*Includes pictures.
*Includes historic accounts about the myth of El Dorado.
*Includes a bibliography and footnotes for further reading.
Alongside the famous Lost City of Atlantis, perhaps no
mythological city has captured the imaginations of people or been
the source for exploration quite like El Dorado, the fabled city of
gold that the Spanish believed was located somewhere in South
America. The origins of the Spaniards' belief in the existence of
the mythical city was based on their rumors surrounding the tribal
chief of the Muisca in present-day Colombia; the Spanish heard that
his initiation included covering himself with gold dust and diving
into Lake Guatavita. Of course, if the chief could cover himself in
gold, he must have access to a lot of it, and around this figure,
the myth of El Dorado sprang up as the location of it.
Naturally, the belief in the existence of El Dorado propelled it
from being merely a city to an entire empire itself, and this
spurred several journeys in the 16th century, including one by
Francisco Pizarro's half-brother, Gonzalo, and another by Sir
Walter Raleigh. Although none of these journeys actually discovered
such a place, they resulted in plenty of lives lost and a lot of
exploration of the heart of South America. Moreover, despite the
fact none of the explorers actually found El Dorado, the rumors and
journeys only cemented the belief that such a place existed, and El
Dorado was actually located on maps made by several European
nations for centuries. As folklorist Jim Griffith once put it, "El
Dorado shifted geographical locations until finally it simply meant
a source of untold riches somewhere in the Americas."In fact, it
would not be until about the early 19th century that explorer
Alexander von Humboldt disproved El Dorado's existence, at least in
the spot it was assumed to be located for over 200 years.
Although no El Dorado was ever found, the myth still fascinates
people today, and it remains a pop culture fixture around the
globe. El Dorado is also still used as a metaphor not only for
places where people seek to get rich quick but even as a mentality
and mindset, much like the notion of the American Dream. El Dorado:
The Search for the Fabled City of Gold chronicles the origins
behind the myth and the history of the actual journeys that sought
to discover the city. Along with pictures of important people,
places, and events, you will learn about El Dorado like never
before, in no time at all.
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