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| The City of Gold, El Dorado, Colombia |
The legend of El Dorado had been a dream of treasure hunters in the last few hundred years. A dream about a city filled with gold. But for hundreds of years away, no one of expeditions had a successfully to uncover the veil of mystery. Is El Dorado is only a fairy tale? Or the lost city of gold is a fact that was lost?
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| The scene depicted in this ancient artwork, on display at the Gold Museum in Bogota, Colombia, shows the origin of the El Dorado myth. Legend tells of a Muisca king who would cover himself in gold dust during festivals, then dive from a raft into Lake Guatavita. |
Chibcha people think gold is a gift from the god of the sun and should be offered back to the god. Then the story is pushed through word of mouth mentions that the cult was making merged Chibcha tribes of gold as a shield for the building. Thus their temples coated with gold plate. But there is no remaining evidence of this.
El Dorado (Spanish for “the golden one”) is the name of a Muisca tribal chief who covered himself with gold dust and, as an initiation rite, dove into the lake Guatavita. Later it became the name of a legendary “Lost City of Gold” that has fascinated – and so far eluded – explorers since the days of the Spanish Conquistadors.
One of the remarkable features of El Dorado is that despite being a legendary, lost city it has been "found" a number of times. One of those who allegedly discovered its secret wasAntionio de Berrio who declared Manoa to be near the source of the Caroni river.
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| Sir Walter Raleigh |
The most famous seeker after El Dorado was Sir Walter Raleigh. His expedition began in 1595 and on his return he reported having discovered the legendary city. According to Raleigh, Manoa was situated on an island in Lake Parima, which was then in Guiana. Raleigh's account was taken up by Theodor De Bry in his Grand Voyageswhere the tale was elaborated on and accompanied by illustrations of the golden city. Unfortunately later expeditions found no trace of El Dorado where Raleigh had indicated.
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