thumb|Ivan Ratkaj, memorial portrait with scenes of his life, 1727 '''Ivan Ratkaj''' (22 May 1647{{sfn|Čizmić|Klemenčič|2002|p=761}} – 26 December 1683), also '''Ivan Rattkay''', was a Croatian Jesuit missionary, explorer and cartographer.<ref name=HRCAK>{{cite web |url= https://hrcak.srce.hr/file/30812 |title= Croatian and Slovene Missionaries as Inventors and Explorers of the American West and Midwest |last= Čizmić |first= Ivan |date= |website= Croatian Scientific and Professional Journals |publisher= |access-date= November 20, 2025 |quote=}}</ref> He wrote the first detailed description of the Tarahumara, a Native Mexican people.
==Biography== thumb|left|Map of the Tarahumara Province titled ''Mappa circum iacentes regiones (tarahumaras)'',{{sfn|Čizmić|Klemenčič|2002|p=762}} drawn by Ratkaj in 1683. The original is kept in the central Jesuit archives in Rome.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kartografija.hr/old_hkd/hrvkart/ratkaje.htm|title=Ratkaj, Ivan|work=kartografija.hr|publisher=Croatian Cartographic Society|accessdate=26 March 2021}}</ref> Ratkaj was born in Ptuj (Duchy of Styria, now northeastern Slovenia) to the Ratkaj noble family, barons of Veliki Tabor. After graduating from the Gymnasium, he joined the Society of Jesus in 1664.{{sfn|Čizmić|Klemenčič|2002|p=761}} In Graz, he studied philosophy and theology. He also taught Latin for a short time at gymnasiums in Gorizia and Zagreb.{{sfn|Čizmić|Klemenčič|2002|p=762}} When he graduated, his superiors wanted him to continue teaching, but they eventually granted his wish and sent him to be a missionary in Mexico in 1680.
Ratkaj arrived at Veracruz in September 1680.{{sfn|Čizmić|Klemenčič|2002|p=762}} In his reports, written in the form of a diary, he described his sea voyage to Mexico, the land route to the native province of Tarahumara in the north of Mexico (modern-day Mexican state of Chihuahua) and the customs and life of the Tarahumara people. He also drew a map of the region with missions and Spanish forts.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://povijest.hr/nadanasnjidan/barun-ivan-ratkaj-hrvatski-isusovac-istrazivac-meksika-1647/ |title= Ivan Ratkaj - Explorer and Cartographer of Mexico, 1647 |author=<!--Not stated--> |date= |website= Povijest |publisher= |access-date= November 20, 2025 |quote=}}</ref>
Ratkaj provided the first ethnographic and geographic presentation of the Tarahumara. He learned the native language in a month and moved to Tutuaca, a mission in a poor mountainous area. His reports betray an open curiosity: he noted all kinds of details, not only of nature, but also of the natives and their life. He mostly tries to show the Tarahumara in an objective light. He presents the Tarahumara as a "mild and civilized" people as opposed to some neighboring tribes. But they are "fiercely addicted to magic" like other tribes. He describes his role as spreading God's name among the pagans. He also urged them to abstain from drinking and dissolution.
He died suddenly in Carichic, aged only 36. According to some sources, the Indians may have been given him poisoned water to drink, but his contemporaries do not confirm this.{{sfn|Čizmić|Klemenčič|2002|p=762}}
==References== {{reflist}}
==Sources== * {{cite journal|url=https://hrcak.srce.hr/19677|title=Croatian and Slovene missionaries as inventors and explorers of the American West and Midwest|journal=Društvena istraživanja|volume=11|issue=4–5 (60–61)|date=October 2002|last1=Čizmić|first1=Ivan|last2=Klemenčič|first2=Matja|pages=761–783|format=PDF|access-date=16 April 2018}} * ''Na sprudu neznanoga žala'' (On the Beach of an Unknown Shore) - A radio play inspired by Ratkaj's missionary work
==Further reading== * {{cite journal|url=https://www.bib.irb.hr/625460|title=Missionary Cartography of the Tarahumara: With Special Regard to the Map of Ivan Rattkay|last=Slukan-Altić|first=Mirela|journal=The Portolan|publisher=Washington Map Society|year=2013|volume=86 |issue=86|pages=36–49}}
==External links== {{Commonscat}} * [http://www.artresor.hr/hr/knjige/1002/Izvjesca-iz-Tarahumare ''Izvješća iz Tarahumare''] (Reports from Tarahumara) - The 1998 edition of Ratkaj's report in Croatian, German and Latin; ed. by Mijo Korade; ArTresor naklada
{{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Ratkaj, Ivan}} Category:1647 births Category:1683 deaths Category:Croatian emigrants to Mexico Category:Croatian explorers Category:17th-century Croatian people Category:People from Ptuj Category:Croatian Roman Catholic missionaries Category:Jesuit missionaries in New Spain Category:Croatian cartographers Category:17th-century Croatian Jesuits