EL DORADO

[whiterat]

I've been looking into different threads, people assume sci-fi. I want to find whatever started the idea of El Dorado.

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

A History of Mining on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska - Grab it through Amazon!

[allen_idaho]

Very good question.

The legend of El Dorado came about after Gonzalo Pizarro became the Governor of Quito in what is now Ecuador in 1540.
Gonzalo Pizarro and a conquistador named Francisco de Orellana began an expedition through the Amazon basin to located something the natives referred to as the "land of cinnamon".

It was on this expedition that natives also told the two about a priest the called El Dorado, which translates to "The Gilded One".
El Dorado was a Muisca chief who supposedly performed a ritual in which he would be covered in gold dust and sent out onto Lake Guatavita. He would then throw sacrifices of gold into the middle of the lake.