Tag: Mesoamerican

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El Dorado

The Golden One

I.

II.

III.

IV.

V.

VI. 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.

This Muisca raft figure is on display in the Gold Museum, Bogotá, Colombia.

Pedra Pintada in Roraima, Brazil

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?

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The Legend

Nieuwe caerte van het Wonderbaer ende Goudrjcke Landt Guiana by Jodocus Hondius (1598) shows the city of Manoa on the northeastern shore of Lake Parime

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.

Claiming to have been blindfolded and carried for 15 days before being shown around an enormous city named Manoa. This city of Manoa also known as El Dorado was marked on several maps during the 16th and 17th centuries until Alezander Von Humboldt allegedly disproved El Dorado’s existence during his expedition between 1799 and 1804.

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

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.

Nicolas Sanson’s 1656 map showing the “lake or sea called by the Caribes, Parime, by the Iaoyi, Roponowini.” Manoa or El Dorado is located on the northwest corner of the lake. To the north is Lake Cassipa.

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.

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Expeditions

Trinidad and Tobago stamp featuring the ‘Discovery of Lake Asphalt by Raleigh, 1595’

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.

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

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.

Robert Schomburgk, 1865

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.

Post-Elizabethan expeditions

On 23 March 1609, Robert Harcourt accompanied by his brother Michael and a company of adventurers, sailed for Guiana. On 11 May he arrived at the Oyapock River. Local people came on board, and were disappointed at the absence of Sir Walter Raleigh after he had famously visited during his exploration of the area in 1595. Harcourt gave them aqua vitae. He took possession in the king’s name of a tract of land lying between the River Amazon and River Essequibo on 14 August, left his brother and most of his company to colonise it, and four days later embarked for England.^[2]

In early 1611 Sir Thomas Roe, on a mission to the West Indies for Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales, sailed his 200-ton ship, the Lion’s Claw, some 320 kilometres (200 mi) up the Amazon,^[3] then took a party of canoes up the Waipoco (probably the Oyapock River) in search of Lake Parime, negotiating thirty-two rapids and traveling about 160 km (100 mi) before they ran out of food and had to turn back.^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7]

In 1627 North and Harcourt, obtained letters patent under the great seal from Charles I, authorising them to form a company for “the Plantation of Guiana”, North being named as deputy governor of the settlement. Short of funds, this expedition was fitted out, a plantation established in 1627, and trade opened by North’s endeavours.^[2]

In 1637-38, two monks, Acana and Fritz, undertook several journeys to the lands of the Manoas, indigenous peoples living in western Guyana and what is now Roraima in northeastern Brazil. Although they found no evidence of El Dorado, their published accounts were intended to inspire further exploration.^[8]

In November 1739, Nicholas Horstman, a German surgeon commissioned by the Dutch Governor of Guiana, traveled up the Essequibo River accompanied by two Dutch soldiers and four Indian guides. In April 1741 one of the Indian guides returned reporting that in 1740 Horstman had crossed over to the Rio Branco and descended it to its confluence with the Rio Negro. Horstman discovered Lake Amucu on the North Rupununi but found neither gold nor any evidence of a city.^[9]

In 1740, Don Manuel Centurion, Governor of Santo Tomé de Guayana de Angostura del Orinoco in Venezuela, hearing a report from an Indian about Lake Parima, embarked on a journey up the Caura River and the Paragua River, causing the deaths of several hundred persons. His survey of the local geography, however, provided the basis for other expeditions starting in 1775.^[1]

From 1775 to 1780, Nicholas Rodriguez and Antonio Santos, two entrepreneurs employed by the Spanish Governors, set out on foot and Santos, proceeding by the Caroní River, the Paragua River, and the Pacaraima Mountains, reached the Uraricoera River and Rio Branco, but found nothing.^[10]

Between 1799 and 1804, Alexander von Humboldt conducted an extensive and scientific survey of the Guyana river basins and lakes, concluding that a seasonally-flooded confluence of rivers may be what inspired the notion of a mythical Lake Parime, and of the supposed golden city on the shore, nothing was found.^[1] Further exploration by Charles Waterton (1812)^[11] and Robert Schomburgk (1840)^[12] confirmed Humboldt’s findings.

GOLD STRIKES AND THE EXTRACTIVE WEALTH OF THE RAINFOREST

By the mid-1570s, the Spanish silver strike at Potosí in Upper Peru (modern Bolivia) was producing unprecedented real wealth.^{[citation needed]}

In 1603, Queen Elizabeth I of England died, bringing to an end the era of Elizabethan adventurism. A bit later, in 1618, Sir Walter Raleigh, the great inspirer, was beheaded for insubordination and treason.^{[citation needed]}

In 1695, bandeirantes in the south struck gold along a tributary of the São Francisco River in the highlands of State of Minas Gerais, Brazil. The prospect of real gold overshadowed the illusory promise of “gold men” and “lost cities” in the vast interior of the north.^{[citation needed]}

The gold mine at El Callao (Venezuela), started in 1871, a few miles at south of Orinoco River, was for a time one of the richest in the world, and the goldfields as a whole saw over a million ounces exported between 1860 and 1883.^{[citation needed]} The immigrants who emigrated to the gold mines of Venezuela were mostly from the British Isles and the British West Indies.^{[citation needed]}

The Orinoco Mining Arc (OMA),^[13] officially created on February 24, 2016 as the Arco Mining Orinoco National Strategic Development Zone, is an area rich in mineral resources that the Republic of Venezuela has been operating since 2017;^[14]^[15] occupies mostly the north of the Bolivar state and to a lesser extent the northeast of the Amazonas state and part of the Delta Amacuro state. It has 7,000 tons of reserves of gold, copper, diamond, coltan, iron, bauxite and other minerals.^{[citation needed]}

It appears today that the Muisca obtained their gold in trade, and while they possessed large quantities of it over time, no great store of the metal was ever accumulated.^{[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.
From Robert Harcourt (explorer): Goodwin, Gordon (1890). “Harcourt, Robert” . In Stephen, Leslie; Lee, Sidney (eds.). Dictionary of National Biography. 24. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
Cardoso, Alírio (2011). “A conquista do Maranhão e as disputas atlânticas na geopolítica da União Ibérica (1596-1626)”. Revista Brasileira de História. 31 (61): 317–338. doi:10.1590/S0102-01882011000100016.
^ Dean, James Seay (2013). Tropics Bound: Elizabeth’s Seadogs on the Spanish Main. The History Press. ISBN 978-0752496689.
^ Williamson, James Alexander (1923). English colonies in Guiana and on the Amazon, 1604-1668. Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 54.
^ Lane-Poole, Stanley (1885–1900). “Roe, Thomas (DNB00)”. Dictionary of National Biography. 49.
^ Brown, Michael J. (13 January 2015). Rowse, A. L. (ed.). Itinerant Ambassador: The Life of Sir Thomas Roe. University Press of Kentucky. p. 15. ISBN 978-0813162270. JSTOR j.ctt130j7sv.
^ Durivage, Francis Alexander (1847). A popular cyclopedia of history: ancient and modern, forming a copious historical dictionary of celebrated institutions, persons, places and things … Case, Tiffany and Burnham. p. 717.
^ Harris, C. A.; Abraham, John; De Villiers, Jacob (1911). Storm Van’s Gravesande: The Rise of British Guiana, Compiled from his Works. Hakluyt Society.
^ Pierce, Edward M. (1867). The Cottage Cyclopedia of History and Biography: A Copious Dictionary of Memorable Persons, Events, Places and Things, with Notices of the Present State of the Principal Countries and Nations of the Known World, and a Chronological View of American History,. Case, Lockwood. pp. 1004.
^ Waterton, Charles (1891). Moore, Norman (ed.). Wanderings in South America. London, Paris & Melbourne: Cassell & Co, Ltd. p. 192 – via gutenberg.org.
^ Rivière, Peter (2006). The Guiana Travels of Robert Schomburgk, 1835-1844: Explorations on behalf of the Royal Geographical Society, 1835-1839. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. p. 274. ISBN 0904180867.
^ http://historico.tsj.gob.ve/gaceta/febrero/2422016/2422016-4514.pdf Decreto N° 2.248, mediante el cual se crea la Zona de Desarrollo Estratégico Nacional “Arco Minero del Orinoco”.
^ Egaña, Carlos, 2016. El Arco Minero del Orinoco: ambiente, rentismo y violencia al sur de Venezuela
^ Cano Franquiz, María Laura. “Arco Minero del Orinoco vulnera fuentes vitales y diversidad cultural en Venezuela”. La Izquierda Diario (in Spanish). Retrieved 3 July 2017.

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Conclusion

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.

Muisca raft, representation of the initiation of the new Zipa in the lake of Guatavita, possible source of the legend of El Dorado. It was found in a cave in Pasca, Colombia in 1856, together with many other gold objects.

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.

Artistic concept for an idealistic El Dorado

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?

Nicolas Sanson’s 1656 map showing the “lake or sea called by the Caribes, Parime, by the Iaoyi, Roponowini.” to the left. Compared to the location and area of an extinct lake discovered by Brazillian Geologists in 1977 to the right.

There Is Still Hope?

In 1987–1988, an expedition led by John Hemming of the Royal Geographical Society failed to uncover any evidence of the ancient city of Manoa on the island of Maracá in north-central Roraima. Members of the expedition were accused of looting historic artifacts^[1] but an official report of the expedition described it as “an ecological survey.”^[2]

EVIDENCE FOR THE EXISTENCE OF LAKE PARIME

Main article: Lake Parime

Although it was dismissed in the 19th century as a myth, some evidence for the existence of a lake in northern Brazil has been uncovered. In 1977 Brazilian geologists Gert Woeltje and Frederico Guimarães Cruz along with Roland Stevenson,^[3] found that on all the surrounding hillsides a horizontal line appears at a uniform level approximately 120 metres (390 ft) above sea level.^[4] This line registers the water level of an extinct lake which existed until relatively recent times. Researchers who studied it found that the lake’s previous diameter measured 400 kilometres (250 mi) and its area was about 80,000 square kilometres (31,000 sq mi). About 700 years ago this giant lake began to drain due to tectonic movement. In June 1690, a massive earthquake opened a bedrock fault, forming a rift or a graben that permitted the water to flow into the Rio Branco.^[5] By the early 19th century it had dried up completely.^[6]

Roraima’s well-known Pedra Pintada is the site of numerous pictographs dating to the pre-Columbian era. Designs on the sheer exterior face of the rock were most likely painted by people standing in canoes on the surface of the now-vanished lake.^[7] Gold, which was reported to be washed up on the shores of the lake, was most likely carried by streams and rivers out of the mountains where it can be found today.^[8]

RECENT EVIDENCE

Astronomers from ISS (International Space Station) found deposits of gold on the amazon river which can be a proof for the lost city of gold by historians.^[9]^[10]

Sourced from: Wikipedia

REFERENCES:

Cano Franquiz, María Laura. “Arco Minero del Orinoco vulnera fuentes vitales y diversidad cultural en Venezuela”. La Izquierda Diario (in Spanish). Retrieved 3 July 2017.
^ Videla, Rafael (1 January 2008). “El Dorado: El Gran Descubrimiento de Roland Stevenson”. Alerta Austral (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 5 August 2017. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
^ Hemming, John; Bowles, Steve; Watson, Fiona (1988). “Maracá Rainforest Project Brazil 1987-1988” (PDF). Royal Geographical Society. Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 August 2017. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
^ Stevenson, Roland. “Parime: Finding the Legendary Lake”. Netium. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
^ Maziero, Dalton Delfini. “El Dorado Em busca dos antigos mistérios Amazônicos”. Arqueologiamericana (in Portuguese). Retrieved 15 February 2019.
^ Veloso, Alberto V. (September 2014). “On the footprints of a major Brazilian Amazon earthquake”. Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências. 86 (3): 1115–1129. doi:10.1590/0001-3765201420130340.
^ Shea, Jeff (March 2013). “The March 2013 Paragua River Expedition: Penetration into The Meseta de Ichún of Venezuela” (PDF). Explorers Club Report #60. p. 110. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
^ Fonseca, J. A. (7 September 2011). “A Misteriosa Pedra Pintada (Roraima)”. Moiseslime (in Portuguese). WordPress. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
^ “Significant gold deposits in Roraima Basin – study”. Stabroek News. March 22, 2009. Archived from the original on 1 February 2015. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
^ “Illicit gold rush in Peruvian Amazon”. Nature. 502 (7473): 596–596. October 2013. doi:10.1038/502596b. ISSN 0028-0836.
^ “NASA’s stunning photo showing ‘Gold Rivers’ in Peruvian Amazon has a grim backstory”. www.timesnownews.com. Retrieved 2021-02-14.

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ADAM L C

Director of Areas Grey

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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“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

Open post

Atahualpa’s Inca Gold

29/08/202018/08/2023
by Grey

ATAHUALPA’S INCA GOLD

The Valverde Guide

I.

OVERVIEW

II.

LEGEND

III.

THE TREASURE

IV.

THE CLUES

V.

CONCLUSION

VI.

WRITER

Overview

In the 1850’s Richard Spruce while on an expedition to South America found a guide and map detailing how to find a vast treasure of the Inca King Atahualpa (1532) supposedly hidden in a cave, deep within the Llanganates mountain range of Ecuador.

In 1532, Francisco Pizarro, a Spanish conquistador began his conquest of the Inca empire. He sent an interpreter and a friar (Vincent de Valverde) to meet with the Incan king – Atahualpa in order to claim religious right to his lands. Atahualpa wasn’t accepting of this and the Spaniards captured him and his nobles.

Atahuallpa, Inca XIIII From Berlin Ethnologisches Museum, Staatliche Museen, Berlin, Germany

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The Legend

Carte DU Perou et Bresil Sep De Tierra-Firme De Guayana Et De La Riviere Des Amazones

Atahualpa, seeing that that the Spaniards valued gold made an agreement with Pizarro. He would fill the room he was being held in with gold and the next two rooms with silver in exchange for his release. (The total value of this ransom would be approximately half a billion dollars today.)

Before Atahualpa’s ransom could be collected Pizarro’s distrust for Atahualpa grew too much. He had feared that Atahualpa still had too much influence over the Incan warriors and as such he charged the king with crimes to tarnish his reputation and had the king executed. As such, no ransom was ever paid for the release of Atahualpa.

According to legend, the Inca General Rumiñahui was on his way to Cajamarca to pay the ransom before hearing of Atahualpa’s execution. After hearing this he sent porters to collect more treasures from the temple of the sun.

Rumiñahui is said to have then hidden all of the treasures he could so that the Spaniards could not get them and continued fighting against the Spanish, and though he was eventually captured and tortured, he never revealed the location of the treasure.

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The Treasure

During Richard Spruce’s (Famous English Botanist) expedition in the 1850’s to the Andes of Peru in search of the Cinchona tree he claimed to have uncovered a map made by Atanasio Guzman and what he called ‘The Valverde Gude’ leading to the hidden treasure of Atahualpa’s ransom.

It is said that the Valverde Guide is a handwritten account of the directions needed to be taken to find the treasures location wrote by Valverde after his Incan bride’s family led him to the treasure after which he is said to have become rich.

Portrait of Richard Spruce

Newspaper Clipping from the Battle Creek Enquirer, Monday 31st May 1993, page 2, Battle Creek, Michigan

Barth Blake, a treasure hunter in 1886 left for the Llanganates in search of the treasure believing that he could follow the Valvede Guide, Guzmans map, and Spruce’s account of his expedition to the treasures location.

During Blakes journey he made maps of the area and wrote several letters to a friend back in North America claiming he had found the treasure and was bringing back what he could to North America to sell and raise funds for a second trip with help to retrieve the rest as it had been far too much for one man to carry.

However, Blake never made it back to North America. It is believed that he disappeared overboard while on a boat on route to New York.

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The Clues

Atanasio Guzman’s Map

Translation of the Valverde Guide

Once in the town of Pillaro, ask for the farm of Moya, and sleep a good distance above it; and ask there for the mountain of Guapa, from whose top, if the day be fine, look to the east, so that thy back be towards the town of Ambato, and from thence thou shalt perceive the three Cerros Llanganati, in the form of a triangle, on whose declivity there is a lake, made by hand, into which the ancients threw the gold they had prepared for the ransom of the Inca when they heard of his death.

From the same Cerro Guapa thou mayest see also the forest, and in it a clump of Sangurimas standing out of the said forest, and another clump which they call Flechas (arrows), and these clumps are the principal mark for the which thou shalt aim, leaving them a little on the left hand.

Go forward from Guapa in the direction and with the signals indicated, and a good way ahead, having passed some cattle-farms, thou shalt come on a wide morass, over which thou must cross, and coming out on the other side thou shalt see on the left-hand a short way off a juc·l on a hill-side, through which thou must pass.

Having got through the juc·l, thou wilt see two small lakes called “Los Anteojos” (the spectacles), from having between them a point of land like to a nose. From this place thou mayest again descry the Cerros Llanganati, the same as thou sawest them from the top of Guapa, and I warn thee to leave the said lakes on the left, and that in front of the point or “nose” there is a plain, which is the sleeping-place. There thou must leave thy horses, for they can go no farther.

Following now on foot in the same direction, thou shalt come on a grat black lake, the which leave on thy left-hand, and beyoud it seek to descend along the hill-side in such a way that thou mayest reach a ravine, down which comes a waterfall: and here thou shalt find a bridge of three poles, or if it do not still exist thou shalt put another in the most convenient place and pass over it. And having gone on a little way in the forest, seek out the hut which served tho sleep in or the remains of it.

Having passed the night there, go on thy way the following day through the forest in the same direction, till thou reach another deep dry ravine, across which thou must throw a bridge and pass over it slowly and cautiously, for the ravine is is very deep; that is if thou succeed not in finding the pass which exists.

Go forward and look for the signs of another sleeping-place, which, I assure thee, thou canst not fail to see in the fragments of pottery and other marks, because the Indians are continually passing along there. Go on thy way, and thou shalt see a mountain which is all of margasitas (pyrites), the which leave on the left-hand, and I warn thee that thou must go round it in this fashion (The Valverde mark).

On this side thou wilt find a pajonál (pasture) in a small plain, which having crossed thou wilt come on a canyon between two hills, which is the way of the Inca. From thence as thou goest along thou shalt see the entrance of the socabon (tunnel), which is in the form of a church-porch. Having come through the canyon, and gone a good distance beyond, thou wilt perceive a cascade which descends from a offshoot of the Cerro Llanganati, and runs into a quaking-bog on the right hand; and without passing the stream in the said bog there is much gold, so that putting in thy hand what thou shalt gather at the bottom is grains of gold.

To ascend the mountain, leave the bog and go along to the right, and pass above the cascade, going round the offshoot of the mountain. And if by chance the mouth of the socabon be closed with certain herbs which they call “salvaje”, remove them, and thou wilt find the entrance. And on the left-hand side of the mountain thou mayest see the “Guayra” (for thus the ancients called the furnace where they founded metals), which is nailed with golden nails. And to reach the third mountain, if thou canst not pass in front of the socabon, it is the same thing to pass behind it, for the water of the lake falls into it.

If thou lose thyself in the forest, seek the river, follow it on the right bank; lower down take to the beach, and thou wilt reach the canyon in such sort that, although thou seek to pass it, thou wilt not find where; climb, therfore, the mountain on the right-hand, and in this manner thou canst by no means miss thy way.

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Conclusion

Front cover for Lust For Inca Gold: An Intriguing True Story of Exploration, Discovery, Murder, Espionage & Treasure by Steven J. Charbonneau.

Many treasure hunters have gone in search of Atahualpa’s Inca Gold since Barth Blake but none have been able to successfully locate the treasure with many dying in pursuit of the fortune.

A well-researched and written book ‘Lust For Inca Gold’ by Steven J. Charbonneau goes into great detail about the history of Atahualpa’s past, his ransom, the treasure and the stories of some of the treasure hunters that have gone in search of this treasure legend.

The book covers a lot of information, most fascinating of all is the stories of the treasure hunters such as Barth Blake who claim to have found the treasure cache and give detailed accounts and maps for how to get to the treasure cave tucked away in the Llanganati Mountains.

According to the author, Steven J. Charbonneau, he spent more than two years forming Ecuadoran Explorations Inc and getting permits and terms negotiated agreed and approved with a Presidential Decree in order to recover the treasure from the mountains.

However, when it came time to sign these agreements the President changed their approach and determined that the expedition should go ahead without official documentation. A strange thing to do, Charbonneau became suspicious and fears that the treasure may be confiscated if found and that he’d meet his end in an unmarked grave eventually doomed the project.

As a result, Charbonneau wrote ‘Lust For Gold’ to tell his story and share his extensive research with others. Ultimately, the treasure remains unconfirmed despite claims of some who are said to have found the cave, taken what they could carry and sold or donated some of the finds to museums and private parties.

What do you believe?

The Sun Mask from northern Ecuador currently held in the Museo del Banco in Quito, Ecuador. Just a taste of what could be hidden in the treasure cave of the Llanganates.

Sources & References

Information for this article has been provided by various sources and are referenced here:

Primary Source: Treasure of the Llanganatis – Wikipedia

Bibliography:

- De Betanzos, Juan; Hamilton, Roland; Buchanan, Dana (1996). Narrative of the Incas. University of Texas Press. ISBN 978-0-292-75559-8. Following Pizarro’s assassination, Dona Angelina married the interpreter Juan de Betanzos.
- Jackson, Joe (2008). The Thief at the End of the World. Viking. ISBN 9780670018536.
- Prescott, W.H., 2011, The History of the Conquest of Peru, Digireads.com Publishing, ISBN 9781420941142
- Eubel, Konrad (1923). HIERARCHIA CATHOLICA MEDII ET RECENTIORIS AEVI Vol III (second ed.). Münster: Libreria Regensbergiana. pp. 184. (in Latin)

Other sources of information:

Francisco Pizarro: Wikipedia

Lust For Inca Gold: Amazon

Richard Spruce: Wikipedia

Ransom Room: Wikipedia

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Written By

Follow On:

ADAM L C

Director of Areas Grey

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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It is impossible for me to describe the wealth that now lays in that cave marked on my map, but I could not remove it alone, nor could thousands of men….There are thousands of gold and silver pieces of Inca and pre-Inca handicraft, the most beautiful goldsmith works you are not able to imagine, life-size human figures made out of beaten gold and silver, birds, animals, cornstalks, gold and silver flowers. Pots full of the most incredible jewelry. Golden vases full of emeralds.

– Captain Barth Blake, 1886

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	USA: Amazon.com
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	Italy: Amazon.it

	USA: Amazon.com
	UK: Amazon.co.uk
	France: Amazon.fr
	Germany: Amazon.de
	Spain: Amazon.es
	Italy: Amazon.it

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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Written By

Follow On:

ADAM L C

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.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

CodeBar Podcast

Join Robert, host of the CodeBar Live podcast and journey into the greatest treasure legends, armchair treasure hunts, codes, ciphers, puzzles, escape rooms, ARG’s, puzzle boxes & more!

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Subscribe

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Follow us on:

“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

ATAHUALPA’S INCA GOLD

The Valverde Guide

Overview

In the 1850’s Richard Spruce while on an expedition to South America found a guide and map detailing how to find a vast treasure of the Inca King Atahualpa (1532) supposedly hidden in a cave, deep within the Llanganates mountain range of Ecuador.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

The Legend

Atahualpa, seeing that that the Spaniards valued gold made an agreement with Pizarro. He would fill the room he was being held in with gold and the next two rooms with silver in exchange for his release. (The total value of this ransom would be approximately half a billion dollars today.)

According to legend, the Inca General Rumiñahui was on his way to Cajamarca to pay the ransom before hearing of Atahualpa’s execution. After hearing this he sent porters to collect more treasures from the temple of the sun.

Rumiñahui is said to have then hidden all of the treasures he could so that the Spaniards could not get them and continued fighting against the Spanish, and though he was eventually captured and tortured, he never revealed the location of the treasure.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

The Treasure

During Richard Spruce’s (Famous English Botanist) expedition in the 1850’s to the Andes of Peru in search of the Cinchona tree he claimed to have uncovered a map made by Atanasio Guzman and what he called ‘The Valverde Gude’ leading to the hidden treasure of Atahualpa’s ransom.

It is said that the Valverde Guide is a handwritten account of the directions needed to be taken to find the treasures location wrote by Valverde after his Incan bride’s family led him to the treasure after which he is said to have become rich.

Barth Blake, a treasure hunter in 1886 left for the Llanganates in search of the treasure believing that he could follow the Valvede Guide, Guzmans map, and Spruce’s account of his expedition to the treasures location.

However, Blake never made it back to North America. It is believed that he disappeared overboard while on a boat on route to New York.

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The Clues

Atanasio Guzman’s Map

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Conclusion

Many treasure hunters have gone in search of Atahualpa’s Inca Gold since Barth Blake but none have been able to successfully locate the treasure with many dying in pursuit of the fortune.

A well-researched and written book ‘Lust For Inca Gold’ by Steven J. Charbonneau goes into great detail about the history of Atahualpa’s past, his ransom, the treasure and the stories of some of the treasure hunters that have gone in search of this treasure legend.

The book covers a lot of information, most fascinating of all is the stories of the treasure hunters such as Barth Blake who claim to have found the treasure cache and give detailed accounts and maps for how to get to the treasure cave tucked away in the Llanganati Mountains.

According to the author, Steven J. Charbonneau, he spent more than two years forming Ecuadoran Explorations Inc and getting permits and terms negotiated agreed and approved with a Presidential Decree in order to recover the treasure from the mountains.

What do you believe?

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ADAM L C

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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