Teodoro de Croix (June 20, 1730 in Prévoté Castle, near Lille, France – 1792 in Madrid) was a Spanish soldier and colonial official in New Spain and Peru.

The Commandancy General of the Provincias Internas del Norte (Commandancy General of the Internal Provinces of the North) was established in New Spain in 1776, incorporating Nueva Vizcay, Santa Fe de Nuevo México, Nuevo León, Coahuila, Sonora y Sinaloa, Las Californias, and Spanish Texas.

[1] This arrangement was a response to numerous attacks by Apaches, Seris, Comanches, and other Indigenous tribes and to the fear of encroachment by other European powers.

[1] On May 16, 1776, King Charles III of Spain named Brigadier Teodoro de Croix the first commandant general of the new jurisdiction.

[1] He replaced Hugo Oconór, an appointee of New Spain Viceroy Antonio María de Bucareli y Ursúa, in charge of Spanish forces on the northern frontier.

On October 24, 1781, the king approved the separation of the Californias as a jurisdiction at the level of the Provincias Internas de Occidente.

As viceroy he sent naval officer José de Moraleda y Montero to draw new maps of Chiloé Archipelago and neighboring waters in northern Patagonia.