"He went about all covered with powdered gold, as casually as if it were powdered salt. For it seemed to him that to wear any other finery was less beautiful, and that to put on ornaments or arms made of gold worked by hammering, stamping, or by other means, was a vulgar and common thing."
-- Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo "Over the Mountains of the Moon,
Down the Valley of the Shadow,
Ride, boldly ride,
The shade replied,
If you seek for Eldorado!"
-- Edgar Allan Poe, "Eldorado" The legend of El Dorado (literally "the Gilded Man") arose from stories of the accession ceremony of new Muisca chiefs at Lake Guatavita. South American Indians told the Conquistadors of a people so wealthy that they could afford to cover their chiefs with gold. Further, during the ceremony, great heaps of golden jewelry were thrown into the lake to mark the occasion. In 1542, Francisco de Orellana led an expedition into the depths of the Amazon searching for El Dorado -- a person, a place, anything with gold would do. He returned with stories of a vast, rich civilization. None who followed ever found anything of the sort. A HistoricalShift? Who knows? Regardless, the term El Dorado became synonymous with a land of enormous treasure and gold. Reese's car, destroyed by the Pinkertons, was a 1967 Cadillac Eldorado.
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-- Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo "Over the Mountains of the Moon,
Down the Valley of the Shadow,
Ride, boldly ride,
The shade replied,
If you seek for Eldorado!"
-- Edgar Allan Poe, "Eldorado" The legend of El Dorado (literally "the Gilded Man") arose from stories of the accession ceremony of new Muisca chiefs at Lake Guatavita. South American Indians told the Conquistadors of a people so wealthy that they could afford to cover their chiefs with gold. Further, during the ceremony, great heaps of golden jewelry were thrown into the lake to mark the occasion. In 1542, Francisco de Orellana led an expedition into the depths of the Amazon searching for El Dorado -- a person, a place, anything with gold would do. He returned with stories of a vast, rich civilization. None who followed ever found anything of the sort. A HistoricalShift? Who knows? Regardless, the term El Dorado became synonymous with a land of enormous treasure and gold. Reese's car, destroyed by the Pinkertons, was a 1967 Cadillac Eldorado.
Links
- A '75 Eldorado, but I like the plates: http://www.remaker.com/caddy/index.html
CategoryPlace, CategoryThing
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Page last modified on August 21, 2003, at 12:14 PM