El Dorado...did it exist?

[JesseB.]

Hello,
I am wondering what everyone thinks on the lost city of Gold...El Dorado. Here's some questions for y'all:

1.) Did the city of El Dorado once exist? (Yes or no)

2.) If you found the city of Gold, would you leave the rest of the world (your family, possessions, etc.) behind and live in El Dorado...provided that the inhabitants had medical care, etc.?

3.) Do you think El Dorado will be found? (Yes or no)

Have fun!

 

[Volos]

I would think that El Dorado does not exist in the physical sense. I think it was something like a metaphor for the spirit world much like Avalon in the Arthurian legends.

 

[ocean]

No, it does not exist.

 

[mala]

anything is possible

troy was thought to be a fictional city for centuries till it was unearthed

 

[Ryder]

Probably just folklore. The Spanish in this period raided and destroyed incan cities for their gold. El Dorado sounds like a dream city the Spanish envisioned sacking. Doubtfull it existed in any form, most of the south american natives (incans in particular) were already largely destroyed and dispersed by the time the El Dorado legend was really popular. In any case, the interior mountain regions of Peru (it's supposed location) are barely hospitable and quite well explored (at least as far as spotting a whole city). But, I suppose, never say never.

 

[JesseB.]

Well, from Dictionary.com, El Do·ra·do means "Place of Wealth & Opportunity". Now I agree with this entirely.

 

[cbk]

Maybe El Dorado was a way to get the Spanish to travel away from the territory of those to whom they were persecuting. The Spanish were so god-hungary, it seems like a logical way to get them to move on.