24 Facts About Samuel Fritz

Samuel Fritz SJ was a Bohemian Jesuit missionary, noted for his exploration of the Amazon River and its basin.

Samuel Fritz spent most of his life preaching to Indigenous communities in the western Amazon region, including the Omaguas, the Yurimaguas, the Aisuare, the Ibanomas, and the Ticunas.

Samuel Fritz was effective and respected, and helpful to the Viceroyalty of Peru in its boundary dispute with the State of Brazil.

Samuel Fritz taught for several years at the Jesuit seminaries in Uherske Hradiste and Breznice, eventually becoming deputy rector at Brno where he conducted the student orchestra.

Samuel Fritz established himself among the Omaguas and within a few years had developed his own Omagua catechism in the Omagua language.

When Samuel Fritz arrived in their territory in 1686, the Omagua inhabited the islands in the middle of the Amazon River, in a region stretching approximately from the confluence of the Amazon and Napo River to the Jurua River.

Samuel Fritz set off downstream "in the hope of getting some remedy for my sufferings," reaching the mouth of the Rio Negro after three weeks.

Samuel Fritz made use of this time to prepare a map of the river.

Samuel Fritz was accompanied for part of his return journey by a contingent of Portuguese soldiers, with whom he visited fortresses at Gurupa and Tapajos.

Poorly equipped with instruments, Samuel Fritz completed a comparatively accurate chart of the course of the Amazon from Belem to Quito.

Samuel Fritz's maps were the first approximately correct charts of the Maranon territory, and are noteworthy for their relatively precise delineation of the contours and proportions of the South American continent.

Samuel Fritz's intention was to obtain military and financial support from the colonial and royal authorities for the development of his missions among the tribes of the frontier.

Samuel Fritz himself felt strongly that his map was far more accurate than other contemporary maps of the Amazon, writing:.

One prominent error in the map is the inclusion of Lake Parime, of which Samuel Fritz knew only through hearsay, and which had been sought unsuccessfully since Sir Walter Raleigh had surmised its existence in 1595.

In 1692, upon his return from being held prisoner by the Portuguese, Samuel Fritz discovered that an Omagua cult had grown up around claims that he possessed supernatural powers related to curing, rites of passage, and the movement of rivers, and a belief that Samuel Fritz himself was immortal.

Samuel Fritz wanted larger communities centered around a chapel or a church, and he recommended that these communities be defensible against the Portuguese slavers.

Nonetheless, the Portuguese demanded that Samuel Fritz relocate his mission upstream, warning him that if he were caught by the Portuguese in that region, he would be sent to prison in Portugal.

Samuel Fritz journeyed to Quito to request a small military force to quell the revolt, and subsequently instituted annual visits by secular military forces to intimidate the Omaguas and stave off potential uprisings.

Samuel Fritz attempted to persuade the Omaguas to return to the mission and even promised a pardon for Chief Payoreva.

In 1704 Samuel Fritz succeeded Gaspar Vidal as Jesuit Superior relocating to Santiago de la Laguna on the Huallaga River.

Samuel Fritz left responsibility for the Omagua missions to the Sardinian Father Juan Baptista Sanna who had begun working among the Omagua people in 1701.

Samuel Fritz wrote to the Portuguese commander begging him to desist, but the Portuguese destroyed several Yurimagua and Omagua communities.

Samuel Fritz was imprisoned in Portugal for a short time and eventually sent on a mission to Japan.

Samuel Fritz died some time between 1725 and 1730 in a mission village of the Jivaro Indians, attended by a priest named Wilhelm de Tres.