El Dorado was first the name of a tribal chief in Colombia who covered himself in gold dust for a ritual. It later came to refer to a lost city of gold that fascinated explorers. Though never found, the legends originated from stories Spanish explorers heard in the 16th century of a tribe in the Andes who threw gold and jewels in a lake. Francisco Orellana and Gonzalo Pizarro searched unsuccessfully in 1541. In 1545, Lake Guatavita was found and drained, yielding gold. Sir Walter Raleigh led two unsuccessful expeditions in search of El Dorado in the late 16th/early 17th century, with his second expedition resulting in his son's death and ultimately
3. The Gilded One El Dorado was first the name of a Muisca tribal chief who covered himself with gold dust and dove into Lake Titicaca as an initiation rite
4. Lost City Later, El Dorado came to be known as the “lost city of gold”. The city has fascinated and eluded explorers since the days of the Spanish Conquistadors.
5. Location? "El Dorado shifted geographical locations until finally it simply meant a source of untold riches somewhere in the Americas," says Jim Griffith, a folklorist in Tucson, Arizona.
14. During his second trip in 1617, he sent his son, Watt up the Orinoco River. SWR stayed behind and his son was killed in a battle with the Spaniards
15.
16. "Over the Mountains of the Moon, down the Valley of the Shadow, ride, boldly ride…if you seek for El Dorado." -Edgar Allan Poe
17. "I don't think we've ever stopped seeking El Dorado." -Jose Oliver, lecturer for the Institute of Archaeology, University College London
18. References: Drye, Willie. "El Dorado Legend." nationalgeographic.com. National Geographic, n.d. Web. 13 Apr. 2011. Bandelier, A. F. A. The Gilded Man, El Dorado (New York, 1893). Fernandez de Oviedo, Gonzalo Historia General y Natural de las India, islas y Tierra-Firme del Mar Oceano, Madrid: Real Academia de la Historia, 1851. Freyle, Juan Rodriguez El Carnero: Conquista y descubrimiento del Nuevo Reino de Granada. ISBN 84-660-0025-9 Hagen, Victor Wolfgang von The Gold of El Dorado: The Quest for the Golden Man Naipaul,V.S. The Loss of El Dorado, 1969 Nicholl, Charles The Creature in the Map, London, 1995 ISBN 0-09-959521-4