a Spanish general, explorer, author, astronomer, colonial administrator and the first Spanish governor of Louisiana. He became prominent as a scientist and was appointed to serve on various important scientific commissions. He is credited with the establishment of the first museum of natural history, the first metallurgical laboratory in Spain, and the observatory of Cadiz. He published Relación histórica del viaje á la América Meridional, which contains a full, accurate, and clear description of the greater part of South America geographically, and of its inhabitants and natural history.
