along the coast. Cermeño was followed in 1602 by Sebastián Vizcaíno, whose coastal explorations in 1602 surveyed several California locations for future colonization, including San Diego, Santa Barbara 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 achieved by Spain was the establishment of several missions on the Baja California peninsula by Jesuit missionaries. Then, in 1767 Carlos III of Spain expelled the Jesuit order from the Spanish kingdom. Don Gaspar de Portolá was appointed governor of California, sent to dispossess the Jesuits and replace them with Franciscans who would set up their own network of missions in California.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Portolá expedition」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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