Maynas was one of the missions the Jesuits created in South America

South America

South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

. The missionaries started their descent from Quito

Quito

San Francisco de Quito, most often called Quito , is the capital city of Ecuador in northwestern South America. It is located in north-central Ecuador in the Guayllabamba river basin, on the eastern slopes of Pichincha, an active stratovolcano in the Andes mountains...

 in Ecuador

Ecuador

Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...

 mostly using the Rio Napo as their route. They used the common missionary techniques, found in other Jesuit missions like Paraguay

Paraguay

Paraguay , officially the Republic of Paraguay , is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest. Paraguay lies on both banks of the Paraguay River, which runs through the center of the...

, Chiquitania, Moxos

Moxos people

The Moxos, also known as the Mojos, are an indigenous people living around the head-waters of the Madeira River in northern Bolivia, particularly on both banks of the Mamore River. They submitted to Inca domination, but in 1564 gallantly repulsed the Spaniards. A century later, however, the Jesuits...

 or Orinoco

Orinoco

The Orinoco is one of the longest rivers in South America at . Its drainage basin, sometimes called the Orinoquia, covers , with 76.3% of it in Venezuela and the remainder in Colombia...

. A difference from other areas was that the Indians belonged to different tribes and languages.

The missions expanded under Samuel Fritz

Samuel Fritz

Samuel Fritz was a Czech Jesuit missionary, noted for his exploration of the Amazon River and its basin.-Life:Fritz was born at Trautenau, Bohemia. He joined the Society of Jesus in 1673. In 1684 he was sent to Quito as a missionary. For forty-two years Fritz acted in this capacity among the...

 SJ (who traveled all the way to Belem

Belem

Belem or Belém may refer to:* Belém, capital city of the Brazilian state of Pará* Belem , a three-masted barque from France* Belém, Alagoas, a municipality located in the Brazilian state of Alagoas...

 and drew the first map of the Amazon) up to what is today Manaos. This provoked trouble with Portuguese slave traders, who travelled from Belem upstream. It never was as stable or prosperous as the missions in Paraguay, but as one result Portuguese influence was stopped, and the upper parts of the Amazon basin fell to Spanish-speaking countries.

After the expulsion of the Jesuits, Maynas came under the control of Franciscan

Franciscan

Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....

s from Oacampa-Peru. This was one of the reasons the border and the ownership of Maynas in the post-colonial time was unclear. It provoked several wars between the two countries, before 1996 (Cenepa).