In the sixteenth century Europeans presumed that somewhere deep in South America was a vast city called El Dorado that contained unimaginable mineral riches, mainly gold. This presumption started when the conquistadors were destroying and looting the ancient cultures of the Aztecs and Incas. An amazing rumour was told to them by native tribesmen. They said that there was a race, deep in the jungle, whose king was covered with gold dust and who swam in a golden lake. It was the story of ‘El Dorado’(The Golden Man).
Other sources say that Europeans first learned of El Dorado through word-of-mouth tales that circulated among South America's indigenous people. There was a small grain of truth to the story: high in the eastern range of the Andes, in what is now Colombia lived the Chibcha people. They mined gold and emeralds freely, and built a highly stratified and developed society. When they anointed a new priest-chief, they covered the man in balsam gum, and then blew gold dust all over his body through cane straws until he resembled a statue of pure gold. The new priest-chief then ceremonially bathed in Lake Guatavita, a sacred place to the Chibchans. This practice ended around 1480 when they were subdued by another tribe. But the story of the "gilded one" became part of the oral folklore traditions in South America, and in its retellings, the tale took on added dimensions: the gilded one supposedly ruled over a vast kingdom where nearly everything was made from gold, silver, or precious stone.
Even proofs of the existence of El Dorado are there. In the year 1969 some cave workers while working in a cave near Bogata, South America faced a strange incident.
Their hands struck against a model of a raft. As soon as they saw it clearly, they shrieked with surprise - “Eldorado! Eldorado!”. The model showed a king on a raft standing with his bodyguards.
The first man to think of Eldorado was Gonzalo Jimenez de Quesda. He started on his journey in 1536 with 900 men from Santa Marta, situated on Colombia's northern coast. Quesada's journey was full of peril. He and his men had to face various animals and had to fight diseases and were often decimated by fever, malaria and the attacks of hostile natives before they reached Chibehas. At Chibehas, Spaniards were told of some more tales about the Golden Man. Going by the tales, Quesada preceded the Guatavita Lake
with an Indian guide. They reached the lake which was deep, dark expanse of water set in the crater of an extinct volcano almost 9,000 feet above sea-level. Few huts were there but nowhere could Quesada and his left over 200 men see the Golden Man or the Golden Land.
Quesada returned, but only to sit quiet for sometime. In 1568, the old Quesada, haunted by the lake and the possible treasures hidden beneath it restarted the journey. He left Bogota, the new city he discovered, with a force of 2,800 men. They hunted in vain for three years before Quesada gave up the search.
For centuries the legend of El Dorado, the fabulous land of gold led not only Quesada but many to undertake the courageous feat. Some lost their fortune, some their reputation and some their life. Still the men remained undaunted. Year after year, decades after decades, men went out in search of the Golden Land. After all, what were they seeking? Gold? A Golden City? A Golden Man? Or was everything just a myth, a story which destroyed many adventurers?
All the queries are still unanswered...and hopefully will be till the end of mankind.
Other sources say that Europeans first learned of El Dorado through word-of-mouth tales that circulated among South America's indigenous people. There was a small grain of truth to the story: high in the eastern range of the Andes, in what is now Colombia lived the Chibcha people. They mined gold and emeralds freely, and built a highly stratified and developed society. When they anointed a new priest-chief, they covered the man in balsam gum, and then blew gold dust all over his body through cane straws until he resembled a statue of pure gold. The new priest-chief then ceremonially bathed in Lake Guatavita, a sacred place to the Chibchans. This practice ended around 1480 when they were subdued by another tribe. But the story of the "gilded one" became part of the oral folklore traditions in South America, and in its retellings, the tale took on added dimensions: the gilded one supposedly ruled over a vast kingdom where nearly everything was made from gold, silver, or precious stone.
Even proofs of the existence of El Dorado are there. In the year 1969 some cave workers while working in a cave near Bogata, South America faced a strange incident.
Their hands struck against a model of a raft. As soon as they saw it clearly, they shrieked with surprise - “Eldorado! Eldorado!”. The model showed a king on a raft standing with his bodyguards.
The first man to think of Eldorado was Gonzalo Jimenez de Quesda. He started on his journey in 1536 with 900 men from Santa Marta, situated on Colombia's northern coast. Quesada's journey was full of peril. He and his men had to face various animals and had to fight diseases and were often decimated by fever, malaria and the attacks of hostile natives before they reached Chibehas. At Chibehas, Spaniards were told of some more tales about the Golden Man. Going by the tales, Quesada preceded the Guatavita Lake
with an Indian guide. They reached the lake which was deep, dark expanse of water set in the crater of an extinct volcano almost 9,000 feet above sea-level. Few huts were there but nowhere could Quesada and his left over 200 men see the Golden Man or the Golden Land.Quesada returned, but only to sit quiet for sometime. In 1568, the old Quesada, haunted by the lake and the possible treasures hidden beneath it restarted the journey. He left Bogota, the new city he discovered, with a force of 2,800 men. They hunted in vain for three years before Quesada gave up the search.
For centuries the legend of El Dorado, the fabulous land of gold led not only Quesada but many to undertake the courageous feat. Some lost their fortune, some their reputation and some their life. Still the men remained undaunted. Year after year, decades after decades, men went out in search of the Golden Land. After all, what were they seeking? Gold? A Golden City? A Golden Man? Or was everything just a myth, a story which destroyed many adventurers?
All the queries are still unanswered...and hopefully will be till the end of mankind.
