Besides the maps drawn by Fr. Marcus Antonius Kappus, SJ, Fr. Eusebio Kino, SJ, Fr. Ferdinand Konšcak, SJ, and Fr. Martino Martini, SJ the following is especially of note:

Father Samuel Fritz, SJ
(1654-1728)

  
ECUADOR, 1986, Fritz's map of source of the Amazon in the upper right, Scott 1141

Born in Bohemia in 1654, Fritz entered the Jesuits in 1673 and was sent to the missions at Quito in 1683. He labored among the natives for the next 42 years converting among others the powerful Omaguas and establishing some 40 settlements for his converts. He learned languages quickly and treated the natives with a natural and delicate tact. Border disputes arose between the Spanish and the Portuguese and he was called upon in 1687 to begin mapping the disputed missionary territory between Peru and Quito. This involved a daring trip down the Amazon and imprisonment by the Spaniards on suspicion of being a spy. But the outcome was the first relatively accurate map of the headwaters of the Amazon, seen in part in the upper right stamp of the above block of four. It shows the importance of the Marañon as the main river and source of the Amazon. The map was printed in Quito in 1707 and is important in the annals of cartography. More

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