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Many people in the 18th and 19th century mocked the idea of a lost city that was fabulously wealthy in the inhospitable and wild jungles of South America <ref>Meggers, p. 113</ref>. Some believed that this was not the case such as the British adventurer Percy Fawcett. His expedition to discover a legendary city in the heart of the Amazon was lost and it inspired the movie ‘Lost City of Z’ (2015). However, modern archaeologists, using advanced technology has made some astonishing discoveries about the Amazon basin, which have forced experts to rewrite the history books. Using satellite imagery and other technologies they have identified a large number of settlements. Many of them now are little more than large earth mounds. Before the arrivals of the Spanish and the Portuguese, these settlements were once home to a large population, especially from 1200-1500 AD. Archaeologists have unearthed some of these mounds and they have found evidence of pottery and other artifacts. It appears that they were once large fortified settlements. Researchers have found dozens of these especially in Brazil and it is believed that there may be many more. It is possible that diseases brought by the Europeans led to the collapse of these societies. Previously researchers believed that the Amazon could not support a large population, because of the lack of resources and especially arable land. However, the people who lived in the Amazon before the arrival of Europeans were very sophisticated and they even built a network of roads in what is today near-impenetrable forest <ref>Heckenberger, et al, "Amazonia 1492: Pristine Forest or Cultural Parkland?", Science (2003), pp. 1710–14</ref>. Archaeologists have found evidence that the people created a system of gardens, which allowed them to grow food in the heart of the Jungle. Moreover, they have also found evidence of fish-farming. It has been estimated based on the dimensions of the settlements that they could be home to thousands of people. The Amazon it appears is not pristine virgin forest and is an environment that was much influenced by human activity, for millennia. It is believed that these cultures went into decline when diseases brought by the Europeans, cause the population to collapse. It is believed that the original inhabitants of these settlements or ‘cities’ are the ancestors of the tribal people who now live in the jungle <ref> Heckenberger, et al, 1739</ref>. Moreover, the Amazon jungle has many deposits of gold. The stories of the settlements in the jungle and gold mines may have played a crucial role in the development of the legend of El Dorado. Indeed, one of these jungle cities could have been the model for the Lost City.
==Lake Parime==
One possible origin of the El Dorado is the story of Lake Parime. This was a legendary lake reputedly to be found in what is now the uplands of Guyana <ref>Meggers, p 115</ref>. There have been a number of attempts to locate the lake. In the stories about El Dorado, the city is on the shores of this lake. Indeed, during the Renaissance, the city was shown on the shores of the Lake on many maps. Walter Raleigh in his expedition to find the fabled city, sought out the body of water <ref>Dotson, Eliane. "Lake Parime and the Golden City" (London, Wash Map Society, 2011) p. 4</ref>. For many years the Lake was seen as only a myth and pure invention. However, in recent decades, some researchers have concluded that Lake Parime was a seasonal lake that appeared during the wet season, in previous centuries. More recently, geologists have hypothesized that there was once a lake in the general area of the Guyana-Brazil border but that it dried up at some point. It is entirely possible that the Lake may have inspired the story of El Dorado. When it existed, gold was deposited on its shores, by a river flowing out of the Amazon and this may have led to stories of a fabled and wealthy urban center.
==The myth of El Dorado==
The story of El Dorado was first told in the early decades of the Spanish conquest of the Americas. They were relatively new to the continent and much of it was still unexplored and unconquered. The Spanish were also obsessed with gold, they had a mania for the metal. They traveled a great distance and slaughtered entire communities in their search for the metal. Moreover, they had conquered the fabulously wealthy Empires of the Aztecs and the Inca and they supposed that other rich kingdoms, could still be found. In their fevered imagination, they generated a myth about a fabled lost city, based on rumors and misunderstanding. Moreover, many of the stories about the fabled El Dorado were told by natives. It is entirely possible that wandering Indians only told the Spanish what they wanted to hear. They knew that the Conquistadors were obsessed with gold and telling them where they could find it, meant that they could be spared the brutal attentions of the Spanish. It is entirely possible that some Indians told stories about the city in the jungle to get the Conquistadors, who were even feared by their fellow countrymen, away from an area<ref> Meggers, p 137</ref>.
==Conclusion==
El Dorado has become a by-word for wealth and fabulous riches. It is now widely agreed that there never existed a city of that name. It is, in short, a fable or a myth. However, like many other myths, it has a basis in historical fact. The famous fable of the Lost City in the jungle was based on real-life societies and places. It is almost certain that the great Musica confederation and their coronation rituals for their kings encouraged the idea of a wealthy city in the jungle. It is entirely possible that memories of the settlements that once flourished in the jungles of what is now Brazil also contributed to the development of the fable. Then the gold that was found in Amazonia also contributed to the development of the story. In short, while El Dorado never existed, it was based on actual historical societies and events.
