Alternate History Discussion: Before 1900
WI: El Dorado is real and is discovered in Venezuela?
amesa
in the 16th Century, Many Germans were given free passage to colonize Venezuela, but they spent much of their time looking for gold instead of developing the colony. What if this mystical city and region of Gold was found in Southern Venezuela guarded by the Muisca people? This city would have so much gold that it would cause an economic collapse in the Old World on par with Mansa Musa's pilgramage.
How would the Old World change with gold being a lot more common? How would the history of Venezuela change with it having mountains of gold?
Goldensilver81
knowing the spanish empire and how bad they where in economics expect a crash of gold that surpases what mansa musa did in the middle east
Goldensilver81 said:
amesa said:
the poor Welser are doomed too
Wolttaire
Isn't this asb?
Wolttaire said:
Only if the gold was magically teleported there. It is not impossible for a Native tribe to just hoard a lot of gold in one area.
Alarico Rodríguez
1) This idea of the Spanish being "bad at the economy" is a 20th century retroprojection on 16th century economics and politics by economic liberals especially from the Anglo-Saxon world. No one could have predicted the inflation revolution that occurred as a result of massive amounts of silver back in the 16th century.
2) The reason why it seems the Spaniards were spending money left and right irresponsibly is because they were being attacked on almost all fronts by the French, the Ottomans, the English, the Dutch, the Germans and later on the Danish and Swedish as if that wasn't enough. These wars are what made Spain waste so much money and go bankrupt at different points in its history. Take them away and the financial spending of the Spaniards would have been used to teach economics at universities.
Now, the OP answered its own question. The thing with El Dorado is that it was the city of the Muiscas, which had many golden ornaments and idols. The idea of El Dorado being mythical comes more from wanting to find other similar cities - and the Spaniards would in Cibola and Machu Pichu and to a certain extent among the Pueblo in Nuevo Mexico - than from it not existing. Still, most gold and silver was taken from Zacatecas and Potosí, even if the Spaniards did strip a lot of temples from their riches, and a massive treasure fleet has been found in the coast of Colombia.
Zireael
Alarico Rodríguez said:
.The thing with El Dorado is that it was the city of the Muiscas, which had many golden ornaments and idols.
Source? I always found the legend fascinating and I'm of the kind who believe there's a grain of truth to (almost) every legend.
Zireael said:
Colombia has an entire museum of it:
Gold Museum, Bogotá - Wikipedia
The Muisca also had a special copper and gold alloy (called guanin by Tainos in the Caribbean):
Tumbaga - Wikipedia
The legend of the cacique submerging in gold is very much false and based off more on mythology, but that the city of Guatavita had so much gold ornaments and idols that it impressed the Spaniards is true.
piratedude
Dave Howery
For a doozy of a (fictional) tale on the subject, find a copy of "Devil Tree of El Dorado" by Frank Atkins (or Frank Aubrey, he apparently used a fake name). It's very dated, but gives a good idea of what some people expected to find... Lake Parima, the city of Manoa, etc...