Francisco Gil de Taboada y Lemos (in full Francisco Gil de Taboada y de Lemos y Villa Marín) (September 24, 1733 in Santa María de Soto Longo, Galicia, Spain – 1809 in Madrid) was a Spanish naval officer and colonial administrator in South America. He was briefly viceroy of New Granada in 1789, and from March 25, 1790 to June 6, 1796 he was viceroy of Peru. After his viceregal service he returned to Spain, where he became a member of the governing junta after King Ferdinand VII was forced to abdicate by Napoleon. He was director general of the Spanish Royal Navy. Background Francisco Gil de Taboada y Lemos was born in 1733 (some sources say 1736 or 1737) in Galicia, Spain. He became a knight of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem at age 16. He entered the navy as a cadet at Cádiz on October 27, 1752. He was promoted to lieutenant de navio September 3, 1767. During this period he sailed the Mediterranean, the Atlantic and the Pacific. He was promoted to commander in 1770 and to captain in 1776. From January 5, 1774 to February 1, 1777 he was Spanish governor of the Malvinas Islands (Falklands). On February 17, 1779 he was named captain of the recently created Company of Naval Cadets of the Department of Ferrol. He remained in this position until he was appointed viceroy and captain general of New Granada and president of the Audiencia of Santa Fe de Bogotá by Antonio Valdez, minister of the Indies (1788). By this time he was commander of a squadron. As viceroy of New Granada He took up his new position in January 1789, and served there only until July, when he was named viceroy of Peru and president of the Audiencia of Lima. On March 4, 1789 he was promoted to lieutenant general. As viceroy of Peru In Peru he introduced administrative reforms, encouraged literature and the arts, and sent out exploring expeditions. In addition to being a career naval officer who had fought in Algeria, Normandy, Gibraltar and Sicily, Gil de Taboada was also a man of letters. In Peru, he was distinguished by his support for the arts, as well as science and exploration. He supported the foundation of the newspaper El Mercurio Peruano in 1791 and founded the Academy of Fine Arts. He founded an anatomy center and a hospital,