Cites:http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/12/06/specials/naipaul-way.html
The myth
I found some great discussions about El Dorado, if you want more information the web links are up ahead, one was posted by newyorktimes on May 22,1994 by Brent Staples. I would look at the Geographicus.com one that one is really detailed. This topic reminds me of my dad, he almost became obsessed with this city, and got me interesting in keeping up with the news about it. The article I read was difficult so I put all of it in my own words so its easy to follow."East of the Eastern Ocean lie The shores of the Land of Fusang.If, after landing there, you travel East for 10,000 li You will come to another ocean, blue,Vast, huge, boundless", this was a poem written by a man in the 1500's who went missing in the tangled Jungle in search for the city of gold. All that was found was this poem, in his notebook.There are many myths about the lost city of gold, Where it is? what went on there? and how did it disappear? I want to focus on all of that, I promise it wont be a boring blog. The most popular name this city has been given is Eldorado but it also goes by the white city. Many people believe in this hidden city somewhere in South America, full of wealth,riches and a unimaginable amount of gold. The tempting lure of this uncountable gold sent many explores of into the lush rain Forrest, where many never came back. In the 16th century the Europeans heard about the golden city from the locals. In this time it was very common for Spanish and English men to seek out the city in hope of unlimited amount of riches. The original legend came from the people in modern day Columbia known as Chibcha. It began here because a ceremony was held here, by which the Chibcha people would cover there chief in gold dust and swim a lake filled with gold flakes. Then at the end of the 1400s these people were defeated by the Spanish and there practices ended but the stories lived on. The Spanish believed that some of the Chibcha people escaped and hide in a forbidden land of gold. The Spanish desperately searched for this city, and after five long expeditions came up with nothing.In 1540, the Governor of northern Ecuador heard of this hidden city he sent 340 soldiers and over 4,00 Indians out into the vast forest. Sadly all soldiers and Indians died from starvation, disease, and attacks from natives in the jungles. An Explorer named Juan Martinez, who went in the deepest parts of the jungle, were their gun power exploded. Juan's men blamed him and left, later Juan claims that alone in the Forrest and group of Indians blindfolded him and brought him the the lost city of gold. His story goes that the natives gave him golden gifts but on the way back were stolen from him. However, the Spanish never found the city they did find a lake named Guatavita, when they drained the lake they found thousands of pieces of gold at the bottom.The Incas made the legend live on by creating golden temples and even gardens of pure gold, they were taken over by Spanish conquerors. So the question is what happened to the city and its people? Leave me a comment and let me know what you think.
This article was pretty interesting to me; I’ve always wondered what happened to the city of gold. The first time I’ve ever heard about the city of gold was from DreamWorks Animation movie “Road to Eldorado”. I thought it was just some ordinary animated film but after finding out that this city of gold could be a real place that existed was astounding to me. Just thinking about a city made of gold sounds unreal and mystical but also sounds like a cool place. One question I have regarding to your topic is that, is there any real evidence such as artifacts or anything that provides evidence that El Dorado was a real city at one time? To be honest I don’t know much about the lost city of gold, but I would like to learn more about it. I look forward to reading more of your blogs about this topic.
ReplyDeleteYea its a very interesting topic, thanks for giving your input on my curiosity question :) Ill try my best to keep it interesting since you said you would be following it.
DeleteI thought this blog was very interesting. I really like topics like the city of gold. The first time I heard about anything of the city of gold was when I watched National Treasures Book of Secret. I always wondered if the city of gold really did exist. Finding out Eldorado might just be a real place is putting me in the state of mind to just finding out for myself, but this is your blog, and maybe suspense is a good thing for this topic. Eldorado has been gone for decades it can wait for me for another week or so. It is like did Atlantis really existed, and I think it did, and I also think the city of gold existed. I'm one who believe in a lot of myths, and I can tell you that some are fake and some are real, but the only way to find out if it does exist is to find a lot of evidence to the myth. I would agree with Rodylan Cooley by saying is there any evidence relating to the city of gold, and if there is what evidence is it. It would be a big news headline if they really finally did find the city of gold once in the future. That would be the day that a lot of people who doesn't believe about the city of gold will finally say “oh my god I was wrong”. Well this was a very nice blog to read about, and I am really looking forward to the rest of the blogs that you are going to make.
ReplyDeleteYou sure did write a lot, Well if you continue following my blog. Ill be able to answer all your question but ill be saving the good stuff for last.
DeleteI think that this blog is a good start and that there is still plenty more to the story that needs to be told. In my opinion you have done a great job at telling the myth, I like that you did include that the Spanish conquerors where the main ones that were looking for the city of gold. I also love that you researched the topic of the city of gold so well that you were able to also give us another name that the city was called which is the white city. Then there is the fact that you included the exact number of Spanish soldiers and the number on Indians that accompanied the soldiers on their adventure through the rain forest. Even though they did all die from hunger, illness or by getting attacked by the local Indians. Plus I always liked the part of the story where the single Spanish dude named Juan Martinez got kidnapped by the natives and brought to the city of gold, and they tried to teach him not to be greedy and to enjoy the beautify of the world around him but he still decided to be greedy and tried to take gold with him but he got al of the gold stolen from him along his travels back home. So everyone though he was lying or was just completely insane when he told them that he had been to the city of gold.
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