One of the legendary places in this world that has fascinated adventurers and fortune hunters is located some where in South America . It is El - Dorado , a fabulous land of gold and priceless treasures. For centuries , people have looked for it , and hundreds of lives has been lost chasing this dreams . But what exactly was El Dorado ? A golden city ? or a golden man ? was it a myth , or were the stories based on fact ?
The legend of El - Dorado was first heard of by the spaniards . They were told of a ritual ceremony that took place at Lake Guatavita , near bogota . The lake was mystical , mirror calm and perfect circle , surrounded by uniform barren hills . According to legend , the bottom of the lake had unimaginable treasures dumped there by an ancient people called the Muisca , to whom the lake was sacred . They believe that the spirit of former chieftain's wife lived in the lake , bound there by a terrible Monster .
It was the ceremony for the accession of a new Muisca chief on the Lake Guatavita that gave rise to the legend of El-Dorado or ' the gilded man ' . Before taking office , the new chief was completely covered with gold dust . He would then go to the middle of the lake on raft , and throw heaps of gold and other treasures on into the water . This naturally led to many adventurers seeking El - Dorado . Some lost their fortune , some their lives , and some their reputation- and El Dorado remains a magical mythical place to this day .
The first spanish conquerors , or conquistadors who explored the interior of South America heard of El - Dorado . Francisco de orellana led the first expedition in search of El - Dorado in 1541 . Orellana discovered the western hemisphere 's largest river , the amazon , and followed it across south america to the Atlantic ocean , but he did not find the fabled city of El - Dorado . But , he did report that he saw plenty of gold items in the possession of the Indians .
In 1595 , Sir Walter Raleigh started his search for El - Dorado from the east , at the mouth of the Orinoco River . he did not find the golden city of El- Dorado , but he remained convinced that there were fabulous riches to be discovered in northern south america . He made valuable contacts with the indians ,and believed that he had convinced them to ignore the spanish , and welcom any future English expeditions .
Later , in the 19 th century , Humboldt , a scientist , and Bonpland , a botanist , travelled extensively in south america , and finally concluded that El - Dorado does not exist . How ever , though the explorers failed to discover the golden man or the golden land , they did discover unknown tribes and many valuable metals including platinum , silver , bauxite and manganese , and the most important of all , Oil . So the search for El-Dorado was fruitful , after all .....
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