10 Fascinating Historical Artefacts (That Weren't Real)
2. El Dorado
'El Dorado' either meant 'Golden Dude' or 'City of Gold', and the confusion between the two should have been enough of a warning that there might not have been a real one of whatever it was supposed to be. But the Spanish Conquistadors weren't hearing any of that. They just wanted that sweet, sweet gold.
In the 1500s the Spanish Empire was rife with rumours of El Dorado, whose description ranged from a mythical king who covered himself in gold dust to a fabulously wealthy city hidden somewhere extremely inconvenient.
A band of German conquistators all died while wandering around South America looking for it in the 1530s. Subsequently huge numbers of Spanish treasure hunters mapped big chunks of the continent hunting for gold and killing off the natives. Expeditions to find El Dorado, including a couple led by Sir Walter Raleigh, were all unsuccessful, but they just kept coming.
Lakes were drained, villages were wiped out, patrons were bankrupted and a whole mess of people died not only looking for something that wasn't there, but without really knowing what that something was supposed to be in the first place.