Juan de Ugarte was a Jesuit missionary

Missionary

A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...

-explorer in Baja California Sur

Baja California Sur

Baja California Sur , is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. Before becoming a state on October 8, 1974, the area was known as the South Territory of Baja California. It has an area of , or 3.57% of the land mass of Mexico and comprises...

, Mexico, and the successor to Juan María de Salvatierra

Juan María de Salvatierra

Juan María de Salvatierra was a Catholic missionary to the Americas.His family was of Spanish origin, the name being written originally Salva-Tierra. Born in Milan, Italy, he studied in the Jesuit college of Parma. It was there that he accidentally came across a book upon the "Indian missions,"...

 as head of the peninsula's missions.

Ugarte was born in Tegucigalpa

Tegucigalpa

Tegucigalpa , and commonly referred as Tegus , is the capital of Honduras and seat of government of the Republic, along with its twin sister Comayagüela. Founded on September 29, 1578 by the Spanish, it became the country's capital on October 30, 1880 under President Marco Aurelio Soto...

, Honduras

Honduras

Honduras is a republic in Central America. It was previously known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became the modern-day state of Belize...

. His younger brother, Pedro de Ugarte, was also a Jesuit missionary in Baja California

Baja California

Baja California officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is both the northernmost and westernmost state of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1953, the area was known as the North...

.

Juan de Ugarte was initially the procurador for the newly established California missions in 1697–1700. As such, he was stationed in Mexico City, administering the Pious Fund

Pious Fund of the Californias

The Pious Fund of the Californias, is a fund, originating in 1697, to sponsor the Roman Catholic Jesuit Spanish missions in Baja California, and Franciscan Spanish missions in Alta California in the Viceroyalty of New Spain from 1769 to 1823, and originally administered by the Jesuits...

 of private donations that supported the missions and seeing to the logistical support necessary to sustain them.

In 1701, Ugarte went to the peninsula as its third missionary, following in the footsteps of Salvatierra and Francisco María Piccolo

Francisco María Piccolo

Francisco María Piccolo was one of the first Jesuit missionaries in Baja California Sur, Mexico. His letters and reports are important sources for the ethnography and early history of the peninsula....

. First at Loreto and then at San Javier

Misión San Francisco Javier de Viggé-Biaundó

Misión San Francisco Javier de Viggé-Biaundó was a Spanish mission in San Javier, Baja California Sur, Mexico.-Origins:The Spanish mission of San Francisco Javier was initially founded by the Jesuit missionary Francisco María Piccolo in 1699 at a spring called Biaundó by the native Cochimí, about 8...

 (1702–1730), among the Cochimí

Cochimi

The Cochimí are the aboriginal inhabitants of the central part of the Baja California peninsula, from El Rosario in the north to San Javier in the south....

 Indians, Ugarte was an able and energetic leader in the expansion and development of the mission system. He served as visitador or superior for the missions in Salvatierra's absence and after the latter's death in 1717.

Ugarte led several expeditions of overland exploratio to seek out mission or visita sites in the region surrounding San Javier. More spectacularly, he oversaw the construction of a ship, "El Triunfo de la Cruz", from locally harvested lumber called Gueribo found at La Sierra "La Giganta". In September 1720, Ugarte sailed his new ship from Loreto to La Paz

Misión de Nuestra Señora del Pilar de La Paz Airapí

Mission La Paz was established by the Jesuit missionaries Juan de Ugarte and Jaime Bravo in 1720, at the location of the modern city of La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico....

 to help found a new mission there. In the following year, he sailed to the head of the Gulf of California

Gulf of California

The Gulf of California is a body of water that separates the Baja California Peninsula from the Mexican mainland...

, trying to resolve the longstanding question of whether California was an island

Island of California

The Island of California refers to a long-held European misconception, dating from the 16th century, that California was not part of mainland North America but rather a large island separated from the continent by a strait now known instead as the Gulf of California.One of the most famous...

or a peninsula.