Gaspar de Portolá (1767-1784) was a Spanish soldier, leader, and explorer.

He was born to a family of nobility around 1723. His family was well established in Catalonia, a province of Spain.

Portolá was appointed Governor of Las Californias from 1768-1770 and founded Monterey and San Diego (California).

Portola was an able organizer and a good leader. In 1768, he volunteered to lead an expedition being planned by Jose de Galvez, the Spanish Inspector General. It would include soldiers, settlers and missionaries to create bases up the California coast in San Diego and Monterey.

The expedition of four parts began in January, 1769. The departure of the first ship was from La Paz. There were two land expeditions, one led by Portola which included Father Junipero Serra, and two by sea, aboard the ships San Carlos and the San Antonio. They were all to meet at San Diego and by early July, all four expeditions had arrived.

Portola was anxious to head on for Monterey and left San Diego with Father Crespi among a party of 63 men on July 14th, 1769. The land expedition traveled north from San Diego, reached Los Angeles on August 2, Santa Barbara on the 19th, and the San Simeon/Ragged Point area on September 13th. They reached the mouth of the Salinas River on Oct. 1, but fog obscured the Santa Cruz shore, making the rough bay look like open ocean. They reached Santa Cruz on October 18th and the San Francisco Bay area on October 31. They realized they had missed the harbor of Monterey and did not find it on their return to San Diego. The difficult journey had lasted six months and they had failed to reach their goal of finding Monterey.

A second expedition was begun on April 16, 1770 when The San Antonio departed for Monterey. On board were Father Serra, Miguel Costanso, military engineer and cartographer, and Don Pedro Prat, army surgeon, along with a cargo of stores for the new mission at Monterey. The land expedition left the following day, led by Gaspar de Portolá, with Lt. Pedro Fages, twelve Catalonian volunteers, seven soldiers, five Baja California Indians and two muleteers. Father Crespi served as the expedition's chaplain. This land expedition followed the same route as it had the previous winter returning from Monterey. After 36 days on the road, with only two days of rest, they arrived in Monterey on May 24, 1770.

During 1776, the year the United States was formed, Captain Gaspar de Portola founded San Francisco's Mission Dolores.