El Dorado

El Dorado, the European legend of great South American wealth associated with the Muisca (Chibcha) traditions of a chieftain who covered himself in gold dust before immersing himself in the waters of Lake Guatavita, north of Bogotá.

The European legends of El Dorado, "Land of Cinnamon," became a central element in the lore of Spanish and English exploration and conquest in northern South America in the sixteenth century. The El Dorado fantasy had both Amerindian and Spanish origins. On one hand, New World informants repeated rumors of the pre-Columbian Muisca rite of accession to political leadership in which the chieftain of Guatavita, covered with gold dust, dipped himself in the sacred lake and shed his gold covering while attendants and spectators threw golden offerings into the water. The extensive artistry of indigenous Colombian goldsmiths and native practices of body painting have lent credence to this account. On the other hand, the conquistadors Gonzalo Jiménez De Quesada, Sebastián de Belalcázar, and Nicolás Federmann, all of whom met in Muisca territory in 1539, and their chroniclers (including Gonzalo Fernández Oviedo, Pedro de Cieza De León, Juan de Castellanos, and Fray Pedro Simón) embellished the myth to explain feats of conquest and to enliven their narratives.

Over the course of the sixteenth century and into the eighteenth, the legend was transformed from that of the golden man of Guatavita to a golden land in northeastern South America, which is what attracted Walter Raleigh in 1595 and 1617–1618. The persistent association of the legend with Guatavita, however, led to several attempts between 1562 and 1913 to drain the lake and expose its alleged hidden treasure.

See alsoGoldwork, Pre-Columbian .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Walker Chapman, The Golden Dream: Seekers of El Dorado (1967).

John Hemming, The Search for El Dorado (1978).

Demetrio Ramos Pérez, El mito del Dorado: Su génesis y proceso (1973).

Victor W. Von Hagen, The Golden Man: The Quest for El Dorado (1974).

Additional Bibliography

Ainsa, Fernando. De la edad de oro a El Dorado: Génesis del discurso utópico americano. México: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1992.

Nicholl, Charles. The Creature in the Map: A Journey to El Dorado. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997.

Silverberg, Robert. The Golden Dream: Seekers of El Dorado. Athens: Ohio University Press, 1996.

                                          Lance R. Grahn