10 Unclaimed Treasures That Would Make You Filthy Rich

5. The Real El Dorado - Paititi

Modern Value: $1 Billion El Dorado is famous for being the city of gold! The lost centre of the wealth of the Inca nation. Unfortunately, it's probably not real. Beyond the Inca providing the Spanish with every piece of information they would need to conquer them, including the locations of all their cities, the legend is probably a corruption of an older legend about a Muisca Chieftain who would cover himself in gold dust before civic and religious ceremonies. In better news, El Dorado may not be real, but a lost city filled with gold most certainly is! Paititi, the city the Spanish never found. After forty years of war with the invading Spanish, the Inca nation had almost entirely retreated to Vilcabamba Valley, where they could easily defend against the invaders. Eventually, the Spanish managed to muster enough men in the new world to conquer the valley, but they found the city almost entirely deserted. People, livestock, treasure, food, almost everything had been spirited away in secret to somewhere in the rainforests of southern Brazil. Although conquistadors were sent, the Inca nation was never found, and nor was their final city filled with people, livestock and the treasure of an entire civilization. The legend of El Dorado was born, and the real city forgotten... Until the modern day! Using modern technology, in 2009 Google Earth images were analysed and found to show large areas of the Boco Do Acre region of southern Brazil had once held vast, vast settlements. Although surrounded by deep and dense jungle, it seems the fabled city of gold exists, and presumably it's treasures are still there. You can even see it for yourself on Google Earth at Latitude: 8°50'38.63"S / Longitude: 67°15'11.95"W. See you there?