This was apparently a well-constructed place with straight streets and sturdy houses. 1579) tortured and fought his way through the lands of the Chibcha and tracked down a cache of gold in the village of Hunsa. In 1536, Spanish explorer Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada y Rivera (d. The Chibcha people of the northwest corner of South America have a ritual where they smear new kings with gold dust and submerge them in Lake Guatavita until the gold is washed off, an elaborate offering to the gods. He came to be known as the gilded man (in Spanish, ‘El hombre dorado’, or ‘El dorado’). Their ruler was a man who was, they said, painted gold. At Lake Maracaibo, he was told of a wealthy people deep in the interior. In 1529, the young governor of Venezuela, Ambrosius Dalfinger, set off to plunder his new territory. Read more about: History of America The Lost Confederate Gold of Jefferson Davis, the Outlaw President What encapsulated this magical yet deadly gold rush was the legend of El Dorado. Not long after that, the emperor was dead, and on 13 August 1521, the Spanish completed their conquest of the Aztec Empireįor the indigenous people of the Americas, it was a brutal, devastating period, with European colonisers all convinced that behind every mountain was an indigenous tribe hiding heaps of gems and precious metals. The Aztec emperor Moctezuma II (1466-1520) famously showered Cortés with lavish gold gifts. In 1520, Spain was enraptured by reports from the Conquistador Hernán Cortés (1485-1547) of the riches of the New World. Undoubtedly the most famous legend of a lost city of gold is that of El Dorado, a term now almost synonymous with a naïve quest for riches (as well as a short-lived British soap opera from the 1990s). Was it the hidden fortress of a band of refugee Conquistadores, or a mirage typical to the tales of weary travellers? Whatever the basis of the story, no evidence of the city has ever been found. Later becoming entangled with other legends, this ‘Enchanted City’ was said to make those who happened upon it wildly rich. The city in this account was said to have been destroyed around a century later. Read more about: Treasure Hunting History's most incredible lost treasures that may never be found

Everything in the palace from plates, chairs and utensils were of solid gold or silver. The temples of the city were said to be covered in silver and could be seen gleaming for miles around.

The Caesars was said to be located on an island in Lake Puyehue, east of Osorno in Chile. The City of the Caesars (Spanish: Ciudad de los Césares (or simply, Los Césares) is a myth that takes us to the other end of the South American continent.Īn 1836 book tells of a city built in 1599 by fleeing Spanish colonists. Nara took out three westerners on three different trips in the 1980s to discover Akakor – they never came back, but Nara did.Īkakor, if it ever existed, remains undiscovered. In 1979 Nara and a Swiss man named Schmid claimed to have found Akahim, though they were unable to bring back any evidence of their find, Schmid having lost, he said, his camera and film. Read more about: Treasure Hunting The ship of gold: The '£1 billion' lost treasure of the Merchant RoyalĪkahim, connected to the distant Akakor, was said by Nara to be on the border of Brazil and Venezuela.

Whatsapp logo dorado