It was all due to a runaway dog. When its owner, a Colombian farmer, went looking for the missing animal in 1969, he stumbled upon what remains the only physical evidence that the legendary Eldorado might be more than just a myth. In a cave near Bogotá, the farmer found a small sculpture only 18 centimeters long, depicting a raft with people on it – all made of 80 per cent pure gold with an admixture of silver and copper. The so-called ‘Gold Raft of Eldorado’ is considered possible proof of the existence of the legendary land of gold.
Legend based on indigenous customs in Colombia
Of the gold raft’s twelve golden figures, one towers above all the others. It sits on a throne also made of gold. The scene depicts the coronation ritual of a new chief of the Muisca, an indigenous people who lived near the present-day city of Bogotá in the eastern Andes region of Colombia. The coronation ceremony involved covering the new ruler with a paste made of gold dust, which was later washed off in the Guatavita mountain lake as an offering to the sun god. Gold and precious stones were also sunk into the lake as gifts.
From one man, legend spun a city and an entire land of gold
The above described ritual had not been performed for a long time when the Spanish conquistadors invaded the country in the 16th century. Nevertheless, reports of the Muisca coronation ceremony fired the imagination of the ruthless conquerors and took on a life of their own. Initially, the search was for the riches of the gilded ruler, but soon the legend of an entire golden city began to circulate among the Spanish adventurers. Eventually, there was even talk of a land of gold whose valuable remains must be hidden somewhere in present-day Colombia. Countless expeditions were undertaken without tangible results. The greatest success was the pinpointing of Lake Guatavita, where the golden offerings to the sun god were said to have been sunk. When the mountain lake was partially drained, hundreds of pieces of gold were indeed recovered, but the great treasure – let alone an entire land of gold – was never found.
Arnulf Hinkel
Financial journalist