El Dorado (mythical city)

The story of the legendary city of El Dorado is a mythological byproduct of the Age of Exploration and the European conquest of the Americas. The tale of the incredible city of gold dates back to the sixteenth century and is derived from a combination of real ethnological traditions from Latin America, the gold fever ambitions of the Spanish conquistadors, and recurring pop-culture fascination with the myth. The story tells of an enigmatic city shrouded in mystery that is hidden in the jungles of South America. Inside, untold riches abound, with gold, precious stones, and other valuable materials readily available for the taking. The lure of this untapped wealth has drawn many explorers and treasure hunters throughout the years, and, despite the lack of physical evidence, continues to pull people into the jungle on quests to find the mysterious El Dorado.

Creation of the Myth

The original myth dates back to the first European contact with the native peoples of the Americas, specifically with a man named Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo (1478-1557). Though some historians date its origins back to the 1530s, the first recorded mention of El Dorado was by Oviedo, a colonial officer of Spain, who wrote several first-person biological, ethnological, and historical accounts of the West Indies. In one, he documents his fascination with a figure called "El Dorado," or the "Gilded Man." According to Oviedo, this "great lord" applied a fine gold dust to his skin every day and then at night rinsed off this sheen without a shred of concern about the daily loss of so much gold powder.

Oviedo's story had a basis in reality, though the details were wildly exaggerated. The Muisca (or Chibcha) people of the highlands of Columbia (near present-day Bogota) had a tradition in which a new ruler, called the Zipa, of the southern confederation of the Muisca covered himself in a fine coating of gold dust and boarded a raft containing golden offerings and a number of followers. Together, this group then traveled to the center of Lake Guatavitá where the Zipa jumped into the waters, cleansing himself of the gold dust, while his supporters threw the offerings into the lake.

The Spanish fascination with gold was well known among the various tribes in the region, as was their violent history. Some historians have speculated that local tribes who were aware of the Spanish traditions used these stories as a means of encouraging them to search elsewhere for their treasures. Regardless, in 1536, Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada (1509-1579) led an expedition of 900 men in search of the Muisca. As with many of these sorts of quests, the Spanish invaders were ill-prepared for the jungle and hostile local tribes that had already had previous negative encounters with the Spanish. Only 156 survived the initial foray. Nonetheless, they were eventually successful in conquering the Muisca but were intensely disappointed to discover that these people were not awash in treasure as they had been led to believe. Refusing to believe that the Zipa was the El Dorado of legend, the conquistadores continued to search the jungles to find the mythical treasures.

Growth of the Myth

Despite having found the actual origins of El Dorado, the Spanish remained convinced that the fantastical city still lay undiscovered. Other encounters help spawn and incite the Spanish conquistadores in their belief that El Dorado remained hidden. Among of these was Hernán Cortés's (1485-1547) historic encounter with the Aztec capital. In 1519, as part of his efforts to topple the Aztec Empire, Cortés traveled to the Aztec's huge island capital of Tenochtitlan and described it as being dream-like in its splendor and wealth. Cortés was a highly ambitious man in a competitive rivalry with several other Spanish conquerors in the region, and his gold-lust was a driving force in his decision to place the Aztec Empire under Spanish dominion. The Aztecs quickly recognized the danger that Cortés represented to them and offered him gold, as he requested. However, in attempting to satiate his desire for treasure, the Aztecs did not realize that by providing him with gold, which they did not have in the never-ending quantities that Cortés believed, they were unintentionally convincing the Spanish that the Americas were awash in this treasure. Cortés returned to Spain with the gold, and this led to more excursions into the New World.

Dozens of expeditions followed. These included Gonzalo Pizarro's (1510-1548) notorious trek into the Incan territories, which was among the bloodiest encounters between the people of the New World and the Spanish explorers, and a fruitless search led by Walter Raleigh in 1617 that led to the death of his son and marked a decline in personal fortunes that ended with his execution in 1618.

Contemporary Implications

Conquistadores and their search parties were often among the first Europeans to encounter the native peoples of the New World, with the resulting encounters regularly leading to the subjugation and exploitation of these local inhabitants, even on those occasions where they were not inherently and immediately deadly. Native populations were often decimated by disease after first contacts, and many traditional cultures were lost. Further, these early conflicts set a tone of racial domination that led to inequities of political and social control that had lingering effects on the societies of many Latin American nations continuing into the present era. These movements also had the effect of enabling the spread of Catholicism throughout the Americas.

In the modern era, treasure hunters and archaeologists alike continue to search throughout Latin America for any locations that might have helped inspire El Dorado. There have even been attempts to drain Lake Guatavitá, the sacred lake of the Muisca, though these too have met with limited success. If a kingdom of gold ever existed, it has remained elusive and hidden to the present day.

Bibliography

Cartwright, Mark. "El Dorado." Ancient History Encyclopedia. Ancient History Encyclopedia Limited. Web 19 Nov. 2015. http://www.ancient.eu/El‗Dorado/

Cooper, Jago. "El Dorado: The Truth Behind the Myth." BBC Magazine. BBC. Web 19 Nov. 2015. http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-20964114

Drye, Willie. "El Dorado Legend Snared Sir Walter Raleigh." National Geographic. National Geographic Society. Web. 19 Nov. 2015. http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/archaeology/el-dorado/

Grann, David. The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon. New York: Vintage, 2010. Print.

Reese, M.R. "The Search for El Dorado—The Lost City of Gold." Ancient Origins. Stella Novus. Web. 19 Nov. 2015. http://www.ancient-origins.net/ancient-places-americas/search-el-dorado-lost-city-gold-002535