Charles Brentan

* Komárom, 23 August 1694 – † near Genoa, 19 November 1752 / Jesuit missionary, traveler ; ; He studied at the college in Nagyszombat, then entered the Jesuit order in 1714. After completing the missionary training in Seville, he sailed to South America, to Quito, in 1724. He worked as a missionary among the Indian tribes living around the Marañon River, studied their language, customs, and lifestyle, compiled a catechism for them in their native language, and founded new reductions (missionary colonies). He studied the flora and fauna of the area, taught the native Indians European methods of farming, and also drew maps of the region. In 1744, he was appointed provincial of the Quito area, and during his four-year assignment, he visited all the important regions of the province entrusted to his care. After that, in 1748, he was sent to Rome as an envoy. Károly Brentán set out on a unique route: sailing along the Amazon (as the first Hungarian, amidst many hardships!) he reached the port of Grão Pará, from where he arrived in Europe, Italy, on board a Portuguese sailing ship in 1751. In addition to his diplomatic activities, he primarily prepared for publication a volume compiled from his notes made during his missionary work. The title of the work, planned for two volumes, was to be Marannonensium S. J. Missionum generalis Historia iconibus illustrata, and he intended to include drawings and maps. He set off for Genoa to print the book, but he died unexpectedly in an inn on the way, and his manuscript was lost. Only the map intended as an appendix has survived, and this was first published in Quito and then in Rome. Long after his death, Oloyola's work Amazonici Prolusiones, a history of the Jesuit missions in the Amazon region, was published, which is probably not the same as the manuscript that disappeared near Genoa.