Eldorado and the Quest for Fortune and Glory in South America

Eldorado and the Quest for Fortune and Glory in South America PDF Author: Peter O. Koch
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476642540
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 255

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Book Description
This book traces the origin of the legend of El Dorado and the various expeditions that set out to locate that mysterious land of untold wealth in South America. Motivated by both fanciful rumors of a golden city ruled by a man who coated himself daily with gold dust, and the more practical allure of a region abundant in cinnamon trees (a spice that was worth its weight in gold to Europeans), many conquistadors convinced themselves that another native empire awaited their conquest. These quests for fortune and glory would lead to an encounter with fierce female warriors who were believed to be the Amazons of ancient Greek lore, and the discovery of the mighty river later named for the legendary Amazon tribe. The first half of this book details the lesser-known accounts of German interest in locating the wealth of a golden kingdom called Xerira and an elusive passage at Venezuela's Lake Maracaibo which supposedly led to the Pacific Ocean. The second section focuses on the various Spanish efforts to discover El Dorado, each of which was eventually doomed to despair, disappointment, and death.

Eldorado and the Quest for Fortune and Glory in South America

Eldorado and the Quest for Fortune and Glory in South America PDF Author: Peter O. Koch
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476642540
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 255

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Book Description
This book traces the origin of the legend of El Dorado and the various expeditions that set out to locate that mysterious land of untold wealth in South America. Motivated by both fanciful rumors of a golden city ruled by a man who coated himself daily with gold dust, and the more practical allure of a region abundant in cinnamon trees (a spice that was worth its weight in gold to Europeans), many conquistadors convinced themselves that another native empire awaited their conquest. These quests for fortune and glory would lead to an encounter with fierce female warriors who were believed to be the Amazons of ancient Greek lore, and the discovery of the mighty river later named for the legendary Amazon tribe. The first half of this book details the lesser-known accounts of German interest in locating the wealth of a golden kingdom called Xerira and an elusive passage at Venezuela's Lake Maracaibo which supposedly led to the Pacific Ocean. The second section focuses on the various Spanish efforts to discover El Dorado, each of which was eventually doomed to despair, disappointment, and death.

Oregon and Eldorado; or, Romance of the Rivers

Oregon and Eldorado; or, Romance of the Rivers PDF Author: Thomas Bulfinch
Publisher: Good Press
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 266

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Book Description
Oregon and Eldorado or, Romance of the Rivers is a series of short stories by Thomas Bulfinch. All connected to landmarks and nature of Oregon and Eldorado, they are presented as romances between different men and women.

Orphans of Eldorado

Orphans of Eldorado PDF Author: Milton Hatoum
Publisher: Canongate Books
ISBN: 1847673007
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 177

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Book Description
A magical retelling of the myth of Eldorado, by Brazil's greatest writer. The Enchanted City has inhabited the fevered dreams of many European navigators and consquisitadores, but all have been unable to find it on the map.

The Rivers Ran East

The Rivers Ran East PDF Author: Leonard Clark
Publisher: Travelers' Tales
ISBN: 9781885211668
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 402

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Book Description
" ... Post-World War II account of Leonard Clark's search for the legendary Seven Cities of Cibola"--Page 4 of cover.

Across South America

Across South America PDF Author: Hiram Bingham
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : South America
Languages : en
Pages : 582

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Book Description


The Discovery of Guiana and the Journal of the Second Voyage Thereto

The Discovery of Guiana and the Journal of the Second Voyage Thereto PDF Author: Sir Walter Raleigh
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : America
Languages : en
Pages : 202

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Book Description


Mourning El Dorado

Mourning El Dorado PDF Author: Charlotte Rogers
Publisher: University of Virginia Press
ISBN: 0813942675
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 521

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Book Description
What ever happened to the legend of El Dorado, the tale of the mythical city of gold lost in the Amazon jungle? Charlotte Rogers argues that El Dorado has not been forgotten and still inspires the reckless pursuit of illusory wealth. The search for gold in South America during the colonial period inaugurated the "promise of El Dorado"—the belief that wealth and happiness can be found in the tropical forests of the Americas. That assumption has endured over the course of centuries, still evident in the various modes of natural resource extraction, such as oil drilling and mining, that characterize the region today. Mourning El Dorado looks at how fiction from the American tropics written since 1950 engages with the promise of El Dorado in the age of the Anthropocene. Just as the golden kingdom was never found, natural resource extraction has not produced wealth and happiness for the peoples of the tropics. While extractivism enriches a few outsiders, it results in environmental degradation and the subjugation, displacement, and forced assimilation of native peoples. This book considers how the fiction of five writers—Alejo Carpentier, Wilson Harris, Mario Vargas Llosa, Álvaro Mutis, and Milton Hatoum—criticizes extractive practices and mourns the lost illusion of the forest as a place of wealth and happiness.

Expectations Unfulfilled: Norwegian Migrants in Latin America, 1820-1940

Expectations Unfulfilled: Norwegian Migrants in Latin America, 1820-1940 PDF Author:
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004307397
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 279

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Book Description
In Expectations Unfulfilled scholars from Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Mexico, Norway, Spain and Sweden study the experiences of Norwegian migrants in Latin America between the Wars of Independence and World War II.

History of Windham County, Connecticut: 1600-1760

History of Windham County, Connecticut: 1600-1760 PDF Author: Ellen Douglas Larned
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Windham County (Conn.)
Languages : en
Pages : 618

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Book Description


Closing of the American Mind

Closing of the American Mind PDF Author: Allan Bloom
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1439126267
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 403

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Book Description
The brilliant, controversial, bestselling critique of American culture that “hits with the approximate force and effect of electroshock therapy” (The New York Times)—now featuring a new afterword by Andrew Ferguson in a twenty-fifth anniversary edition. In 1987, eminent political philosopher Allan Bloom published The Closing of the American Mind, an appraisal of contemporary America that “hits with the approximate force and effect of electroshock therapy” (The New York Times) and has not only been vindicated, but has also become more urgent today. In clear, spirited prose, Bloom argues that the social and political crises of contemporary America are part of a larger intellectual crisis: the result of a dangerous narrowing of curiosity and exploration by the university elites. Now, in this twenty-fifth anniversary edition, acclaimed author and journalist Andrew Ferguson contributes a new essay that describes why Bloom’s argument caused such a furor at publication and why our culture so deeply resists its truths today.