Author: Theresa Cordell
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| A golden king with his followers on a raft. |
El Dorado is said to be in South America, at the
bottom of Lake Guatavita or in the jungle. El Dorado is where the
riches are supposed to be. There are many meaning to El Dorado. Some of the meanings
are the golden one, the golden lake, the golden king, and the golden city. All
of this information has came from many different legends.
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| The Lake Guatavita surrounded by the jungle. |
Several legends existed over the golden city when the
Spanish came. The first legend is that a group of Inca people fled into where
the Spanish invaded Peru. The Spaniards believed they kept the treasure and
took it with them. The second legend, the Indians knew for many years. This
legend is the most popular of El Dorado. It is said that the legendary king
covered his body in gold and would go into the middle of Lake Guatavita to wash
it off. He would also throw jewels in the lake, this was a religious ritual. In
1535 this came to the Spaniards. This is how the search for El Dorado came to
be.
As
all the greedy men began searching for the treasure, it became a lust for them.
It then was known as the gold fever. During the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries Europeans and the Spanish would waste their lives searching. They
would die, kill others, or go insane. The men didn’t care; they had a desire to
obtain the riches. This search for El Dorado became a quest that many
conquistadors would travel. Even after the conquistadors, explorers in the
seventeenth through nineteenth centuries traveled to find the treasure.
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| The map for the search of El Dorado. |
The
legend of El Dorado is fact and fantasy, these quests and religious acts did
occur. We do not know what El Dorado really is. Many people say that it is a
human being but others say a place. Since there is no existence of El Dorado we
will never figure out the answer.
Works
cited:
Ancient Map of Manoa. N.d. Photograph. N.p. Comp. Stan Grist.
Drye,
Willie. “El Dorado Legend Snared Sir Walter Raleigh.” National Geographic. Web. 16 October 2012.
Floyd,
Randall. “The Legendary City of Gold “El Dorado” – The Great Web of Percy
Harrison Fawcett.” The Legendary City of
Gold “El Dorado” – The Great Web of Percy Harrison Fawcett. 1999. The Great
Web of Percy Harrison Fawcett. Web. 16 October 2012.
Levi. El Dorado Lake Guatavita.
2009. Photograph. South America, Colombia. Web. 18 October 2012.
Leyenda - El-Dorado. 2010. Photograph. Audistico, n.p. Web. 19
October 2012.
WebMaster412160.
“The Legend of El Dorado, The golden city! – Total War Center Forums.” The Legend of El Dorado, The golden city! –
Total War Center Forums. 27 July 2009. Web. 16 October 2012
Links for further
research:
Ancient mysteries
Has articles about aliens, spirituality, and locations.
El Dorado (The golden one)
A digital magazine about natural landscapes.
What is El Dorado?
It tells About not only El Dorado but also other
locations, charms and creatures.
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