1564-1622

Spanish Jesuit priest and explorer who was the first European to locate the source of the Blue Nile near Lake Tana, Ethiopia, in 1618. Another Jesuit priest, Father Jeronymo Lobo, wrote Voyage Historique, a book about Páez's discovery. Father Páez was a prisoner in Arabia for several years before he traveled to Ethiopia, where he converted the emperor to Roman Catholicism. After the emperor's death, Father Páez and many other Catholic priests were executed.