El Dorado (Spanish:[eldoˈɾaðo]) is a mythical city of gold supposedly located somewhere inSouth America. The king of this city was said to be so rich that he would cover himself from head to foot in gold dust – either daily or on certain ceremonial occasions – before diving into a sacred lake to wash it off. The legend was first recorded in the 16th century bySpanish colonists in the Americas; they referred to the king as el Dorado, the Golden One, a name which eventually came to be applied to the city itself.
The legend is inspired by the culture of theMuisca, an indigenous people who inhabited a plateau in theAndean Mountains range in present-dayColombia. Each time a new leader or Zipa was crowned, his body was covered in gold dust and offerings were transported along to the depths ofLake Guatavita, invoking the goddess who inhabited the lake. This ritual is known as the Muisca Golden Ceremony.[1]
TheMuisca were skilled goldsmiths; they made frequent use of golden objects in their religious ceremonies, and also manufactured ornaments and jewellery for trade with the neighbouring tribes. Early European settlers, searching for the source of the gold they found among the lowland peoples, made several attempts to reach the plateau. The first to succeed wasGonzalo Jiménez de Quesada in 1537. Quesada and his men conquered the territory of the Muisca in the name of Spain, and looted large quantities of gold from their palaces and temples.
Lake Guatavita was later drained by Spanish and British conquerors in order to find its treasures. Gold objects known from this place, which lend legitimacy to the legend of El Dorado, were found, such as theSiecha raft and the popularly knownMuisca raft. Some of the pre-Columbian gold objects recovered from Lake Guatavita are on exhibited at theGold Museum inBogotá.[2]
Shortly after this, the legend of El Dorado began to spread among the European colonists. In the decades that followed, the city was sought for in various places across the continent.Antonio de Berrio, Quesada's heir, believed that El Dorado lay within theGuianas, and tried on three occasions to forge a path into the uncharted highlands. Before he could make a third attempt, he was taken captive bySir Walter Raleigh, who then launched his own expedition into the Guianas.
Raleigh likewise failed to reach his goal, but a later survey by his lieutenant,Lawrence Kemys, brought back some local information regarding a great lake calledLake Parime that supposedly lay somewhere further inland. This lake, considered a prime candidate for the location of the golden city, became the object of further searches, and was included in maps throughout the 17th century. Over time, as the area became better charted, the existence of the lake was thrown into doubt. In the early 19th century,Alexander von Humboldt conclusively declared Lake Parime to be a myth, bringing an end to the popular belief in El Dorado.
Nevertheless, the subject has had a lasting cultural impact. The mystery surrounding the lost city and the supposed wealth of its inhabitants have influenced creative media since the time ofVoltaire, who included a trip to El Dorado in his 18th-century satireCandide.
Christopher Columbus, the first known European to reach the Americas after the Scandinavians, made landfall in the Caribbean Islands in 1492. On seeing the golden ornaments worn by some of the native inhabitants, he assumed that he had discovered a prosperous country,[3] and spent several months travelling from island to island, searching for the source of the gold.[4] Although he found no mines, he was unshaken in his conviction that these new lands held great wealth. He promised theCatholic monarchs of Spain, who were sponsoring the expedition, that with a little assistance, he could "give them as much gold as they have need of".[3][5]
Columbus would have been aware of a number of European legends that told of wealthy utopias located in the Western Hemisphere.[6] The ancient Greeks believed that somewhere in the Atlantic lay theIsles of the Blessed, an earthly paradise with a permanently temperate climate. According to second-century authorLucian, the inhabitants of these Isles dwelt in cities made of gold, ivory, and emeralds.[7] The Atlantic also gave its name to the mythical continent ofAtlantis, which was said to be home to an advanced civilization rich in gold, silver, andorichalcum.[8] During the Middle Ages, stories were told of theIsle of Seven Cities, a supposed Christian haven, which frequently appeared on 15th-century maps, and which may have inspired the later legend of theSeven Cities of Gold.[9] Columbus also had an interest in finding the location of two regions mentioned in the Bible,Ophir andTarshish, from whenceKing Solomon was said to have imported vast quantities of treasure.[10] Columbus believed that not only these two countries, but also theGarden of Eden were to be found somewhere on the newly discovered continent, and many of those who followed him shared the same beliefs.[11]
The early settlers in the Caribbean Islands, however, found their expectations disappointed. The natives possessed a small amount of gold, but did not mine it systematically,[12] and the Spaniards' own mining activities quickly exhausted the local supply.[13] The settlers' attention then turned towards the mainland, and colonies began to be established along the American coast.[14] Despite this unpromising beginning, theconquest of the Aztecs byHernán Cortés and theconquest of the Incas byFrancisco Pizarro soon rekindled European hopes that vast gold deposits still remained to be uncovered.[15]
A map of north-western South America, with modern-day Colombia highlighted in green
The first European incursion intoVenezuela was made byAmbrosius Dalfinger, governor of the Spanish settlement ofCoro.[16] Dalfinger was an employee of theWelser ofAugsburg banking family, a German firm to whomCharles V of Spain had granted, as security for a loan, the governorship of Venezuela and a licence to explore the country.[17][18] One of the Welsers' principal concerns was to find a passage through the continent to the Pacific Ocean (then known as the South Sea); such a passage, if found, would open up a new route to India and give Spain an edge in thespice trade.[17]
To this end in August 1529, Dalfinger set out with an expeditionary force toLake Maracaibo.[17] The Europeans drastically underestimated the breadth of the South American landmass, and that this lake would prove to connect with the Pacific seemed impossible.[19][20][clarification needed] During the course of their nine-month journey, they looted numerous golden trinkets from the local population, and were told that these had been acquired through trade with a certain tribe high up in the mountains.[21] Upon his return to Coro, Dalfinger found that in his absence, he had been presumed dead; the Welser had sent along a replacement governor, Hans Seissenhofer, who had namedNikolaus Federmann as deputy. Dalfinger now resumed the governorship, but temporarily left Federmann in charge while he recovered from an illness.[17]
Federmann, taking advantage of his new authority, soon launched his own expedition into the interior. Placating the indigenous tribes with gifts of beads and iron tools, and searching for information about the South Sea, he was told that the countries bordering this sea were rich in gold, pearls, and gemstones.[22][23] Enquiring further, Federmann's party were directed to a hilltop from which they could see what appeared to be a large body of water. This was in fact thellanos, a grassland plain which is subject to periodic floods.[24][25] Having failed to find a route to the Pacific, and faced with difficult terrain, mass illness, and increasingly hostile natives, Federmann was forced to return to Coro empty-handed.[26]
Dalfinger banished Federmann from Venezuela for four years as punishment for abandoning his post.[17] Dalfinger then ventured inland once again in June 1531, travelling south-west to the banks of the riverCesar. Here, he heard of a mountain province called "Xerira", which was said to be the source of all the golden artefacts found amongst the lowland peoples. This was probably a reference to Jerira, located at the northernmost extreme of the Muisca plateau.[27][28] Dalfinger also heard that the tribe which made the golden objects also exported large quantities of salt. Armed with this clue, he led his party south to the trading centre ofTamalameque, then followed the salt trail into the highlands.[29] At an altitude of 8,000 feet, waging war against the natives in freezing temperatures, they realised they could go no further south and turned back towards Coro.[30] Dalfinger died on the return journey after being shot with a poisoned arrow.[31]
Meanwhile, another group ofconquistadors, led byDiego de Ordaz, was searching for the source of theOrinoco River. Sailing inland from the east, rowing hard against the current, they eventually reached the confluence of the Orinoco and theMeta.[32] They attempted to continue south along the Orinoco, but soon ran into impassible rapids. Returning downriver, they were attacked byCaribs; Ordaz's men routed their attackers and captured two. One of the prisoners, being asked if he knew of any gold in the vicinity, told the Spaniards that if they followed the westward course of the Meta River, they would find a kingdom ruled by "a very valiant one-eyed Indian", and that if they found him, "they could fill their boats with that metal".[33] Ordaz attempted to follow this advice immediately, but it was now the dry season and the river level was dropping rapidly. Finally admitting defeat, Ordaz sailed for Spain to make preparations for a second expedition, but died of an illness at sea.[34] Before long, "Meta" would become the general name for the legendary golden kingdom.[35]
In 1534,Sebastián de Belalcázar, one of Pizarro's lieutenants, conquered the Incan city ofQuito, where he expected to find great quantities of treasure. Not finding as much as he had hoped, he assumed that the real treasure had been hidden, and set about capturing the local chiefs, whom he tortured for information.[36] One of the chiefs captured during these campaigns was not an Incan; he said that he came from a land 12 days' march to the north. The Spaniards called himel indio dorado, "the golden Indian".[36] The reason for this is not clear, but it may have been because he wore golden armour or other body ornaments.[37][38] Interested in finding the homeland of this "golden Indian", Belalcázar sent an expedition party north, where they discovered the province ofPopayán. However, Belalcázar himself made no further move at this time.[36]
Following the death of Dalfinger,Georg Hohermuth von Speyer became the new governor of Coro, arriving at the colony in 1535. Federmann returned to Coro in the same year, and resumed his former post as deputy.[39] Hohermuth sent Federmann on an expedition to the Upar Valley in the west, while he led an expedition of his own to the south, hoping to find gold in one direction or the other.[40] Hohermuth's party followed the course of the Andes south-southwest along the edge of thellanos; a two-year trek brought them to the region of theAriari River, where they heard rumours of a rich land to the west. By this time, however, morale was low – over 200 men had died along the way, and many of the remainder were too ill to fight – and Hohermuth was forced to turn back.[41]
On the other side of the mountain range, a party led by the lawyer-turned-generalGonzalo Jiménez de Quesada was also searching for the land of Meta. This expedition had set out from the Spanish colony ofSanta Marta in April 1536, with the dual goal of finding an overland route to Peru and a strait to the Pacific. Both these goals were thought to be accomplished by following the Magdalena River to its source.[42] The party travelled south as far as La Tora (modern-dayBarrancabermeja), where they found the river became too narrow and fast-flowing for any further progress to be made.[43] Although they had suffered heavy losses, Quesada convinced his men not to turn straight back for home, declaring, "it would be ignoble to return with nothing done".[44] He had noticed cakes of rock salt in use among the tribes of La Tora and surrounding areas, which he suspected had been acquired by trade with a more advanced society to the east. His thoughts turned to the rumours he had heard of the "powerful and rich province called Meta", and he decided, like Dalfinger before him, to follow the salt trail into the mountains.[45]
In March 1537 after a lengthy climb, Quesada's party arrived at the edge of a high plateau, at a place which they named Grita Valley (near modern-dayVélez).[46][47] This plateau was home to a prosperous civilization; the villages they passed through now yielded impressive quantities of gold and emeralds. They were entering into the territory of the Muisca.[47]
The Muisca were an agricultural people who built in wood rather than stone.[48] They were not a unified tribe, but a loose organization of independent chiefdoms. The two most important rulers, to whom most of the other chieftains paid fealty, were thezipa, who ruled the lands to the south, and thezacque, who ruled the lands to the north.[49][50] The Muisca were skilled at goldsmithing and cottonweaving, but they produced little cotton of their own and no gold mines were within their territory.[51] They acquired these raw materials through trade, their own principal exports being salt, which was extracted from naturally occurring deposits, and manufactured objects such as golden jewellery and cotton blankets.[52] Most of the golden objects crafted by the Muisca were actually made of a gold-copper alloy calledtumbaga. Gold played an important role in Muisca religion; it decorated the principal temples and was used for votive offerings and funerary goods, often in the form of an anthropomorphictunjo.[51]
Quesada's first move upon arriving at the Muisca plateau was to march on thezipa's palace at Bacatá (modern-dayFunza).[note 1] The native armies sent to halt the advance of the Spaniards were easily defeated and by the end of April Quesada had entered Bacatá. Thezipa, however, had fled, taking all his treasure with him.[53][54] After a few failed attempts to track him down, Quesada removed to the northern territory, where he had heard emerald mines existed.[55][56] He found the mines atSomondoco, but they were difficult to work and his men were unable to recover more than a few emeralds.[57] He then continued north toTunja, home of thezacque, where theconquistadors uncovered "the single greatest haul of treasure in the entire conquest of Muisca territory".[58] They captured thezacque and looted the palace, then turned their attention to nearbySogamoso. This was a major religious centre and the location of the Muisca's most sacred temple. The Spaniards accidentally burnt this temple to the ground, but not before acquiring another substantial haul of gold.[59]
Not satisfied with these twin gains, Quesada led his men back to Bacatá to resume the search for the treasure of thezipa. Finally discovering the ruler's stronghold in the mountains, he launched a night-time attack, during which thezipa was accidentally killed.[60] Thezipa's successor,Sagipa, negotiated an alliance with the Spaniards, but was unable to tell them the location of the hidden treasure.To make him talk, they eventually tortured him to death, though Quesada himself disclaimed any responsibility for this action.[61]
Approximate routes taken by Quesada, Federmann, and Balalcazar
In early 1539, after nearly two years on the plateau, Quesada received reports that a group of Europeans was camped in the Magdalena Valley nearNeiva, southwest of Bacatá. This was an army led by Sebastián de Belalcázar, who had left Quito hurriedly in March 1538, after learning that his former general, Francisco Pizarro, had issued a warrant for his arrest. Arriving at Popayán, he had decided to venture east into the highlands.[62] According to Belalcázar's treasurer, Gonzalo de la Peña, the expedition left Popayán "in search of a land calledel dorado". This is the first appearance of this phrase in the historical record.[63]
Quesada sent a scouting party to investigate the newcomers; the rival expeditions met amicably, and shortly afterwards, Quesada was informed that Belalcázar's forces were approaching Bacatá. At the same time, he was told by his indigenous allies that a third army was making its way up the slopes from the direction of thellanos. This force would prove to be headed by Nikolaus Federmann.[64][65]
Federmann, following his mission to the Upar Valley, had returned to Coro in September 1536. Finding Hohermuth still absent, he embarked on an unauthorized journey to the south-southwest, following Hohermuth's trail. He was joined by survivors of another venture led byJerónimo de Ortal, who had attempted to follow in Ordaz's footsteps and locate the headwaters of the Meta. His men had mutinied against Ortal and struck out on their own; meeting up with Federmann, they brought with them the idea that the legendary land of gold was situated on higher ground.[66] Federmann, like Hohermuth, skirted the edge of the Andes, but at one point took a detour into the plains, which happened to prevent his party from meeting Hohermuth's returning expedition. Contemporary accounts suggest that Federmann deliberately avoided Hohermuth so as not to have to abandon his own quest and give assistance.[67]
Reaching the Ariari River towards the end of 1538, Federmann heard from the natives that much gold was to be found to the west, and consequently began an assault on the Andean slopes.[68] In February 1539, Federmann's bedraggled troops emerged onto the plateau nearPasca. Within two months,[note 2] the armies of Federmann, Quesada, and Belalcázar were encamped within sight of each other at Bacatá, "all within a six-league triangle".[70] All of the new arrivals believed that they had a claim to the plateau and its spoils. The geography of South America was still uncertain, and Belalcázar insisted that the Muisca territory lay within his jurisdiction, while Federmann argued that it was part of Venezuela.[71] Quesada, a lawyer by training, resolved the tension by drawing up a contract. He granted each of his rivalconquistadors a portion of the wealth he had looted from the Muisca, and all three agreed to return to Spain together and lay their territorial claims before theCouncil of the Indies. Then, on 29 April 1539, the three men jointly founded the city ofBogotá in the name of Charles V.[72]
Aside from the aforementioned statement by Gonzalo de la Peña (from a testimony given in July 1539), no written references to a place or a person called "El Dorado" have been found prior to 1541.[63] In this year, historianOviedo recorded a story that was current among the Spanish inhabitants of Quito, relating to a native ruler called the "Golden Chief" or "King":[73]
They tell me that what they have learned from the Indians is that that great lord or prince goes about continually covered in gold dust as fine as ground salt. He feels that it would be less beautiful to wear any other ornament... He washes away at night what he puts on each morning, so that it is discarded and lost, and he does this every day of the year... The Indians say that this chief or king is a very rich and great ruler. He anoints himself every morning with a certain gum or resin that sticks very well. The powdered gold adheres to that unction... until his entire body is covered from the soles of his feet to his head. He looks as resplendent as a gold object worked by the hand of a great artist.
The timing suggests that this story was brought back to Quito by the men who had assisted in the conquest of the Muisca. Oviedo did not specify where the golden prince was to be found, but by the 1580s, the legend had become definitely associated with the Muisca, as evidenced by the following account written byJuan de Castellanos:[74][note 3]
Belalcázar interrogated a foreign, itinerant Indian resident in the city of Quito, who said he was a citizen of Bogotá and had come there by I know not what means. He stated that Bogotá was a land rich in emeralds and gold. Among the things that attracted them, he told of a certain king, unclothed, who went on rafts on a pool to make oblations, which he had observed, anointing all [his body] with resin and on top of it a quantity of ground gold, from the bottom of his feet to his forehead, gleaming like a ray of the sun... The soldiers, delighted and content, then gave [that king] the name El Dorado.
A later author,Antonio Herrera, connected this "itinerant Indian" with theindio dorado captured by Belalcázar in 1534. However, modern scholars have argued that a citizen of Bacatá would have no reason to travel as far south as Quito, either for purposes of trade or, as suggested by Herrera, as a diplomatic envoy.[75] It is likely that Castellanos's account is unreliable, and that Belalcázar had not heard the El Dorado legend prior to his arrival in Muisca territory.[76][77]
A new element in Castellanos's version of the story is the king's habit of making oblations on a raft. In the early 17th century,Pedro Simón elaborated on this ceremony, claiming that it took place atLake Guatavita near Bogotá, and that the gold dust was offered as a sacrifice to a supernatural entity living in the lake.[78]Juan Rodríguez Freyle, in 1636, was the first to describe the ceremony as aninvestiture ritual undergone by each newzipa. Freyle claimed to have received his information from the nephew of the last indigenous ruler of Guatavita who followed the Inca trail south to their gold mines atPuente del Inca.[79][80]
Historians disagree on the veracity of these reports. Warwick Bray states that the Spanish conquerors heard the legend from Muisca natives who had witnessed the ceremony first-hand.[79] Demetrio Ramos Pérez, followed byJohn Hemming among others, argues that the story was invented by the Spaniards themselves.[81] José Ignacio Avellaneda regards it as "rather certain" that the legend had a factual basis.[77] J. P. Quintero-Guzmán suggests that the Guatavita ceremony may have been a one-time event, which lived on in the oral history of the Muisca until the arrival of the Spaniards.[82]
Lakes did feature heavily inMuisca religion. The mother goddessBachué was said to have emerged from a lake before peopling the earth, and then returned to the water in the form of a serpent. Guatavita was one of several sacred lakes found within Muisca territory, and gold, emeralds and other objects not uncommonly were deposited at the lakeside as sacrificial offerings.[83]
An archaeological find known as theMuisca raft has often been cited as evidence for the historicality of the El Dorado legend. Discovered in 1969 in a cave in the region ofPasca,[84] this golden artefact depicts a man of high status, probably a chief, seated on a raft and surrounded by attendants.[85] Quintero-Guzmán calls the relationship between this object and the legend of the golden man "almost undeniable".[82] A similar object, discovered atLake Siecha in 1856, but later destroyed in a fire, was also described as a representation of the same ceremony, though others argued that it depicted an ordinary leisure cruise.[86]
Pizarro's men building a boat to sail the Coca River
Gonzalo Pizarro, brother of Francisco, was governor of Quito at the time when the legend of El Dorado was developing. In February 1541, he led an expedition out of Quito to the east, hoping to find the country of this golden king.[87] He was guided in his choice of direction by the report of a Spaniard who claimed to have been in a place calledCinnamon Valley, and had heard that beyond the valley was a flat, open country whose inhabitants wore golden jewellery.[88] Accompanying the expedition as second-in-command wasFrancisco Orellana, a kinsman of the Pizarros.[89]
On finding a few cinnamon (cassia) trees, Pizarro enquired among the locals about the way to El Dorado; when they were unable to give him any information, he had them tortured and killed.[90] After some aimless searching, the expedition arrived at the banks of theCoca River, where they met an indigenous chief named Delicola. Pizarro's reputation preceded him, and Delicola quickly told him what he wanted to hear, that further downstream he would find a wealthy and powerful civilization.[91] Pizarro built a boat, and the expedition sailed down the Coca to theNapo River.[92]
On 25 December, Pizarro was forced to call a halt, as his starving men were threatening to mutiny. Delicola, whom they had brought with them as a prisoner, assured them the land they sought was just a few days' journey down the river. It was decided that Orellana should take the healthiest men aboard the boat and go in search of food, while Pizarro and the others followed on foot.[93] However, Orellana was unable to find sufficient quantities of food to satisfy Pizarro's army, and soon realized that in any case, returning upstream would be impossible. He made the decision to abandon Pizarro and sail on.[94] Reaching the confluence of the Napo River with theAmazon, his men and he became the first Europeans to sail upon the latter river.[95] They successfully navigated its entire length, eventually emerging into the Atlantic Ocean.[96]
During their voyage, Orellana's party passed through a long stretch of land inhabited by theOmagua. Impressed by their religious idols, their skilfully crafted pottery, and their well-maintained trading routes, Orellana took captives and questioned them about their culture. They told him that very wealthy people lived a little way inland, but Orellana decided that he lacked the manpower to investigate further.[97] Nonetheless, his account of the great wealth of the Omagua would prove influential to future expeditions.
When Jiménez de Quesada departed for Spain, he left his brotherHernán in temporary command of the Muisca province, now known as New Granada. When Hernán de Quesada heard the story of El Dorado, he was eager to be the first to find it, and believed that his position in the heart of Colombia, together with the local knowledge of his men, would give him an advantage in the search. He consequently organized an expedition to the south, leaving Bogotá in September 1541.[98] After a time, suffering greatly from illness and starvation, but urged on by persistent rumours of golden lands ahead, his party turned westward and found themselves in the region ofPasto, an area already colonized by Belalcázar. The expedition was here given up as a failure.[99]
In early 1542,Philipp von Hutten, a German nobleman who had travelled with Hohermuth, set out to find the rich country that he was sure Hohermuth had almost discovered.[100] He was joined byBartholomeus Welser, a member of the merchant banking family who governed Venezuela.[101] Leading their men along the edge of thellanos, they came upon the tracks of Hernán de Quesada's south-bound expedition. Judging that Quesada would not have deserted his province except in expectation of finding even greater wealth, they decided to follow the same route. A native chief informed them that no rich settlements were in that direction, and added that he had received word from neighbouring tribes that the Spaniards who had passed that way earlier were now all dead or dying, but von Hutten believed this to be merely an attempt to distract him from his mission.[100]
Towards the end of 1543, on the banks of theGuaviare River, von Hutten heard from the locals that nearby were "enormous towns of very rich people who possessed innumerable wealth".[102] He was guided to a village of the Omagua people, and was told that the village chief owned several life-sized effigies of solid gold, and that still richer chieftains lived in the regions beyond.[102][103] The Europeans launched an attack, during which von Hutten and his captain were badly wounded by native lancers. The expedition retreated to Coro, with the intention of returning with a larger force.[104][105] Upon their return, however, a Spanish revolt against the Germans resulted in the execution by beheading of Bartholomeus Welser and von Hutten.[106]
In 1550, Charles V ordered the suspension of all expeditions whilea debate was held in Spain on their legitimacy.[107] This official suspension lasted nearly a decade, until in 1559,Pedro de Ursúa received permission from the Viceroy of Peru to equip an expedition to the Amazon. The fabled El Dorado was, by now, widely believed to be among the Peruvian settlers who lay in the lands of the Omagua. The stories of the European explorers had been corroborated by a band of indigenous Brazilians who had lately arrived in the Peruvian town ofChachapoyas, having traveled upstream along the Amazon. They said that they had been among the Omagua, and spoke of "the inestimable value of their riches, and the vastness of their trading". Fired by these reports, Ursúa assembled a force of 370 Spaniards, embarking with a flotilla of small boats on 26 September 1560.[108]
A secondary purpose of the expedition was to find employment for the idle veterans of recent civil wars; among them wasLope de Aguirre, a disgraced former soldier who had no interest in El Dorado and little motive for loyalty to his superiors. On 1 January 1561, Aguirre led a mutiny against the leaders of the expedition. The mutineers killed Pedro de Ursúa and elected Fernando de Guzman, a Spanish nobleman, as their "lord and prince". A few months later, Aguirre had Guzman assassinated and assumed command. The quest for El Dorado was abandoned, and the mutineers sailed down the Amazon with the intention of conquering Peru. They reached the ocean and sailed north, before landing atBorburata and marching overland towards the Andes. At Barquisimeto, the journey came to an end when Aguirre was killed by his own men.[108][109]
In 1566, a new expedition was launched from Peru, led by Martín de Poveda and accompanied by Pedro Maraver de Silva and Diego Soleto. They travelled north along the Andes from Chachapoyas to Bogotá, finally determining that El Dorado was not to be found anywhere within this region. However, information received from the natives along the route now pointed towards the easternllanos as the site of the legendary city.[110]
Meanwhile, Jiménez de Quesada had taken up residence in New Granada, and had been appointedadelantado of the colony. Enthused by the arrival of Martín de Poveda's troops, and their news that El Dorado lay to the east, Quesada obtained permission from the king to conquer and explore the eastern plains. He departed in December 1569, with an army of 300 Spaniards and 1500 slaves. Nothing was heard of him for two and a half years, when he reportedly was returning to Bogotá with only 50 surviving soldiers and 30 slaves, having "made no settlement and ... achieved nothing".[110]
Quesada died in 1579, and his estates and title were inherited by his son-in-law,Antonio de Berrio. As Quesada's will stipulated that his successor must continue to search "most insistently" for El Dorado,[111] Berrio obediently gathered together an expeditionary force and set out across thellanos. By April 1584, he was encamped four leagues from theOrinoco River, which runs along the western edge of the plain. Berrio believed that El Dorado was located somewhere in the highlands of theGuianas, on the far side of the river. Captured natives confirmed under questioning that these highlands were home to "great settlements and a very great number of people, and great riches of gold and precious stones". They also spoke of a great lake within the Guianas that they called Manoa. Berrio led his men across the Orinoco, but soon found that they were not fit to continue any further, and he was forced to turn for home.[112]
In March 1587, Berrio launched a second expedition. He crossed the river once more, and spent several months exploring the forests on the other side, searching for a route into the mountains. Eventually, his men rebelled against him and deserted, leaving him no choice but to return again to Bogotá.[113]
During the third attempt, which began in March 1590, Berrio decided to row downstream along the Orinoco, north and east, to reach theCaroní River, which discharges into the Orinoco from the Guianas. The Caroní was known to be unnavigable, but Berrio hoped that a pass to the Guianas could be found by following its banks. Upon reaching the point of convergence, he found he had too few men to make the ascent. He continued down the Orinoco, emerging into the Atlantic Ocean not far from the island ofTrinidad. His followers and he founded a new town on the island,San José de Oruña, and began preparations for a final assault on the Guianas.[113][114]
On 22 March 1595, an English fleet headed by SirWalter Raleigh arrived off the coast of Trinidad. Raleigh made peaceful overtures to the Spanish inhabitants of the island, trading with them and entertaining them on board his ships. Under the influence of wine, the Spaniards spoke freely of Berrio's activities in Guiana, the geography of the land, and of the riches they believed were to be found in the interior.[115] On 7 April, Raleigh launched a surprise attack against the town of San José and captured Berrio.[116] Having gleaned what information he could from the experiencedconquistador, Raleigh announced his own intention to strike out into Guiana and find the golden city.[117]
Unable to bring his ships into the narrow channels of the Orinoco Delta, he had his carpenters adapt one of them (possibly agalleass) so that it drew only five feet of water; this vessel was able to carry 60 men, while another 40 were distributed among the smaller boats.[118][119] They made slow progress through the delta, soon becoming lost in what Raleigh described as a "labyrinth of rivers".[120][121] Eventually, however, they emerged into theCaño Manamo, and from there into the Orinoco proper.[122]
A little further upriver, near the confluence of the Orinoco and the Caroní, Raleigh met a native chief called Topiawari, with whom he entered into friendly relations. Topiawari told him that his people had recently been driven out of inland Guiana by a warlike tribe from the west; this seemed to bolster the theory, current among the Spanish and strongly held by Raleigh,[123] that El Dorado was populated by fugitive Incans from Peru.[124][125] Topiawari would later inform Raleigh that the invading tribe was rich in gold, and that their nearest town, just four day's journey to the south, was the source of "all those plates of gold which were scattered among the borderers, and carried to other nations far and near ... but that those of the land within were far finer".[126][note 4]
Raleigh continued on to the mouth of the Caroní, and here found that the strength of the current prevented any further progress. He sent out two reconnaissance parties overland, himself accompanying a third. A few precious-looking stones were found, which the men eagerly tore out of the hard ground with their fingers and daggers, but most of these proved to be worthless. They received information that at the head of the Caroní stood a great lake some 40 miles wide, in which large quantities of alluvial gold could be found, but having no means of advancing, and threatened by the rising waters of the Orinoco, Raleigh gave up the expedition, hoping to return at a more opportune time.[128][129]
Until 1616, over 20 years later, Raleigh finally received permission fromJames I to attempt a second expedition in Guiana. He promised the king that he could recover an abundance of gold from a certain mine near the Caroní that he had heard of on his former voyage. James gave Raleigh strict instructions not to engage in any hostilities against the Spanish, who still controlled the area around the Orinoco. On reaching South America, Raleigh remained aboard the ship and sent a force headed byLawrence Kemys to seek out the mine. For unclear reasons, Kemys attacked and captured the Spanish town ofSanto Tomé; Raleigh's son Wat was killed in the battle. Unable to find the mine, the men returned to the ship, where Kemys, facing Raleigh's displeasure, committed suicide.[130] Raleigh was put on trial in England – charged with lying about the mine and with attempting to stir up conflict between England and Spain – and was executed.[131]
During Berrio's first expedition, he had heard of a vast lake called Manoa supposedly located in the highlands of the Guianas. El Dorado had long been associated with a lake, so this report added fuel to the theory that the fabled golden city lay somewhere east of the Orinoco. In 1596, Lawrence Kemys heard reports of a lake called Parime or Parima, which he assumed to be identical with Manoa; it was said to be so large that the natives "know no difference between it and the main sea". This lake was included in maps of the Guianas throughout the 17th century, though no European had seen it.[132]
In 1674, two Jesuits, Jean Grillet and François Bechamel, traversed the area and found no trace of a lake.[133] In 1740, Nicholas Horstmann discovered Lake Amucu, a little way south of the supposed location of Lake Parime; Amucu was a reedy lake only a mile wide, with no golden city on its banks. Doubts began to emerge as to Lake Parime's existence.[134][135] In 1800,Alexander von Humboldt conducted a survey of the area around the Orinoco; he discovered that "Parime" was the word used by local tribes for any large body of water, and suggested that the seasonal flooding of the plains around Lake Amucu might be the source of the legend.[136][137] This theory was corroborated byRobert Schomburgk, who visited Lake Amucu in 1836. Humboldt's influence eventually resulted in the final disappearance of Lake Parime from maps and gazetteers – the effacement, as Schomburgk wrote, "of those last vestiges of that delusive bubble, El Dorado".[138]
^The town's name was transliterated toBogothá orBogotá by the Spanish, but it is a little to the west of the modern-day city ofBogotá. The nameBacatá orBogotá can also refer to the general region.
^When Belalcázar arrived at Bacatá is unknown, but the earliest documented date of his presence there is 14 April 1539.[69]
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