Esteban José Martínez Fernández y Martínez de la Sierra
Encyclopedia
Spanish people
The Spanish are citizens of the Kingdom of Spain. Within Spain, there are also a number of vigorous nationalisms and regionalisms, reflecting the country's complex history....
navigator
Navigator
A navigator is the person on board a ship or aircraft responsible for its navigation. The navigator's primary responsibility is to be aware of ship or aircraft position at all times. Responsibilities include planning the journey, advising the Captain or aircraft Commander of estimated timing to...
and explorer, native of Seville
Seville
Seville is the artistic, historic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. It is the capital of the autonomous community of Andalusia and of the province of Seville. It is situated on the plain of the River Guadalquivir, with an average elevation of above sea level...
. He was a key figure in the Spanish exploration of the Pacific Northwest
Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...
.
Training
In 1755 or 1756 Martínez joined the marine Colegio de San Telmo in Seville, a school for pilotos (a non-commissioned naval rank equivalent to MasterMaster (naval)
The master, or sailing master, was a historic term for a naval officer trained in and responsible for the navigation of a sailing vessel...
). By 1773 he was a piloto segundo (second class piloto) at the Naval Department of San Blas
San Blas, Nayarit
San Blas is both a municipality and municipal seat located on the Pacific coast of Mexico in the state of Nayarit.-City:San Blas is a port and a popular tourist destination, located about 100 miles north of Puerto Vallarta, and 40 miles west of the state capital Tepic. The town has a population of...
in the Viceroyalty of New Spain
New Spain
New Spain, formally called the Viceroyalty of New Spain , was a viceroyalty of the Spanish colonial empire, comprising primarily territories in what was known then as 'América Septentrional' or North America. Its capital was Mexico City, formerly Tenochtitlan, capital of the Aztec Empire...
(present day Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
).
Pacific Northwest
The Spanish had explored and claimed the Pacific Northwest region in 1774 under Juan PérezJuan José Pérez Hernández
Juan José Pérez Hernández , often simply Juan Pérez, was an 18th century Spanish explorer. He was the first European to sight, examine, name, and record the islands near present-day British Columbia, Canada...
, and in 1775 under Bruno de Heceta
Bruno de Heceta
Bruno de Heceta y Dudagoitia was a Spanish Basque explorer of the Pacific Northwest. Born in Bilbao of an old Basque family, he was sent by the Viceroy of New Spain, Antonio María Bucareli y Ursúa, to explore the area north of Alta California in response to information that there were colonial...
and Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra
Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra
Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra was a Spanish naval officer born in Lima, Peru. Assigned to the Pacific coast Spanish Naval Department base at San Blas, in the Viceroyalty of New Spain , this navigator explored the Northwest Coast of North America as far north as present day Alaska.Juan...
. In the 1774 Pérez expedition Martínez was second in command of the frigate Santiago. The expedition had the first recorded European contact with the indigenous Haida people of the Queen Charlotte Islands
Queen Charlotte Islands
Haida Gwaii , formerly the Queen Charlotte Islands, is an archipelago on the North Coast of British Columbia, Canada. Haida Gwaii consists of two main islands: Graham Island in the north, and Moresby Island in the south, along with approximately 150 smaller islands with a total landmass of...
in July 1774. The Russian America colonization in Alaska was a threat to Spanish territory claimed there and in the upper Pacific Northwest.
Nootka Sound
In 1789 the Viceroy of New Spain, Manuel Antonio FloresManuel Antonio Flores
Manuel Antonio Flores Maldonado Martínez Ángulo y Bodquín was a general in the Spanish navy and viceroy of New Granada and New Spain .-Early career:Flores entered the royal navy of Spain, where he commanded various...
, instructed Martínez to occupy Nootka Sound
Nootka Sound
Nootka Sound is a complex inlet or sound of the Pacific Ocean on the rugged west coast of Vancouver Island, in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Historically also known as King George's Sound, as a strait it separates Vancouver Island and Nootka Island.-History:The inlet is part of the...
, on Vancouver Island
Vancouver Island
Vancouver Island is a large island in British Columbia, Canada. It is one of several North American locations named after George Vancouver, the British Royal Navy officer who explored the Pacific Northwest coast of North America between 1791 and 1794...
in present day British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
, build a settlement and fort, and to make it clear that Spain was setting up a formal establishment. The Russians were threatening to take the sound, and in May 1788 the British fur trader John Meares
John Meares
John Meares was a navigator, explorer, and maritime fur trader, best known for his role in the Nootka Crisis, which brought Britain and Spain to the brink of war.- Career :...
had used Nootka Sound as a base of operations and claimed purchase of land there from the indigenous Nuu-chah-nulth people. Martínez, then ranked piloto primero and alférez de navío (Ensign or Sub-Lieutenant
Sub-Lieutenant
Sub-lieutenant is a military rank. It is normally a junior officer rank.In many navies, a sub-lieutenant is a naval commissioned or subordinate officer, ranking below a lieutenant. In the Royal Navy the rank of sub-lieutenant is equivalent to the rank of lieutenant in the British Army and of...
), lead an expedition that arrived at Nootka Sound in early 1789. The force consisted of the warship La Princesa
La Princesa (1778)
La Princesa was a Spanish frigate or corvette built at the Spanish Navy base at San Blas and launched in 1778. She is sometimes called a frigate and sometimes a corvette...
, commanded by Martínez, and the supply ship San Carlos, under Gonzalo López de Haro
Gonzalo López de Haro
Gonzalo López de Haro was a Spanish explorer, notable for his expeditions in the Pacific Northwest in the late 18th century....
. He gave Nootka Sound the name Puerto de San Lorenzo de Nuca. The expedition built a settlement there named Santa Cruz de Nuca, including houses, a hospital, and the presidio Fort San Miguel
Fort San Miguel
For Angola fort, see Fortaleza de São MiguelFort San Miguel was a Spanish fortification at Friendly Cove in Nootka Sound , Vancouver Island....
.
The Martínez expedition arrived at Nootka Sound on May 5, 1789. During the summer of 1789 a number of fur trading vessels, British and American, arrived at Nootka. The American captains headed warnings and left. A conflict over violating Spanish sovereignty rights of trade and navigation on the coast arose between the captain of John Meares' British Argonaut, James Colnett
James Colnett
James Colnett was an officer of the British Royal Navy, an explorer, and a maritime fur trader. He served under James Cook during Cook's second voyage of exploration...
and his claim of the Meares company land, and Martínez. By the end of the summer Martínez had arrested Colnett, seized several British ships, and arrested their crews. Martínez and the Spanish departed Nootka Sound in late summer 1789. They returned to San Blas, New Spain, with captured ships, including the British sloop Princess Royal
Princess Royal (sloop)
Princess Royal was a British merchant ship that sailed on fur trading ventures in the late 1780s, and was captured at Nootka Sound by Esteban José Martínez of Spain during the Nootka Crisis of 1789...
, and prisoners.
These events at Nootka Sound led to the Nootka Crisis
Nootka Crisis
The Nootka Crisis was an international incident and political dispute between the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Spain, triggered by a series of events that took place during the summer of 1789 at Nootka Sound...
, a conflict between the Kingdom of Spain and Kingdom of Great Britain
Kingdom of Great Britain
The former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...
about colonization and territorial access of the Pacific Northwest coast of North America. A series of Nootka Convention
Nootka Convention
The Nootka Conventions were a series of three agreements between the Kingdom of Spain and the Kingdom of Great Britain, signed in the 1790s which averted a war between the two empires over overlapping claims to portions of the Pacific Northwest coast of North America.The claims of Spain dated back...
s averted war. Martínez lost favor due to his actions in the incident, and with the appointment of a new Viceroy, Juan Vicente de Güemes, Count of Revillagigedo. In 1790 a new Spanish expedition under Francisco de Eliza
Francisco de Eliza
Francisco de Eliza y Reventa was a Spanish naval officer, navigator, and explorer. He is remembered mainly for his work in the Pacific Northwest...
reoccupied Nootka Sound, followed by Alessandro Malaspina
Alessandro Malaspina
Alessandro Malaspina was an Italian nobleman who spent most of his life as a Spanish naval officer and explorer...
in 1791 and Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra
Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra
Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra was a Spanish naval officer born in Lima, Peru. Assigned to the Pacific coast Spanish Naval Department base at San Blas, in the Viceroyalty of New Spain , this navigator explored the Northwest Coast of North America as far north as present day Alaska.Juan...
diplomatically implementing the Nootka Conventions in 1792.
See also
- Free Company of Volunteers of CataloniaFree Company of Volunteers of CataloniaThe Free Company of Volunteers of Catalonia was a military company of the Spanish Army serving in the Spanish colonial empire.-Origins:...
- MaquinnaMaquinnaMaquinna was the chief of the Nuu-chah-nulth people of Nootka Sound, during the heyday of the maritime fur trade in the 1780s and 1790s on the Pacific Northwest Coast...
- Pere d'Alberní i TeixidorPere d'Alberní i TeixidorDon Pedro de Alberni, sometimes known as Pere d'Alberní i Teixidor in Catalan was a Spanish soldier who served the Spanish Crown for almost all his life. He spent most of his military career in the Viceroyalty of New Spain...
- Princess Royal (sloop)Princess Royal (sloop)Princess Royal was a British merchant ship that sailed on fur trading ventures in the late 1780s, and was captured at Nootka Sound by Esteban José Martínez of Spain during the Nootka Crisis of 1789...
- Spanish expeditions to the Pacific Northwest
- History of British ColumbiaHistory of British ColumbiaBritish Columbia is the westernmost province in Canada. Originally politically constituted as a pair of British colonies, British Columbia joined the Canadian Confederation on July 20, 1871.-Early history :...