Bruno de Heceta (Hezeta) y Dudagoitia (1743–1807) was a SpanishBasque explorer of thePacific Northwest. Born inBilbao of an old Basque family,^[1] he was sent by theviceroy ofNew Spain,Antonio María Bucareli y Ursúa, to explore the area north ofAlta California in response to information that there werecolonial Russian settlements there.

The Spanish claim to Alaska and the Pacific Northwest dated back to the 1493papal bull (Inter caetera) and rights contained in the 1494Treaty of Tordesillas. These two formal acts formed the basis of Spain's claim of the exclusive right to colonise all of the Western Hemisphere (excluding present-day Brazil), including all of thewest coast of North America. The first European expedition to actually reach the Pacific coast was led by the SpaniardVasco Núñez de Balboa, which reached the western coast of present-day Panama in 1513. Balboa claimed the Pacific Ocean for the Spanish Crown, as well as all the lands touching it. This action of Balboa further solidified the Spanish claim of exclusive control over the entire west coast of North America.

Confident of their claims, the Spanish Empire did not explore or settle the northwest coast of North America in the 250 years after Balboa's claim. By the late 18th century, however, learning ofRussian andBritish arrivals along thePacific Northwest and Alaskan coasts, Spain finally grew sufficiently concerned about their claims to the region and set out to determine the extent of any Russian or British encroachment.

A first expedition led byJuan José Pérez Hernández in 1774 with just one ship, the frigateSantiago (aliasNueva Galicia^[2]), did not reach as far north as planned. Thus, in 1775, when a small group of officers from Spain reached the Pacific port ofSan Blas in the Viceroyalty of New Spain (present-day Mexico), the viceroy placed one of them, Bruno de Heceta, in charge of a second expedition. This expedition was to have two ships, with the second a smaller ship that could explore in shallower waters.

Heceta was given command of theSantiago. Accompanying Heceta was theschoonerSonora (aliasFelicidad,^[3] also known asNuestra Señora de Guadalupe) initially under the command ofJuan Manuel de Ayala. The 36-foot-long (11 m)^[4]Sonora, with a crew of 16, was to perform coastal reconnaissance and mapping, and could make landfall in places the largerSantiago was unable to approach on its previous voyage. In this way, the expedition could officially lay claim to the lands of northern New Spain it visited.

The two ships sailed together as far north asPunta de los Martires (or "Point of the Martyrs"), present dayPoint Grenville in the U.S. state ofWashington, named by Heceta in response to an attack by the localQuinaultNative Americans.

By design, the vessels parted company on the evening of 30 July 1775, with theSantiago continuing north, to what is today the border between Washington and British Columbia, Canada. TheSeñora, with second officerJuan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra at the helm, following its orders continuing further north up the coast, ultimately reaching a position atlatitude 59° north on 15 August 1775, enteringSitka Sound near the present-day town ofSitka, Alaska. There, and near a Russian settlement on present dayKodiak Island, the Spaniards performed numerous "acts ofsovereignty" claiming the territory. Bodega y Quadra namedPuerto de Bucareli (present-dayBucareli Bay, Alaska),Puerto de los Remedios, andCerro San Jacinto, which was renamedMount Edgecumbe three years later in 1778 by English explorerJames Cook.

On his return journey south, still with only the largerSantiago and a reduced crew, Heceta discovered a large bay penetrating far inland. He was the first European to sight the mouth of theColumbia River. He tried to sail in, but the strong currents prevented it, even under a full press of sails. His crew was so reduced that they could not handle the anchor, so he could not easily wait for better conditions. He wrote that the seething currents led him to believe it was the mouth of a great river or a passage to another sea. Later, he guessed it to be theStrait of Juan de Fuca. He named the entrance bayBahia de la Asunción and produced a map of what he could discern from outside theColumbia Bar. Later Spanish maps often showed the Columbia River's estuary with the nameEntrada de Hezeta,Rio de San Roque, and other similar variants.^[5]

Throughout the voyage, the crews of both vessels endured many hardships, including food shortages and scurvy. On 8 September 1775, the ships rejoined and headed south for the return trip to San Blas.

Subsequently, Heceta returned to Spain, fighting in various naval battles against France and Great Britain in Europe. He died there in 1807 with the rank of lieutenant general.

Heceta Island in Alaska, andHeceta Head and theHeceta Head Light on theOregon Coast, are named after him.^[6] In Oregon it is pronounced "Ha–SEE–Ta" and in Alaska it is pronounced "HECK–ah–Ta."

• Spanish expeditions to the Pacific Northwest

• Hezeta, Bruno de (1985).For honor & country : the diary of Bruno de Hezeta. H. K. Beals. Portland, Or.: Western Imprints.ISBN 0-87595-120-1.OCLC 11915690.
• Martín-Merás, María Luisa."Bruno Heceta Dudagoitia y de Fontecha".Real Academia de la Historia (in Spanish).
• Pethick, Derek (1976).First approaches to the Northwest coast. Vancouver, B.C.: J.J. Douglas.ISBN 0-88894-056-4.OCLC 2686027.
• Tovell, Freeman M. (1995)."The Hezeta-Bodega Voyage of 1775: Its Significance for Spain's Presence in the Pacific Northwest".Terrae Incognitae.27 (1):57–65.doi:10.1179/tin.1995.27.1.57.ISSN 0082-2884.
• Tovell, Freeman (2008).At the Far Reaches of Empire: the life of Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra. Vancouver: UBC Press.ISBN 978-0-7748-5595-2.

• "Historylink.org: Bruno de Heceta essay".

• Spanish explorers of North America
• Explorers of Alaska
• Explorers of the Pacific Northwest
• 18th-century Spanish explorers
• Spanish people in New Spain
• 1743 births
• 1807 deaths
• People from Bilbao
• 19th-century Spanish people
• Spanish history in the Pacific Northwest

• CS1 maint: location missing publisher
• CS1 Spanish-language sources (es)
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from September 2025
• Pages where birth or death is being automatically determined
• Articles with hCards
• Pages using infobox person with deprecated parameters