José de Bustamante

José de Bustamante y Guerra (1 April 1759 – 10 March 1825)[1] was a Spanish Navy officer, explorer and politician.

He fought in the Mediterranean Sea against Berber pirates, at the end of his studies there he embarked on the Santa Inés, bound for the Philippines.

In 1784, with a brilliant service record, he became employed as a frigate captain, and entered as a knight of the Order of Santiago on October 21, 1784.

The Expedition had a select team composed of the best officers of the moment, who were joined by botanists, painters, doctors and other enlightened humanists.

[4] From 1789 to 1794 Bustamante and Malaspina sailed Atlantic Ocean and throughout the Pacific Ocean, stopping at nearly all the Spanish colonies and exploring little known areas such as the Spanish America (Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Patagonia, Islas Malvinas/Falkland Islands, Chiloé island, Talcahuano, Valparaiso, Santiago de Chile, El Callao, Guayaquil, Nueva Granada, Acapulco, California) to Pacific Northwest northwest step or connection between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans (Alaska), and Spanish Asia (Filipinas, Marshall and Marianas Islands), Macao on the coast of china, New Guinea, Celebes, Molucas and Tonga Islands, New Zealand, and Australia.

Between Valparaíso and Callao, Peru, Malaspina again investigated offshore islands while Bustamante continued charting the coast.

[8] At a time of great independence activity; he develops a reformist policy of enlightened style, but before the revolution of Hidalgo and Morelos in Mexico he prepared troops in Guatemala and created the "Fernando VII volunteer corps" and from his position he confronted the insurgents by repressing them.

In his will he donates a large amount of money to support the children's schools in Ontaneda, founded by Francisco, his brother.