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‘Whoever possesses gold can acquire all that he desires in the world. Truly, for gold he can gain entrance for his soul into paradise.’- Christopher Columbus
Back to MainEl Dorado: The Fabulous Golden RealmA legendary 'place of gold' situated in northern South America has long eluded the most imaginative of explorers. What likely trails have so far been travelled? What sites has been explored? Who was El Dorado, the Golden Man?
Gold was the ultimate treasure, guarded by dragons in the ancient North and picked by the handful in the kingdom of Prester John. It was the stuff that beckoned Alexander the Great to Persia, seduced the Portuguese into 'sailing off the map', brought the Spaniards to the New World, and launched a search lasting centuries and costing hundreds of lives--the pursuit of Eldorado.
Among the Muiscas the Spaniards first heard of a ceremony that took place a little to the north of Bogota at Lake Guatavita. Indians were still alive who had seen the last of these ceremonies acknowledging a new king. The ceremony of El Dorado (Spanish for "the gilded man"), the Golden Man, was the beginning of the legend. The conquistadors, although they had managed to loot many hundreds of pounds of gold from the Muisca and their neighbours, were convinced that the best was yet to come. This was the vast treasure, which they thought lay at the bottom of Lake Guatavita.
The quest for riches beyond the dreams of avarice was not long confined to the shores of Lake Guatavita. Even in the days of the conquistadors, rumour had run like wildfire of the Golden Man and his mythical city of Manoa, where even the cooking pots were made of gold. Believing it to be in the unexplored forests of the Amazon basin, explorers and adventurers vanished into the jungle year after year, many never to return.
Sir Walter Raleigh was one adventurer who did come back, though he lived to regret it. In 1595, he sought Manoa and its gold in the forests of Guyana for England's Elizabeth I. When he found the city he planned to ally himself with the Manoans to defeat the Spanish. But the expedition was not a success. The failure of a second expedition in 1617-18 was made the excuse for his execution.
No one knows where Eldorado can be found but Lake Guatavita, lying in the hills about 31 miles northeast of Bogota has been for many years among the leading candidates. Round and mysterious, Lake Guatavita is surrounded by desolate hills and is distinguished by the notch Antonio de Sepulveda made in the 1580s when he attempted to drain it. The lake was once sacred to the Muisca people who made offerings to the spirit of a former chieftain’s wife, said by legend to live in the depths of the lake in the company of a terrible monster. Others have continued to pursue the mythical land of Manoa, said to lie in the hills of Guiana beyond the Orinoco River.
Eldorado has come to be used for any place where riches could be had easily and quickly. The story is often mentioned in literature, as in Milton's Paradise Lost and Voltaire's Candide.