The mystery of el Dorado - History Elective case study

The Mystery and Myth of El Dorado, by Tara Ellam, 2023
The mystery of El Dorado
- a mythic lost city
Tara Ellam, 2023
Stage 4/5 History/Elective

,created by Tara Ellam
This is a modern representation of the
mythical el Dorado.
What do you SEE THINK WONDER?

• The myth of the lost
city of gold, El Dorado,
started centuries ago
in the 16th century.
• El Dorado is Spanish
meaningThe Gilded
One
Origins

• The original story was about an indigenous tribal
chief known as El hombre Dorado
• He apparently lived near Bogotá and would cover
his body on gold dust before jumping into a lake in
what is believed a religious festival
Origins

• The Muisca people
inhabited the area we now
know as Colombia.
• According to Muisca myth
their chief would cover
himself in gold dust, sail out
to the centre of a lake,
make offerings of precious
items to the gods.
• It was this said the lake
contained much wealth.
Origins

Colombian peoples of
Muisca culture today

Spain
England
Portugal
Aztecs
Maya
Inca
Muisca

Location of Lake Guatavita

Location of the Central
American cultures
Location of Bogotá in Colombia
and the Muisca tribe
How would you describe the
location of Bogotá and the
Muisca ?

• El Dorado City
of Gold
• Mythology
Unleashed
• 6 minutes
While viewing this clip, note down points of interest about
the origins and features of the mythic story.

The documentary, El Dorado by Mythology Unleashed, is
_____________ (un)reliable because
______________________________________. Also,
_________________________________________. It is further
un/reliable due to
_________________________________________________
Assess the reliability of this source on a scale of :
highly reliable, somewhat reliable, somewhat unreliable, highly unreliable. And
give reasons for your judgement.
Reliability / Trustworthiness:
- balanced information and perspectives
- who is the creator / their qualifications and credibility
- what sources did they use?

Write a paragraph of 5-8 sentences:
What are the origins AND features of the
story of El Dorado?

• The Europeans began colonising
the America’s in the 14-1500s.
• When word got out to Europeans
of a wealthy gold-laden South
American city, colonisation of
South America amplified.
• The Spanish, Portuguese and
British sent explorers and soldiers
to explore, find, colonise and
convert the ‘natives’.
European Interest

• Spanish conquest of Inca in
South America
In what way are these sources both valuable and limited in understanding
the Spanish ‘exploration’ and colonisation of the Americas?

• The Spanish heard rumours
about a lost city of gold
known as el Dorado before
the 1530s from indigenous
peoples of the Americas.
European Interest
• One Spaniard claimed to have
been there and reported it
was near Omagua.
Omagua people, Peru

• Eventually the myth evolved from
referring to a gilded man, to a great
civilisation with cities at Omagua and
Manoa.
• Some key dismissed explorers set on finding gold included: Gonzalo
Pizzaro, Francisco de Orellana, Gonzalo Jiminez de Quesada. British
explorer /pirate Sir Walter Raleigh also went looking.
The myth evolved

• The Americas had gold
aplenty
• The New World was a
fascination to Europeans -
and the gold a temptation
• Eldorado was only one of
many legendary cities that
were sought
The myth evolved
What does this map reveal about
the result of Spanish and other
Euro exploration in the 16 and

Various golden artefacts from
ancient Americas Eg Aztec, Mixtec,
Inca etc

Various golden artefacts from
ancient Americas Eg Aztec, Mixtec,
Inca etc
What evidence do such artefacts reveal of central and
South American indigenous cultures?
How might the European encounters with such
artefacts, technologies etc have impacted on their
interpretation of the indigenous stories of el Dorado?

• Eldorado
• Cibola
• Quivira
• City of the Caesars
• Otro Mejico
• Others…
Fabulous
lost cities
• Eldorado myth has become so big it is a phrase
used to refer to place for quick wealth. Several
cities have since been named this.
Modern imagining of City of the Caesar’s
Modern imagining of Cibola, city of gold

Why were the Europeans interested in el Dorado?
What reasons do you have for thinking this?
Choose one of the European explorers and
research their role and contribution. Create an
acrostic on their name to reflect their legacy on
the story and myth of el Dorado.
-Pizzaro
-Orellana
-Jiminez de Quesada
-Raleigh

• Remember that originally
el Dorado was a person
not a place
• The story started with
indigenous peoples in the
Americas
• The stories centre around
Bogotá Colombia
• The core of the myth is a
Colombian Muisca
cultural tradition
Points

Read this article and
complete a Big Idea
Summary
https://www.forbes.co
m/sites/davidanderson/
2019/02/26/the-lore-of-
lost-cities-chasing-el-do
rado/amp/
Organiser from:
https://www.nbss.ie/sites/default/files/publications/summarising_maps_-_co
mprehension_strategy_handout__copy_2.pdf
Task

El Dorado - Myth or Reality? 12 mins

What do you see /
think / wonder
about its creation,
function, message
etc
Source
This is one of the most
famous artefacts
associated with to
Dorado.

How does this view of the artefact add to your knowledge?
Does this different perspective alter your interpretation of it?
Ancient golden artwork
Muisca raft
Found 1969 in a cave in
the hills near Bogotá
It was likely created
using lost wax method
between 1295-1410CE.

What does this
perspective reveal?

Zoom In

Friday Lesson 15/9/23
1. Read the source extract from slides 34-36
2. Do the 5 questions on slide 37
3. Examine the source on slide 38 and do the question
4. Examine the source on slide 39 and do the question
5. Examine the source on slides 40-41 and complete Q on slide 41
6. Examine the Muisca sources on slides 42-43 and do the Qs on slide
43
7. Read slide 44, then examine source on slide 45 and complete 2
questions on slide 45
8. Examine sources on slides 46-48 and write down 5 things you can
learn about the Muisca people from these sources
9. Copy and complete the Summary Frame on slide 53 into your
workbook
10. Examine the info and pictures on slides 55-57. Complete the tasks
on slide 57.
11. Open the collaborative google doc on slide 58. Sit with your team
and work out your thesis, case and argument.
12. Extension: Read the article on slide 49 from LiveScience.You are to
do a P2S summary (details how to do a P2S summary on slide 50)

when a leader died within Muisca society the process of
succession for the chosen "golden one" would unfold.
The selected new leader of the community, commonly
the nephew of the previous chief, would go through a
long initiation process culminating in the final act of
paddling out on a raft onto a sacked lake, such as Lake
Guatavita in Central Colombia.
Source
Juan Rodriguez Freyle, a Spanish chronicler, published 1636CE as
summarised by Dr Jago Cooper, Curator of the Americas at the British
Museum, 2013CE, BBC News

Surrounded by the four highest priests
adorned with feathers, gold crowns and body
ornaments, the leader, naked but for a covering
of gold dust, would set out to make an offering
of gold objects, emeralds and other precious
objects to the gods by throwing them into the
lake.
Source

The shores of the circular lake were filled with richly adorned
spectators playing musical instruments and burning fires that almost
blocked out the daylight from this crucible-like lake basin.The raft
itself had four burning fires on it throwing up plumes of incense into
the sky.When at the very centre of the lake, the priest would raise a
flag to draw silence from the crowd.This moment would mark the
point at which the crowds would commit allegiance to their new
leader by shouting their approval from the lakeshore.
Source

What did Freyle’s account reveal about
- Muisca leadership and social organisation
- Leaders initiation
- Religious belief and practice
How reliable do you consider Freyle’s 17C account? Why?
How does Freyle’s account compare to the gold Muisca
raft artefact?
What might be some problems with both
the Muisca artefact and Freyle as sources
for ell Dorado?
Identify the type of primary sources you
would want to exist / be found, for
understanding el Dorado.

Offerings /Tunjos
Were made to gods and
left in lakes and caves
Source
Give reasons why indigenous Americans
might have given tunjos to the gods?

In AD1537 it was these stories of El
Dorado that drew the Spanish
conquistador Jimenez de Quesada and his
army of 800 men away from their mission
to find an overland route to Peru and up
into the Andean homeland of the Muisca
for the first time.
Quesada and his men were lured ever
deeper into alien and inhospitable
territories where many lost their lives. But
what Quesada and his men found
astounded them, as the goldworking of the
Muisca was like nothing they had ever seen
before.The exquisitely crafted gold objects
used techniques beyond anything ever seen
by European eyes.
Who was Quesada
and why was he in
South America?
How were they ‘lured’
according to Dr
Cooper?
What ‘astounded’
them? For what
reasons would they be
‘astounded’ by this?
Source Dr Jago Cooper
Curator at British Museum , 2013

Source
Lake Guatavita , Sesquile Colombia.
Lake Guatavita is often said to be
the location of the raft festival.

Source
How does this help understand the el Dorado story
further? How?

Source Gold artefacts from Muisca culture

Examples Muisca art
Pendants and statues
Source
What can you deduce about the Muisca
people and culture from these artefacts?

When we are asked about the
TYPE of source a source is….
● TemporalType: Primary, Secondary,Tertiary
● HistoricalType: Written,Archaeological (Artefact or
Feature), Ecofact, Oral,Audiovisual etc
● FormatType: Painting, Cartoon, Diary, Speech, Inscription,
Graffiti, Engraving,Woodcut, Illustration, Newspaper article,
Video footage, Statue, etc

Map of Guiana by Hessel Gerritsz,
1625. El Dorado is at the western
end of Lake Parime
Source
What TYPE of source
is this?
How much value does
this source have for
investigating the el
Dorado story?
Explain….

Ancient
Colombian
cultures / tribes /
groups

Source
Modern representation of the Muisca
people, culture and environment
Getty images.

Representation of
Incans (Peru)
Muisca (Colombia) -
representation and photo

Read this article and
complete a Big Idea
Summary
Ich
https://www.livescien
ce.com/el-dorado
Organiser from:
Task

P2S summary
• Means ‘Paragraph to Sentence’
• Read each paragraph through first, then summarise it in
one concise sentence
• Summary is often in dot point form, where each
paragraph is turned into 1 dot point.
• Choose the most important, interesting part of the
paragraph to summarise (ignore the rest)

• There have been many lost cities in the
history books.
• Some have been found EgTroy in
Turkey and Angkor Wat in Cambodia.
• Some were likely always allegories -
like Atlantis.
• People have searched for nearly 500
years - half a millennium - for el
Dorado to no avail.
Did el Dorado exist?
Archaeological site of Troy,
site of legendary Trojan
War
Angkor Wat

Documentary Study
In Search of History-
the Gold of el Dorado
Take notes under these
headings:
-Origins of myth
-Features of the
mythic account
-Sources about el
Dorado
-What evidence
reveals
-Continuities and
changes over time

Organiser from:
Task
Copy and complete this Summary Frame
based on your viewing of the documentary.

Extension: Read
about Ocomtun , a
long lost city of the
Mayan civilisation ,
was found in 2023.
https://www.bbc.co
m/travel/article/202
30704-ocomtn-a-lon
g-lost-maya-city-that
-was-just-discovered

• Myths have great significance in history.
• This myth fueled European imperialism and
colonisation in South America.
• This myth has persisted to this day with
some believing it exists.
• Disney released an animated movie about
Eldorado and towns are named after it.
• El Dorado has become synonymous with
chasing wealth, dreams and glory.
The power of myth

What have been key continuities in the
myth over time?
What have been key changes to the myth
over time?

Four Corners Debating
1. Open the digital four corners debating planner by clicking the picture below.
2. You have been assigned to a team
3. Move to sit with them.
4. Discuss the topic and position you’re assigned.
5. Determine a thesis and write it in your box
6. Now, add a bunch of convincing points, reasoning and evidence to prove it!

• To what extent
is it likely that
el Dorado is
based on
historical fact?
• To what extent
do you agree
that the El
Dorado City of
Gold was
myth?
Four Corners Debating
1. Stand in the corner corresponding
with your position on the Question
2. In groups, develop your thesis
3. Then identify 4-6 arguments / topic
sentences to prove your thesis
4. For eachTS, identify evidence to
support
5. Share with class.
6. Option to switch corners.

• What is the relationship between
myth and history? Use evidence
from el Dorado to explain your
answer.
• Assess the historical signiﬁcance of
the el Dorado myth? Use evidence
to support your answer.
• To what extent is it likely that el
Dorado was/is a real place? Use
evidence to support your answer.
Choose one of
these
questions and
write a one
page
structured
response with
an intro
sentence,
paragraphed
arguments and
concluding
statement.

• https://www.britannica.com/science/gold-chemical-element
• https://www.historyskills.com/classroom/year-8/el-dorado/
• https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-20964114.amp
• https://www.metmuseum.org/perspectives/articles/2022/8/colombia
• https://www.ancient-origins.net/ancient-places-americas/search-el-dorado-lost-city-gold-002535
#google_vignette
• http://antiqueprintsblog.blogspot.com/2015/04/the-search-for-el-dorado.html?m=1
• https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidanderson/2019/02/26/the-lore-of-lost-cities-chasing-el-dorad
o/amp/
• https://www.livescience.com/el-dorado
Resources
• Tara Ellam, tara.ellam@det.nsw.edu.au, 2023

The mystery of el Dorado - History Elective case study

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