- published: 06 May 2015
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Antonio de Ulloa y de la Torre-Girault (12 January 1716 – 3 July 1795) was a Spanish general, explorer, author, astronomer, colonial administrator and the first Spanish governor of Louisiana.
Ulloa was born in Seville, Spain. His father was an economist. Ulloa entered the navy in 1733. In 1735, he, along with fellow Spaniard Jorge Juan, was appointed to the French Geodesic Mission, a scientific expedition which the French Academy of Sciences was sending to present-day Ecuador to measure a degree of meridian arc at the equator.
He remained there from 1736 to 1744, during which the two Spaniards discovered the element platinum. In 1745, having finished their scientific labours, Ulloa and Jorge Juan prepared to return to Spain, agreeing to travel on different ships in order to minimize the danger of losing the important fruits of their labours.
The ship upon which Ulloa was travelling was captured by the British, and he was taken to England as a prisoner. In that country, through his scientific attainments, he gained the friendship of the men of science, and was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of London. In a short time, through the influence of the president of this society, he was released and was able to return to Spain. He published an account of the people and countries he had encountered during the French Geodesic Mission (1748), which was translated into English as A Voyage to South America.