Andrés de Pez y Malzarraga (1657 - May 7, 1723) was a Spanish Naval commander and founder of

Pensacola Pensacola () is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle, and the county seat and only incorporated city of Escambia County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 54,312. Pensacola is the principal ci ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

Life and career

Andrés de Pez was born in

Cádiz Cádiz (, , ) is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the Province of Cádiz, one of eight that make up the autonomous community of Andalusia. Cádiz, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Western Europe, ...

in 1657 into a naval tradition. His father and older brother were Spanish Naval captains. By the age of 16, de Pez had also entered the

Spanish Navy The Spanish Navy or officially, the Armada, is the maritime branch of the Spanish Armed Forces and one of the oldest active naval forces in the world. The Spanish Navy was responsible for a number of major historic achievements in navigation, ...

, sailing to and from the Americas. In 1676, he fought the French in the

Battle of Palermo A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

, where his brother and father were killed. He then became a company commander in the Caribbean, guarding Spanish ships and colonies from foreign attackers and pirates. He earned a reputation for outstanding bravery and efficiency, being wounded five times. He was selected to explore and claim the largely unmapped coasts of the northern

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United ...

. He participated as second in command on three of these voyages between 1688 and 1689. Here he saw the opportunities of

Pensacola Bay Pensacola Bay is a bay located in the northwestern part of Florida, United States, known as the Florida Panhandle. The bay, an inlet of the Gulf of Mexico, is located in Escambia County and Santa Rosa County, adjacent to the city of Pensacola ...

as a deep-water bay that could be easily defended from approach with land. Pez sailed to Spain to convince the War Council of the need to establish a stronghold along the shores of Pensacola Bay. After much opposition, he finally received funds for an official reconnaissance of the bay, and a promotion to the rank of admiral. Admiral de Pez returned to New Spain (Mexico) in the fall of 1692 and began plans for the expedition that would lead to the first successful European colonization of Pensacola. De Pez sailed from ''Veracruz'' on March 25, 1693, taking with him the pre-imminent scientist and cartographer Don Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora. They carried with them 120 sailors and 20 infantrymen in two ships: the frigate, Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, and the sloop, San José. The expedition entered the bay on April 7. Sigüenza named the bay Bahía Santa María de Galve. De Pez returned to the south and commanded the entire Windward Fleet until 1701. During the

War of the Spanish Succession The War of the Spanish Succession was a European great power conflict that took place from 1701 to 1714. The death of childless Charles II of Spain in November 1700 led to a struggle for control of the Spanish Empire between his heirs, Phil ...

, he supported the Bourbon King

Philip V of Spain Philip V ( es, Felipe; 19 December 1683 – 9 July 1746) was King of Spain from 1 November 1700 to 14 January 1724, and again from 6 September 1724 to his death in 1746. His total reign of 45 years is the longest in the history of the Spanish mon ...

and fought the British, Dutch and Catalans who supported Charles VI of Austria. He served as captain general of the Indies fleet from 1708 to 1710. Pez became in 1715 a member of Spain's Supreme War Council. In 1717 he was named governor of the

Council of the Indies The Council of the Indies ( es, Consejo de las Indias), officially the Royal and Supreme Council of the Indies ( es, Real y Supremo Consejo de las Indias, link=no, ), was the most important administrative organ of the Spanish Empire for the Amer ...

, and was named secretary of state and navy in 1721.

Current Times

The all men's mardi gras krewe Andres de Pez pays homage to the honor and memory of Andres de Pez. The krewe members wear bright red tabards and traditional Spanish dress.

References

*Patricia K. Galloway: ''La Salle and His Legacy: Frenchmen and Indians in the Lower Mississippi Valley''. University Press of Mississippi 2006, , pp. 108–123 ()
Andrés de Pez

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pez, Andres De 1657 births 1723 deaths Spanish admirals