Uncovering the Legendary “El Dorado” City of Gold

El Dorado, it is a legend both dazzling and deadly.

[00:08]For centuries, thousands of Spanish conquistadors vanished into the jungles of South America in pursuit of a secret city made of gold, laying waste to entire indigenous civilizations.

[00:22]But what actually inspired the legend?

[00:25]Were there really golden treasures and hidden cities, and if so, is there more out there waiting to be found? country of Colombia is ground zero for the El Dorado myth, and now, modern explorers there are making incredible new discoveries.

[00:42]One archaeologist is mounting a search for a forgotten cave, where Colombia’s greatest golden prize was found.

[00:51]Another team is excavating the tombs of a powerful civilization near Columbia’s mysterious Stonehenge.

[01:00]Meanwhile, deep in the untamed rainforest, cutting edge technology has revealed a massive network of lost structures that have never been explored.

[01:11]Can they be reached, and what secrets will they reveal? [MUSIC PLAYING] To untangle the myth of El Dorado, I’m embarking on my own quest for both truth and treasure, where the chances for discovery and danger are as good as gold.

[01:29]I drive 50 miles from Bogota into the foothills of the Andes in a place called Sesquile.

[01:36]This area is sacred to the Muisca people. So I’ve recruited an old friend who spent years earning the trust of their tribal leaders.

[01:45]– Ash. – Josh. – Ah, my man, how are you? – Good to see you.

[01:50]You good? – I’m good. How are you doing? – Great. Thank you. – Great to see you. You too. What the hell is a Scotsman doing in the middle of Columbia? Just like you, searching for El Dorado, Josh. Really.

[01:58]Last time I saw explorer and author Ashley Cowie, we were searching for gold in his native Scotland.

[02:05]OK, so El Dorado. You want to see it? Do I want to see El Dorado? See El Dorado.

[02:11]Yes. You know where it is? I can take you to show you El Dorado, but we’ll introduce you to some people first. OK. If it’s this easy, sure, come on. Let’s go. Lead on.

[02:19]– Let’s go. – We’re on foot. Yeah? We’re up here, Josh. Oh, boy. Everything in Colombia is hills.

[02:25]After trudging up a steep jungle path, we emerge into another world. Wow.

[02:33]Look at this place. Amazing.

[02:37]This is astounding. I feel like we’ve traveled back in time here. We truly have traveled back in time. Is all of this Muisca?

[02:47]This is a Muisca community, Josh. They’re call the Sesquile community.

[02:50]The basic religious beliefs of these people are what? The Muiscas believe that a creator entity known as Chiminigagua created first the sun and then the moon, and they were married.

[03:02]Chiminigagua can’t be worshipped directly.

[03:04]He was too holy. So the Muisca people worshipped him through the sun and the moon. I’ve seen a lot of gold. So this would have been offered up to these gods? The Museum of Gold in Bogota has 55,000 pieces.

[03:20]They reckon that represents about 5% of what the Muiscas gave to their gods.

[03:25]JOSH GATES: So where are we going? Yeah. We’re going to the top part of this hill. We’re going to the Temple of the Sun which is like the last place we have to go to get permission to enter the most sacred landscape in Colombia.

[03:35]If you think about it, it’s like walking through the doorway to the El Dorado myth.

[03:39]Let’s open the door. Come on. At the summit of the hill, we find a large ceremonial structure and a friend of Ashley’s. This is Candil.

[03:50]He’s the leader of the community here. – Mucho gusto. – [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] INTERPRETER: Welcome to the Temple of the Sun.

[03:54]Please, come inside. JOSH GATES (VOICEOVER): But the door to El Dorado doesn’t just swing open. To gain access, I need to be accepted by the community.

[04:07]What he’s going to do so a clearing ceremony, if you like.

[04:10][NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] INTERPRETER: To ask the gods for permission, we’re going to share a healing medicine. He’s going to give us tobacco which is going to clear the way for us to allow the spirit of the sun god to come into us.

[04:23][MUSIC PLAYING] JOSH GATES (VOICEOVER): Soaked in a dizzying haze of smoke, the shaman blows finely ground snuff, called rappe up our noses using a traditional bone pipe, or tepi.

[04:41][COUGHING] The snuff is meant to induce a relaxed state for the next step of the purification trial, a cleansing offering.

[04:58]ASHLEY COWIE: These pieces of cotton are from the youngest leader of the community.

[05:04]The left represents the negative, and the right is a positive. He’s telling us to concentrate all of the negative energies we’ve ever had into this piece of cotton.

[05:13][MUSIC PLAYING] JOSH GATES (VOICEOVER): People are always telling me to stop balling up my negative energy, but in this case, it’s all about letting it go.

[05:24][MUSIC PLAYING] ASHLEY COWIE: And now, we’re going to police these in the fire.

[05:32]We’re asking for the good positive energies to be fertilized into life and for the old negative energies to be burned away.

[05:40][MUSIC PLAYING] JOSH GATES (VOICEOVER): One final test remains.

[05:50]A fermented corn drink called chicha is passed around. Made by chewing and spitting out corn kernels, chicha is a sacred and boozy backwash.

[05:59]There you go. This is maize and Muisca saliva, Josh.

[06:04]Yes. It’s fermented for a long time, so it’s really strong. It’s going to hit you where it counts. [MUSIC PLAYING] JOSH GATES (VOICEOVER): To outsiders like me, chicha is challenging, but it’s also an honor.

[06:20]And in the smoke, the centuries seem to waft away to a time before conquest, when the Muisca were the guardians of this sacred landscape.

[06:30][MUSIC PLAYING] ASHLEY COWIE: Permission is granted.

[06:36][MUSIC PLAYING] JOSH GATES (VOICEOVER): Candil escorts us from the temple of the sun to the ceremonial heart of the Muisca people.

[06:47]Josh, welcome to El Dorado.

[06:52]Oh my god. This is absolutely breathtaking. There’s no other word for it, Josh. And without this lake, there would be no El Dorado legend.

[07:03]JOSH GATES (VOICEOVER): Muisca leader Carlos Candil and explorer Ashley Cowie explain that the El Dorado legend started with a ritual that took place in Lake Guada Vida.

[07:13]The golden raft in the Museum of Bogota depicts an actual golden raft that was used here at Guada Vida, Josh.

[07:20]That golden man standing on the raft with all of his attendants around him, that was the coronation ritual to install the ruler of the Muisca land.

[07:30]JOSH GATES (VOICEOVER): To the Muisca, Lake Guada Vida was their holiest site, where thousands would gather to witness the ascension of their ruler, known as the Zipa.

[07:41]INTERPRETER: When the Zipa came here to become king, they would cover him in gold.

[07:46]This plant here, when you mush it up becomes like a glue. That was put all over the man’s body. Then, he was covered with golden powder.

[07:54]The raft is loaded with gold figurines, and it’s pushed out into the middle of the lake.

[08:04]And when it gets there, and the sun is shining on that king to be, he dives off into the lake.

[08:13]At that point, he is the golden man, el hombre dorado. So el hombre dorado, or El Dorado.

[08:29]El Dorado originally is a man, is a king, a leader.

[08:34]So how do we go from a man, el hombre dorado, to El Dorado, a city of gold? It seems like a huge leap. It’s like a game of telephone, Josh.

[08:42]Uh-huh. The first conquistadors come here and find bits of gold, and they know that there’s gold in these landscapes.

[08:48]Right. They hear about a golden man, and it becomes a golden village, and there actually is records of people looking for gold in villages.

[08:56]Right. Then, it becomes the golden city. JOSH GATES (VOICEOVER): And an early call in the game of telephone that turned a golden man into a golden city was placed by our toppled conquistador back in Bogota, Gonzalo Jimenez de Quesada.

[09:09]In 1536, he leads 900 men into the Colombian highlands, where many fall victim to disease and starvation.

[09:17]Of the original party, only 170 make it out of the jungle. Clearly a glutton for punishment, in 1569, he tries again with similar dire results, but the survivors of these ill-fated expeditions return with stories of a treasure trove of offerings lost in the depths.

[09:37]Imagine hearing stories of people covering themselves in gold.

[09:41]Right? I mean, you would think, oh, they must have so much wealth. They must be so dripping in gold that they can afford to bathe in it almost. Yeah. Their imaginations must have gone wild.

[09:51]Yeah.