Almost everyone will have heard the legend of El Dorado (The Golden One), a lost city of gold hidden somewhere in South America’s interior. Over the years countless people have gone in search of this hidden city of extreme wealth with only one claiming to have found it.

Juan Martinez, a captain of munitions for the Spanish adventurer Diego de Ordaz claimed to have been carried down stream blindfolded by the locals for approximately 15 days before arriving at a city he described as being of an immense size.

It is now commonly accepted that the legend of El Dorado stemmed and evolved from a ritual where by a tribal chief (Zipa) of the Muisca people covered himself in gold dust before submerging himself into Lake Guatavita.

Despite this, people haven’t stopped looking for a lost city of gold and maybe they are right to pursue this dream. In 1977 Guimarães Cruz & Roland Stevenson found evidence of an extinct lake in northern Brazil that likely began to drain 700 years ago due to tectonic movements. Was this Lake Parime which El Dorado existed along it’s banks?

It was no secret to the Spanish conquistadors that the native peoples had an abundance of gold and silver to which they didn’t share the same sense of value to as the Spanish had which they believed suggested that they must have a plentiful source. As such many expeditions have been taken over the years in search of that source and El Dorado.

Between 1531 an 1532 Diego de Ordaz was the first to explore Orinoco River following it beyond the mouth of the Meta River before his search for gold was put to an end by the rapids at Atures. During Ortez’s expedition he had heard of a kingdom abundant in gold called Meta which existed beyond a mountain on the left bank of the Orinoco River.

The Search For El Dorado

Spanish conquistadores had noticed the native people’s fine artifacts of gold and silver long before any legend of “golden men” or “lost cities” had appeared. The prevalence of such valuable artifacts, and the natives’ apparent ignorance of their value, inspired speculation as to a plentiful source for them.^{[citation needed]}

Prior to the time of the Spanish conquest of the Muisca and discovery of Lake Guatavita, a handful of expeditions had set out to explore the lowlands to the east of the Andes in search of gold, cinnamon, precious stones, and anything else of value. During the Klein-Venedig period in Venezuela (1528–1546), agents of the German Welser banking family (which had received a concession from Charles I of Spain) launched repeated expeditions into the interior of the country in search of gold, starting with Ambrosius Ehinger‘s first expedition in July 1529.^{[citation needed]}

Spanish explorer Diego de Ordaz, then governor of the eastern part of Venezuela known as Paria (named after Paria Peninsula), was the first European to explore the Orinoco river in 1531–32 in search of gold. A veteran of Hernán Cortés’s campaign in Mexico, Ordaz followed the Orinoco beyond the mouth of the Meta River but was blocked by the rapids at Atures. After his return he died, possibly poisoned, on a voyage back to Spain.^[1] After the death of Ordaz while returning from his expedition, the Crown appointed a new Governor of Paria, Jerónimo de Ortal, who diligently explored the interior along the Meta River between 1532 and 1537. In 1535, he ordered captain Alonso de Herrera to move inland by the waters of the Uyapari River (today the town of Barrancas del Orinoco). Herrera, who had accompanied Ordaz three years before, explored the Meta River but was killed by the indigenous Achagua near its banks, while waiting out the winter rains in Casanare.^{[citation needed]}

Even before the conquest of the Aztec and Inca empires and the Muisca Confederation the Spanish collected vague hearsay about these polities and their riches.^[2] After the Inca Empire in Peru was conquered by Francisco Pizarro and its riches proved real, new rumours of riches reached the Spanish.^[3]

The earliest reference to an El Dorado-like kingdom occurred in 1531 during Ordaz’s expedition when he was told of a kingdom called Meta that was said to exist beyond a mountain on the left bank of the Orinoco River. Meta was supposedly abundant in gold and ruled by a chief that only had one intact eye.^[4]

Between 1531 and 1538, the German conquistadors Nikolaus Federmann and Georg von Speyer searched the Venezuelan lowlands, Colombian plateaus, Orinoco Basin and Llanos Orientales for El Dorado.^[5] Subsequently, Philipp von Hutten accompanied Von Speyer on a journey (1536–38) in which they reached the headwaters of the Rio Japura, near the equator. In 1541 Hutten led an exploring party of about 150 men, mostly horsemen, from Coro on the coast of Venezuela in search of the Golden City. After several years of wandering, harassed by the natives and weakened by hunger and fever, he crossed the Rio Bermejo, and went on with a small group of around 40 men on horseback into Los Llanos, where they engaged in battle with a large number of Omaguas and Hutten was severely wounded. He led those of his followers who survived back to Coro in 1546.^[6] On Hutten’s return, he and a traveling companion, Bartholomeus VI. Welser, were executed in El Tocuyo by the Spanish authorities.

In 1535, Sebastian de Benalcazar, a lieutenant of Francisco Pizarro, interrogated an Indian that had been captured at Quito. Luis Daza recorded that the Indian was a warrior while Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas wrote that the Indian was an ambassador who had come to request military assistance from the Inca, unaware that they had already been conquered. The Indian told Benalcazar that he was from a kingdom of riches known as Cundinamarca far to the north where a zipa, or chief, covered himself in gold dust during ceremonies.^[7] Benalcazar set out to find the chief, reportedly saying “Lets go find that golden Indian!” (Spanish: ¡Vámos a buscar a este indio dorado!),^[8] eventually the chief became known to the Spaniards came to know as El Dorado.^[9] Benalcazar failed however to find El Dorado and eventually joined up with Federmann and Gonzalo Jimenez de Quesada and returned to Spain.^[9] It has been speculated that the land of wealth spoken of by the Indian was Arma, a kingdom whose inhabitants wore gold ornaments, which was eventually conquered by Pedro Cieza de Leon.^[10]

In 1536 Gonzalo Díaz de Pineda had led an expedition to the lowlands to the east of Quito and had found cinnamon trees but no rich empire.

PIZARRO AND ORELLANA’S DISCOVERY OF THE AMAZON

See also: Amazon River § History

In 1540, Gonzalo Pizarro, the younger half-brother of Francisco Pizarro, the Spanish conquistador who toppled the Incan Empire in Peru, was made the governor of the province of Quito in northern Ecuador. Shortly after taking lead in Quito, Gonzalo learned from many of the natives of a valley far to the east rich in both cinnamon and gold. He banded together 340 soldiers and about 4000 natives in 1541 and led them eastward down the Rio Coca and Rio Napo. Francisco de Orellana accompanied Pizarro on the expedition as his lieutenant. Gonzalo quit after many of the soldiers and natives had died from hunger, disease, and periodic attacks by hostile natives. He ordered Orellana to continue downstream, where he eventually made it to the Atlantic Ocean. The expedition found neither cinnamon nor gold, but Orellana is credited with discovering the Amazon River (so named because of a tribe of female warriors that attacked Orellana’s men while on their voyage).

EXPEDITIONS OF PEDRO DE URSÚA AND LOPE DE AGUIRRE

In 1560, Basque conquistadors Pedro de Ursúa and Lope de Aguirre journeyed down the Marañón and Amazon Rivers, in search of El Dorado, with 300 Spaniards and hundreds of natives;^[11] the actual goal of Ursúa was to send idle veterans from the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire away, to keep them from trouble-making, using the El Dorado myth as a lure. A year later, Aguirre participated in the overthrow and killing of Ursúa and his successor, Fernando de Guzmán, whom he ultimately succeeded.^[12]^[13] He and his men reached the Atlantic (probably by the Orinoco River), destroying native villages of Margarita island and actual Venezuela.^[14] In 1561 Aguirre’s expedition ended with his death in Barquisimeto, and in the years since then he has been treated by historians as a symbol of cruelty and treachery in the early history of colonial Spanish America.

Sourced from: Wikipedia

REFERENCES:

John Hemming, Red Gold: The Conquest of the Brazilian Indians, 1500-1760,Harvard University Press, 1978. ISBN 0674751078
^de Gandía 1929, p. 106.
^ de Gandía 1929, p. 110.
^ Hemming 1978, p. 15.
^ Wilson, James Grant; Fiske, John, eds. (1900). “Spire, Georg von”. in Appletons’ Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton.
^ “Hutten, Philipp (Felipe Dutre, de Utre, de Ure), Conquistador, 1511 – 24.4.1546 in Venezuela.” Deutsche Biographie
^ John Hemming, The search for El Dorado pg 101-102.
^ de Gandía 1929, p. 113.
^ Jump up to:^a ^b Hemming 1978, pp. 91-95.
^ Hemming 1978, p. 85.
Beatriz Pastor; Sergio Callau (1 January 2011). Lope de Aguirre y la rebelión de los marañones. Parkstone International. pp. 1524–1525. ISBN 978-84-9740-535-5.
^ William A. Douglass; Jon Bilbao (2005). Amerikanuak: Basques in the New World. University of Nevada Press. p. 84. ISBN 978-0-87417-625-4.
^ Elena Mampel González; Neus Escandell Tur (1 January 1981). Lope de Aguirre: Crónicas, 1559-1561. Edicions Universitat Barcelona. p. 132. ISBN 978-84-85411-51-1.
^ Gabriel Sánchez Sorondo (1 January 2010). Historia oculta de la conquista de América. Ediciones Nowtilus S.L. p. 124. ISBN 978-84-9763-601-8.

Between 1538 and 1595 The Spanish Governor of Trinidad, Antonio de Berrio made three expeditions in search of El Dorado with the first two failing. During the third expedition his entire forces were captured by Walter Raleigh who took on the challenge of finding El Dorado with Berrio as his guide for several months before giving releasing him making the end of his third failed expedition.

Walter Raleigh inspired by the accounts of Juan Martinez who had seen El Dorado first hand in 1570. Raleigh believed that if he could locate Lake Parime in the highlands of Guyana he would be able to find the lost city.

His Lieutenant Lawrence Kemys mapped the local area with the help of tribes who detailed the routes they took by canoe along the rivers to a large body of water on the shores of which existed Manoa – El Dorado.

Though Raleigh never found El Dorado, he never gave up looking. Convinced he could find the lost city of gold he launched a second expedition in 1617 which ultimately resulted in the death of his son and his friend before being beheaded himself on his return to England.

Walter Raleigh

The Spanish Governor of Trinidad, Antonio de Berrio (nephew of Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada), made three failed expeditions to look for El Dorado. Between 1583 and 1589 he carried out his first two expeditions, going through the wild regions of the Colombian plains and the Upper Orinoco. In 1590 he began his third expedition, ascending the Orinoco to reach the Caroní River with his own expeditionaries and another 470 men under command of Domingo de Vera.^[1] In March 1591, while he was waiting for supplies on Margarita Island, his entire force was taken captive by Walter Raleigh, who proceeded up the Orinoco in search of El Dorado, with Berrio as a guide. Berrio took them to the territories he had previously explored by himself years before. After several months Raleigh’s expedition returned to Trinidad, and he released Berrio at the end of June 1595 on the coast of Cumaná in exchange for some English prisoners.^[2] His son Fernando de Berrío y Oruña (1577–1622) also made numerous expeditions in search of El Dorado.

Walter Raleigh‘s 1595 journey with Antonio de Berrio had aimed to reach Lake Parime in the highlands of Guyana (the supposed location of El Dorado at the time). He was encouraged by the account of Juan Martinez, believed to be Juan Martin de Albujar, who had taken part in Pedro de Silva’s expedition of the area in 1570, only to fall into the hands of the Caribs of the Lower Orinoco. Martinez claimed that he was taken to the golden city in blindfold, was entertained by the natives, and then left the city and couldn’t remember how to return.^[3] Raleigh had set many goals for his expedition, and believed he had a genuine chance at finding the so-called city of gold. First, he wanted to find the mythical city of El Dorado, which he suspected to be an actual Indian city named Manõa. Second, he hoped to establish an English presence in the Southern Hemisphere that could compete with that of the Spanish. His third goal was to create an English settlement in the land called Guyana, and to try to reduce commerce between the natives and Spaniards.

In 1596 Raleigh sent his lieutenant, Lawrence Kemys, back to Guyana in the area of the Orinoco River, to gather more information about the lake and the golden city.^[4] During his exploration of the coast between the Amazon and the Orinoco, Kemys mapped the location of Amerindian tribes and prepared geographical, geological and botanical reports of the country. Kemys described the coast of Guiana in detail in his Relation of the Second Voyage to Guiana (1596)^[5] and wrote that indigenous people of Guiana traveled inland by canoe and land passages towards a large body of water on the shores of which he supposed was located Manoa, Golden City of El Dorado.

Though Raleigh never found El Dorado, he was convinced that there was some fantastic city whose riches could be discovered. Finding gold on the riverbanks and in villages only strengthened his resolve.^[6] In 1617, he returned to the New World on a second expedition, this time with Kemys and his son, Watt Raleigh, to continue his quest for El Dorado. However, Raleigh, by now an old man, stayed behind in a camp on the island of Trinidad. Watt Raleigh was killed in a battle with Spaniards and Kemys subsequently committed suicide.^[5] Upon Raleigh’s return to England, King James ordered him to be beheaded for disobeying orders to avoid conflict with the Spanish.^[7] He was executed in 1618.

Sourced from: Wikipedia

REFERENCES:

Bell, Robert (1837). Lives of the British Admirals: Robert Devereux. Sir Walter Raleigh Volume 4. Longman. pp. 330–35.
^ Sir Walter Ralegh’s Discoverie of Guiana, Hakluyt Society, Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2006. ISBN 0904180875
^ Dotson, Eliane. “Lake Parime and the Golden City” (PDF). Wash Map Society. p. 4. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
^ “Raleigh’s Second Expedition to Guiana”. Guyana. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
^ Jump up to:^a ^b Laughton, John Knox (1885–1900). “Kemys, Lawrence (DNB00)”. Dictionary of National Biography. 30.
^ “Sir Walter Raleigh”. Learn NC. UNC School of Education. Archived from the original on 6 February 2018. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
^ Drye, Willie. “El Dorado Legend Snared Sir Walter Raleigh”. National Geographic. National Geographic Society. Archived from the original on 18 November 2010. Retrieved 15 February 2019.

1609 – Robert Harcourt and his brother Michael Harcourt explored Oyapock River.

1611 – Sir Thomas Roe sailed up the Amazon and took canoes up the Waipoco in search of Lake Parime.

1637 – Acana & Fritz, two monks went on several journeys in search of the Manoas and published accounts of their journeys.

1739 – Nicholas Horstman travelled up the Essequibo River discovering Lake Amuco.

1740 – Don Mamuel Centurion embarked on a journey up the Caura River and Paragua River.

1775 – Nicholas Rodriguez and Antonio Santos explored the Caroní River, the Paragua River, and the Pacaraima Mountains, reached the Uraricoera River and Rio Branco.

Post-Elizabethan expeditions

In 1535 Sebastian de Benalcazar a Lieutenant of Francisco Pizarro had learned of a kingdom known as Cundinamarca to the north where a chief known as the Zipa covered himself in gold dust during ceremonies. Learning this he set off in search of the Zipa exclaiming “¡Vámos a buscar a este indio dorado!” or “Lets go find that golden Indian!” Which is said to be where the term El Dorado came from.

The lake where the Zipa would submerge himself was found in 1537 by conquistador Gonzalo Jimenez de Quesada who then attempted to drain the lake but failed finding only the equivalent of 4000 pesos in gold.

In 1580 entrepreneur Antonio de Sepúlveda took an industrious attempt at draining the lake but only recovered approximately 12,000 pesos in golden ornaments, jewelry, and armor before too failing.

In 1801, Alexander Von Humboldt estimated the lake could hold $300 million worth of gold. In 1898 contractors from London decided to try their luck at recovering the gold. They successfully drained the lake to reveal 4 feet of mud and slime which in the sun became as hard as concrete. They were only able to recover approximately £500 worth of gold from the lake before filing for bankruptcy. In 1965 the Columbian government designated the lake as a protected area making salvage attempts illegal.

Lake Guatavita gold

While the existence of a sacred lake in the Eastern Ranges of the Andes, associated with Indian rituals involving gold, was known to the Spaniards possibly as early as 1531, its location was only discovered in 1537 by conquistador Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada while on an expedition to the highlands of the Eastern Ranges of the Andes in search of gold.^[2]

Conquistadores Lázaro Fonte and Hernán Perez de Quesada attempted (unsuccessfully) to drain the lake in 1545 using a “bucket chain” of labourers. After 3 months, the water level had been reduced by 3 metres, and only a small amount of gold was recovered, with a value of 3000–4000 pesos (approx. US$100,000 today; a peso or piece of eight of the 15th century weighs 0.88 oz of 93% pure silver).^{[citation needed]}

A later more industrious attempt was made in 1580, by Bogotá business entrepreneur Antonio de Sepúlveda. A notch was cut deep into the rim of the lake, which managed to reduce the water level by 20 metres, before collapsing and killing many of the labourers. A share of the findings—consisting of various golden ornaments, jewellery and armour—was sent to King Philip II of Spain. Sepúlveda’s discovery came to approximately 12,000 pesos. He died a poor man, and is buried at the church in the small town of Guatavita.

In 1801, Alexander von Humboldt made a visit to Guatavita, and on his return to Paris, calculated from the findings of Sepúlveda’s efforts that Guatavita could offer up as much as $300 million worth of gold.^[1]

In 1898, the Company for the Exploitation of the Lagoon of Guatavita was formed and taken over by Contractors Ltd. of London, in a deal brokered by British expatriate Hartley Knowles. The lake was drained by a tunnel that emerged in the centre of the lake. The water was drained to a depth of about 4 feet of mud and slime.^{[citation needed]} This made it impossible to explore, and when the mud had dried in the sun, it had set like concrete. Artifacts worth only about £500 were found, and auctioned at Sotheby’s of London. Some of these were donated to the British Museum.^[3] The company filed for bankruptcy and ceased activities in 1929.

In 1965, the Colombian government designated the lake as a protected area. Private salvage operations, including attempts to drain the lake, are now illegal.^{[citation needed]}

Sourced from: Wikipedia

REFERENCES:

Humboldt, Alexander von, Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of America During the Years 1799-1804, (chapter 25). Henry G. Bohn, London, 1853.
Hemming, John. “The Draining of Lake Guatavita” (PDF). SA Explorers. Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 August 2014. Retrieved 15 February2019.
^ “Guatavita, Lake”. British Museum Collection. Trustees of the British Museum. Retrieved 15 February 2019.

Although the legend of El Dorado is now written off as a myth stemming from the ritual of the Zipa at Lake Guatavita there are still some unanswered questions that give some possible hope to treasure hunters. Such as the eye witness account of Juan Martinez which inspired so many to go in search for the lost city of gold.

Lake Parime was dismissed as a myth along with El Dorado in the 19th century. However, in 1977 Brazillian Geologists found that the surrounding hillsides in northern Brazil share a horizontal line at 120 meters above sea level suggestive of an extinct lake with a surface area of approximately 80,000 square kilometers that would have existed until recent times. A lake of this size in this area would match those maps that depict Lake Parime from the 16th century.

In 2019 the ISS (International Space Station) detected deposits of hold along the amazon river which may have, like those findings of gold before along the rivers could have been washed up on the shore of the lake before being carried by streams and rivers out of the mountains.

With Spaniards such as Pizzaro having found so much gold in the possession of the northern and western native inhabitants and their cities it would it then not make sense for their to be a central location of wealth to the inlands an El Dorado?

There Is Still Hope?

Adam is an avid treasure hunter, seeker of adventure and the creator of Areas Grey. After travelling for almost half his life and cataloguing over 100 treasure legends along the way. He decided this was simply far too much treasure for one person to chase! As a result he created Areas Grey so he could share his stories, connect with other treasure hunters and put a little more adventure in the lives of the treasure hunting community.

Adam is a Private Investigator and former Wilderness Guide with a passion for history and archaeology. With the skills, knowledge and gear, Adam is always eager to go on the next fortune seeking adventure and connect with fellow treasure hunters along the way.

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El Dorado

The Golden One

Overview

Almost everyone will have heard the legend of El Dorado (The Golden One), a lost city of gold hidden somewhere in South America’s interior. Over the years countless people have gone in search of this hidden city of extreme wealth with only one claiming to have found it.

Juan Martinez, a captain of munitions for the Spanish adventurer Diego de Ordaz claimed to have been carried down stream blindfolded by the locals for approximately 15 days before arriving at a city he described as being of an immense size.

It is now commonly accepted that the legend of El Dorado stemmed and evolved from a ritual where by a tribal chief (Zipa) of the Muisca people covered himself in gold dust before submerging himself into Lake Guatavita.

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The Legend

The legend of El Dorado lured European explorers to South America for over two centuries with stories of precious stones and an abundance of gold coins being found inspiring their efforts.

One such story came from the deathbed of Juan Martinez a captain of munitions for Diego de Ordaz. After Martinez had escaped a death sentence by escaping down river in a canoe he was taken to the city by locals.

Numerous expeditions took place since then fueled by the belief that a hidden city of gold of extreme wealth must exist in the interior of South America. However, all pursuits to find the treasure have ended in failure.

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The Treasure

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Expeditions

Walter Raleigh inspired by the accounts of Juan Martinez who had seen El Dorado first hand in 1570. Raleigh believed that if he could locate Lake Parime in the highlands of Guyana he would be able to find the lost city.

His Lieutenant Lawrence Kemys mapped the local area with the help of tribes who detailed the routes they took by canoe along the rivers to a large body of water on the shores of which existed Manoa – El Dorado.

Though Raleigh never found El Dorado, he never gave up looking. Convinced he could find the lost city of gold he launched a second expedition in 1617 which ultimately resulted in the death of his son and his friend before being beheaded himself on his return to England.

Many more expeditions have taken place between 1609 and now in the name of El Dorado:

A scientific survey of the Guyana River basins and lakes were carried out by Alexander Von Humboldt between 1799 and 1804 in which he concluded that Lake Parime and El Dorado were nothing but myths.

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Conclusion

The lake where the Zipa would submerge himself was found in 1537 by conquistador Gonzalo Jimenez de Quesada who then attempted to drain the lake but failed finding only the equivalent of 4000 pesos in gold.

In 1580 entrepreneur Antonio de Sepúlveda took an industrious attempt at draining the lake but only recovered approximately 12,000 pesos in golden ornaments, jewelry, and armor before too failing.

In 2019 the ISS (International Space Station) detected deposits of hold along the amazon river which may have, like those findings of gold before along the rivers could have been washed up on the shore of the lake before being carried by streams and rivers out of the mountains.

With Spaniards such as Pizzaro having found so much gold in the possession of the northern and western native inhabitants and their cities it would it then not make sense for their to be a central location of wealth to the inlands an El Dorado?

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Director of Areas Grey

Adam is a Private Investigator and former Wilderness Guide with a passion for history and archaeology. With the skills, knowledge and gear, Adam is always eager to go on the next fortune seeking adventure and connect with fellow treasure hunters along the way.

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“There is a place called Metza whose inhabitants built a temple dedicated to the sun and keep in it an infinite quantity of gold and jewels, and live in stone houses, go about dressed and booted, and fight with lances and maces.”

– Gonzalo Jimenez de Quesada, 1536

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