In 1537, the conquistador Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada arrived in the Andean region (Colombia)

with the intention of opening a road from the Caribbean coast of Santa Marta to the Inca territory
in Peru.

They arrived after a year in the Muisca territory, whose riches came from the salt trade. The
Spaniards heard the stories of the indigenous rites, a sacred lagoon with emerald green waters
and the circumstance of being made of pure gold. This in primitive art leads us to a custom of
prehistoric times: the legend of gold.

The Muisca legend was taken by the conquistadors to Quito. Thus was born the legend of El
Dorado, which led to numerous expeditions throughout the Americas in search of a dream of gold
and endless riches.

Today, the place where this legend was born still exists and bears the name of Guatavita Lagoon.

The road to gold was the main reason why the Spanish expeditionaL ries arrived to unexplored
and almost impregnable lands to found cities that today remain as firm settlements with five
centuries of history behind them.

El Dorado was not only a fantastic image, it was also the driving force behind the discovery of new
lands and the murderous weapon that annihilated indigenous people and their own fellow
soldiers.

It is said that the legend of El Dorado was first talked about in the expeditions of Vasco Núñez de
Balboa that resulted in the discovery of the Pacific Ocean, there in what today corresponds to
Panamanian territory, the natives told the Spaniards that there was a land where gold abounded,
a place where there was so much that it was practically inexhaustible and that it was located to
the west, in what is known today as Colombia.

This story begins in the town of Guatavita, very close to the present town. It is the story of a
cacique whose wife was caught in adultery and for this, condemned to the worst of tortures: day
and night she was pursued by a group of Indians who sang songs recounting her crime in detail.
They did not stop tormenting her.

Desperation and guilt made her throw herself into a lagoon, where she died drowned with her
little daughter. After the events, the chieftain was filled with remorse and wanted to atone for his
wife's death by asking the trusted priests for advice. They told him that his wife was still alive and
that she lived in a beautiful palace at the bottom of the lagoon; that her soul would be saved if he
offered her all the gold in the world.
He did so several times a year. The Indians carried the offerings and threw them into the water,
always on their backs, while the cacique undressed and covered his body with a natural glue. He
would sprinkle himself with powdered gold, then get on a raft and go into the middle of the lagoon
where he would lament and pray. He would then bathe to leave the gold dust covering his body.
The ritual was repeated endlessly.

And that is how the legend of El Dorado began, the exact location of the lagoon was never known,
but the most ambitious conquerors lost their patience, and some lost their lives, to find this
legendary treasure.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)