El DoradoThe City of Gold

El Dorado

The Gilded One

El Dorado was first the name of a Muisca

tribal chief who covered himself with gold

dust and dove into Lake Titicaca as an

initiation rite

Lost City

Later, El Dorado came to be known as the “lost city of

gold”. The city has fascinated and eluded explorers

since the days of the Spanish Conquistadors.

Location?

"El Dorado shifted geographical locations until finally it

simply meant a source of untold riches somewhere in the

Americas," says Jim Griffith, a folklorist in Tucson, Arizona.

South America

Origins• The origins of the city lie

deep in South America

• The tale of El Dorado does

contain scraps of the truth

• In the 16th century when

Spanish explorers reached

South America, they heard

tales of a tribe of natives high

in the Andes Mountains

• It was rumored that gold and

precious jewels were thrown

into Lake Guatavita to

appease a god that lived

underwater

Orellana and Pizarro

In 1541, Francisco Orellana and Gonzalo Pizarro departed

from Quito in pursuit of the legendary city. Although the

expedition was not successful, Orellana became the

person known to navigate the Amazon River all the way

to its mouth.

The Amazon Basin

Lake Guatavita

• In 1545, the Spaniards found

Lake Guatavita and tried to

drain it in search of gold

• They did not find El Dorado,

but did find hundreds of

pieces of gold along the

lake’s edge

Raleigh’s Quest• Sir Walter Raleigh made two trips to

Guiana in search for El Dorado

• During his second trip in 1617, he sent his

son, Watt up the Orinoco River. SWR

stayed behind and his son was killed in a

battle with the Spaniards

• SWR accused a survivor from the battle of

letting his son be killed. The man went

into his cabin on the ship and killed himself

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Beheading

Upon returning to England, SWR was

ordered to be beheaded by King James

for failing to avoid conflict with the

Spanish

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"Over the Mountains of the Moon, down the Valley of the Shadow, ride, boldly ride…if you seek for El Dorado."-Edgar Allan Poe

"I don't think we've ever stopped seeking El Dorado."-Jose Oliver, lecturer for the Institute of Archaeology, University College London

References:Drye, Willie. "El Dorado Legend." nationalgeographic.com. National Geographic, n.d. Web. 13 Apr. 2011.

Bandelier, A. F. A. The Gilded Man, El Dorado (New York, 1893).

Fernandez de Oviedo, Gonzalo Historia General y Natural de las India, islas y Tierra-Firme del Mar Oceano, Madrid: Real Academia de la Historia, 1851.

Freyle, Juan Rodriguez El Carnero: Conquista y descubrimiento del Nuevo Reino de Granada. ISBN 84-660-0025-9

Hagen, Victor Wolfgang von The Gold of El Dorado: The Quest for the Golden Man

Naipaul,V.S. The Loss of El Dorado, 1969

Nicholl, Charles The Creature in the Map, London, 1995 ISBN 0-09-959521-4

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