Captain Don Gaspar de Portolà statue

Gaspar de Portolà i Rovira (1716 – 1784) was a soldier, governor of Baja and Alta California (1767–1770), explorer and founder of San Diego and Monterey. He was born in Os de Balaguer, province of Lleida, in Catalonia, Spain, of Catalan nobility. Don Gaspar served as a soldier in the Spanish army in Italy and Portugal. He was commissioned ensign in 1734, and lieutenant in 1743, and died in Spain in 1784.