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Ambrosio de Funes Villalpando, count of Ricla (born in Zaragoza, Spain, in 1720; died in Madrid in 1782), was a captain general of Cuba, from 1763 to September 1766. Prior to that, he had represented Spain at the court of Russia.
After returning to Spain, he was appointed as Viceroy of Navarre, Capitan General of Catalonia and, lastly, served Carlos III as his Secretary of War.
Villalpando entered the Spanish Army, and in 1760 was appointed to represent Spain at the court of Russia. In July 1763, after Great Britain defeated France in the Seven Years' War, it also signed the Treaty of Paris with Spain, settling control of territories in North America. France ceded its territories east of the Mississippi River to Britain, and West Louisiana (and Caribbean islands) to Spain. The count of Ricla took possession of the island of Cuba in the name of the king of Spain as governor and captain general.
Villalpando served in this office until September 1766. During his short administration he improved defenses: repairing the fortifications of the city of Havana, and beginning construction of the great fortress known as La Cabaña. In addition, he improved government administration, organizing the department of finances, the police, the militia, and the hospitals. In 1764 he founded the newspaper La Gaceta de la Havana (Havana Gazette).
After his return in Spain, Villalpando was appointed as Viceroy of Navarra, and Capitain General of Catalonia. During the reign of Carlos III, Villalpando served in the cabinet as Secretary of War.
Villalpando died in Madrid on July 15, 1782, at age 62.
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Leopoldo O'Donnell y Jorris, 1st Duke of Tetuán, GE, was a Spanish general and statesman who was Prime Minister of Spain on several occasions.
Alejandro O'Reilly, 1st Count of O'Reilly, KOA, English: Alexander, Count of O'Reilly, Irish: Alastar Ó Raghallaigh, was an Irish-born military reformer and Inspector-General of Infantry for the Spanish Empire in the second half of the 18th century. O'Reilly served as the second Spanish governor of colonial Louisiana, and is the first Spanish official to exercise power in the Louisiana territory after France ceded it to Spain following defeat by Great Britain in the Seven Years' War. For his much appreciated services to the Crown of Spain, O'Reilly was ennobled as a conde (count), and granted a coat of arms.
Richard Wall y Devereux was a Spanish-Irish cavalry officer, diplomat and minister who rose in Spanish royal service to become Chief Minister. He is usually referred to as Ricardo Wall.
Francisco Serrano Domínguez Cuenca y Pérez de Vargas, 1st Duke of la Torre, Grandee of Spain, Count of San Antonio was a Spanish marshal and statesman. He was Prime Minister of Spain in 1868–69 and regent in 1869–70.
Francisco Fernández de la Cueva y Enriquez de Cabrera, 8th Duke of Alburquerque, 6th Marquess of Cuéllar, 8th Count of Ledesma, GE, KOS was a Spanish military officer and viceroy of New Spain from August 15, 1653 to September 15, 1660. He was also viceroy of Sicily from 1668 to 1670.
Juan Francisco de Güemes y Horcasitas was a Spanish general, governor of Havana, captain general of Cuba, and viceroy of New Spain.
Havana Cathedral is one of eleven Catholic cathedrals on the island. It is located in the Plaza de la Catedral on Calle Empedrado, between San Ignacio y Mercaderes, Old Havana. The thirty by forty-nine meters rectangular church serves as the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Cristobal de la Habana. Christopher Columbus’ remains were kept in the cathedral between 1796 and 1898 before they were taken to Seville Cathedral.
Antonio María de Bucareli y Ursúa was a Spanish military officer, governor of Cuba, and Viceroy of New Spain (1771–1779) during the time of Spanish colonization of California. He was Knight of Justice of the Order of Malta.
Pedro Mendinueta y Múzquiz was a Spanish lieutenant general and colonial official. From January 2, 1797 to 1803 he was viceroy of New Granada. He was a knight of the Order of Santiago, and he was awarded the Gran Cruz of Carlos III.
Don José de Solano y Bote Carrasco y Díaz, Marquess of Socorro, was a Spanish naval officer.
The Spanish–Portuguese War between 1762 and 1763 was fought as part of the Seven Years' War. Because no major battles were fought, even though there were numerous movements of troops and heavy losses among the Spanish invaders—decisively defeated in the end—the war is known in the Portuguese historiography as the Fantastic War.
The Captaincy General of Cuba was an administrative district of the Spanish Empire created in 1607 as part of Habsburg Spain's attempt to better defend and administer its Caribbean possessions. It also involved creating captaincies general in Puerto Rico, Guatemala and Yucatán. The restructuring of the Captaincy General in 1764 was the first example of the Bourbon Reforms in America. The changes included adding the provinces of Florida and Louisiana and granting more autonomy to these provinces. This later change was carried out by the Count of Floridablanca under Charles III to strengthen the Spanish position vis-a-vis the British in the Caribbean. A new governor-captain general based in Havana oversaw the administration of the new district. The local governors of the larger Captaincy General had previously been overseen in political and military matters by the president of the Audiencia of Santo Domingo. This audiencia retained oversight of judicial affairs until the establishment of new audiencias in Puerto Príncipe (1800) and Havana (1838). In 1825, as a result of the loss of the mainland possessions, the Spanish government granted the governors-captain generals of Cuba extraordinary powers in matters of administration, justice and the treasury and in the second half of the 19th century gave them the title of Governor General.
Juan Procopio de Bassecourt Thieulaine y Bryas López de Ochoa, was Baron of Maials, Count of Santa Clara an office he assumed before the Spanish Cession enacted by the Adams-Onís Treaty of 1819, Captain General of Cuba, and Captain General of Catalonia. While he was Captain General of Cuba he was responsible for the construction or improvement of numerous fortifications in Havana, including the Santa Clara Battery.
Diego Mexía Felípez de Guzmán y Dávila, 1st Marquess of Leganés (1580–1655) was a Spanish politician and army commander.
Captaincies were military and administrative divisions in colonial Spanish America and the Spanish Philippines, established in areas under risk of foreign invasion or Indian attack. They could consist of just one province, or group several together. These captaincies general should be distinguished from the ones given to almost all of the conquistadores, which was based on an older tradition. During the Reconquista, the term "captain general" and similar ones had been used for the official in charge of all the troops in a given district. This office was transferred to America during the conquest and was usually granted along with the hereditary governorship to the adelantado in the patent issued by the Crown. This established a precedent that was recognized by the New Laws of 1542, but ultimately the crown eliminated all hereditary governorships in its overseas possessions.
Ambrosio Bernardo O'Higgins, 1st Marquess of Osorno born Ambrose Bernard O'Higgins, was an Irish-Spanish colonial administrator and a member of the O'Higgins family. He served the Spanish Empire as captain general of Chile (1788–1796) and viceroy of Peru (1796–1801). Chilean independence leader Bernardo O'Higgins was his son.
Joaquín Ezpeleta Enrile was a Spanish politician and Spanish Army general officer who served as the 15th President of the Spanish Senate.
The Campo de Marte is a park in Havana, Cuba. It was built in the 1790s as a military practice range by the Spanish governtment; it was expanded in 1793 by Belgian engineer Agustin Cramer, and later the Bishop Espada improved the lighting of the Campo. It was Captain General Don Miguel Tacón who included it within the scope of his embellishment program. The area was then fenced and four majestic gates, crowned with coats of arms, each representing an important personality: the north gate, Hernán Cortés; the south one, Francisco Pizarro; and the east and west gates, Captain General Miguel Tacón y Rosique (1834-1838), and Christopher Columbus respectively.
