El Dorado: The Search For The Long Lost Ancient City Of Gold | Myth Hunters

Summary

The documentary explores the legendary quest of British explorer Percy Fawcett, who believed in the existence of a grand ancient civilization in the Amazon, known as El Dorado. Starting from legends to actual expeditions, Fawcett invested his life in finding this mythical city, referred to as Z, fueled by stories and evidence of vast civilizations like those of Francisco de Orellana and Raposo. Despite numerous challenges, and eventually vanishing without a trace in 1925 along with his son and companion, Fawcett's obsession with Z sparked enduring interest and subsequent searches. Recent discoveries indicate the likelihood of ancient, advanced civilizations in the area Fawcett explored, featuring human-modified black soils, or "terra preta," enriching the quest with a different kind of treasure beyond gold.

Highlights

• The mystical city of El Dorado captivated Percy Fawcett, driving him to the perilous Amazon jungles. 🌟
• Fawcett's background was eccentric, with a family deeply involved in spiritualism and philosophies of hidden wisdom. 🔮
• Throughout his quests, Fawcett faced hostile environments, illness, and financial constraints, showing extraordinary resilience. 💪
• Modern scientists are uncovering ancient city remains and productive black soils, affirming portions of the El Dorado myth. 🏺
• Fawcett's story is a testament to the enduring allure of exploration and the mysteries still buried in Earth's corners. 🌏

Key Takeaways

• Percy Fawcett passionately believed in the existence of a lost city, Z, akin to El Dorado, hidden in the Amazon. 🌿
• Despite skepticism from peers and financial difficulties, he pursued multiple expeditions into the dangerous jungles. 🏞️
• Fawcett vanished in 1925; his disappearance remains one of the greatest exploration mysteries. 🔍
• Modern discoveries suggest advanced ancient civilizations might have existed where Fawcett explored, validated by the mysterious and fertile 'terra preta.' 🗺️
• The search for Z and its implications continue to entice explorers and scientists globally. 🌎

Overview

The legend of El Dorado, a city made entirely of gold, has inspired countless tales and explorations throughout history. Percy Fawcett, a British explorer with a fascination for the mystical city, embarked on multiple expeditions in the Amazon jungle. His encounters with stories of ancient civilizations and the ruins described by explorers like Francisco de Orellana only fueled his destiny to locate what he called the lost city of Z.

Fawcett's expeditions were marked by numerous hardships, from treacherous terrains and diseases to hostile locals and limited funding. Though he faced many doubters, Fawcett's conviction never wavered, believing he was on the brink of a discovery that could rewrite history. His final expedition in 1925, alongside his son and another companion, ended in mystery as none of them were ever seen again, adding a legendary chapter to the annals of exploration.

Today, Fawcett's exploration is being re-examined with modern findings revealing advanced ancient societies which might align with the city he sought. The rich "terra preta" soil discovered in these areas supports the theory of a lost civilization capable of thriving in the Amazon. While Fawcett never found his golden city, the treasures uncovered hint at a legacy far richer and enduring than any treasure trove of gold.

Chapters

• 00:30 - 02:30: Introduction and the Legend of El Dorado The chapter starts with thematic music setting the scene for the legendary tale of El Dorado.
• 02:30 - 06:30: Percy Fawcett's Background and Early Expeditions The legend of a grand City of Gold known as Eldorado located in South America is introduced. It is described as a sophisticated Kingdom once inhabited by thousands, located deep within the Amazon jungle. The city is noted for its stone structures, squares, grand plazas, and remarkable architecture featuring columns, carvings, and statues.
• 06:30 - 10:00: Fawcett's Increasing Obsession The chapter titled 'Fawcett's Increasing Obsession' delves into the fervent beliefs and relentless pursuit of British Explorer Percy Fawcett, who, at the age of 57, became increasingly obsessed with finding a legendary lost civilization in the heart of the Amazon. Despite the perception of it being a mere legend, Fawcett was thoroughly convinced of its existence and devoted years of his life to locate this hidden world. Renowned for his determination, he was willing to risk his life and venture into the untamed wilderness to fulfill his quest.
• 10:00 - 15:00: Preparation for the Final Expedition The chapter titled 'Preparation for the Final Expedition' details the moments leading up to a significant journey embarked upon by Percy, his son Jack, and his best friend Raleigh Foret in 1925. They set out with high hopes and the expectation of discovering great wealth. Despite the confidence expressed by Foret in a letter to his wife, assuring her of their success and dismissing any fears of failure, all three inexplicably vanished during the expedition. The chapter sets the stage for the mystery of their disappearance.
• 15:00 - 21:00: The Final Expedition Begins In a dream, it's suggested that there might have been a great civilization in the jungle, but its wealth was not in gold. The real secret of Eldorado holds a power that could transform lives. In 1906, Percy foret is called to a meeting at the Royal.
• 21:00 - 25:30: Vanishing of Percy Fawcett The chapter titled 'Vanishing of Percy Fawcett' begins by highlighting an important offer made to Fawcett by the Bolivian government. The government needed someone to map its borders with Brazil, and Fawcett, then 39 years old, was deemed perfect for the job. He was a distinguished individual: a first-class cricketer, an officer in the Royal Artillery, and a former British secret service spy. His life motto, 'difficulties be damned,' exemplified his approach to life and the various successes he achieved in his diverse roles.
• 25:30 - 35:00: Historical Evidence of Ancient Civilizations The chapter discusses the experiences of a highly trained map maker and geographical surveyor, who undertakes a mission to survey and map the Western Bolivian borders with Peru and Brazil. The undertaking, despite being challenging and perilous, was considered a dream job by the surveyor, with all the hallmarks of a romantic adventure.
• 35:00 - 43:00: Conclusion and Scientific Discoveries This chapter discusses the allure of South America's history and jungles, particularly through the Spanish and Portuguese conquests. It highlights the irresistible pull these mysteries had on the explorer, Percy Fawcett, despite personal challenges such as his family responsibilities. The narrative emphasizes that Fawcett's sense of destiny was set from a young age, compelling him to pursue exploration despite the complications.

El Dorado: The Search For The Long Lost Ancient City Of Gold | Myth Hunters Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 [Music]
• 00:30 - 01:00 Legend tells that somewhere in South America there is a great City of Gold Eldorado a fabulously rich and sophisticated Kingdom that was once home to thousands of people living deep in the heart of the Amazon jungle this was a stone City with squares and Grand plazas and wonderful buildings with columns and carvings and statues
• 01:00 - 01:30 to most people it was just a legend but for British Explorer 57-year-old Percy forcet it was real it wasn't that farfetched to imagine that somewhere deep in Amazonia there was a major civilization convinced he knew the location of this lost world he spent years searching for it he was someone prepared to put his life on the line head off into the middle of nowhere and do whatever it took to to achieve his
• 01:30 - 02:00 goal with his son jack and his best friend Raleigh foret set out in 1925 to find it they were convinced that this was going to be a great success and that they were all going to be really rich 30 days into their Journey foret wrote to his wife you have no fear of any failure then all three vanished this is the story behind Percy
• 02:00 - 02:30 forcet dream and it seems that he may have been on to something there really may have been a great civilization in the jungle but its riches were not gold the true secret of the real Eldorado was something with the amazing power to completely transform all our lives in the spring of 1906 Percy foret was summoned to a meeting at the Royal
• 02:30 - 03:00 geographical Society in London and was made an offer he couldn't refuse Also let's have a look at this the Bolivian government wanted someone to map its borders with Brazil and 39-year-old foret was perfect for the job his family motto was difficulties be damned all his life he excelled at everything he had ever done he was a first class cricketer an officer in the Royal artillery and a former British secret ser spy in
• 03:00 - 03:30 Morocco but critically he was a highly trained map maker and geographical surveyor who had been taught how to fix his position anywhere in the world foret forcett's mission would be to survey and map the Western Bolivian borders with Peru and Brazil and his exploration he was told would be difficult and dangerous but to force it all this sounded like a dream job the Romantic
• 03:30 - 04:00 history of the Spanish and Portuguese conquests of South America and the Mystery of its jungles pulled him in now his heart was pounding even though there were complications there were my wife and son to consider and another child on the way but Destiny intended me to go so there could be no other [Music] answer forcett's Destiny had been sealed from a very early
• 04:00 - 04:30 age I think he was about six or seven and the family was living on the Devon Coast he discovered some Roman remains in a cave near where they were living and they excited him enormously it made him the center of attention and it caught his imagination and I think that it was that single incident that put the spark there and for the rest of his life he was searching for treasure
• 04:30 - 05:00 it was this thirst for adventure that made the Amazon job so [Music] irresistible there is something about the Amazon the greatest of all rainforests it's something like 3 and 1 12,000 miles across and I think it's that mystery that somehow got to force it drew him
• 05:00 - 05:30 out there and away from all he loved into a place of danger from 1906 to 1911 foret made several difficult surveying Expeditions into the Amazon jungle faucet was a person who had really extraordinary field skills and it's important to realize that the kinds of work that he did do were were was not easy at all not only did forcet have to deal with the hostile
• 05:30 - 06:00 environment disease fevers of one kind or another were everywhere people were going down within days of starting work in these areas but to make it worse foret was surveying in an area crawling with dangerous locals he was in one of the most contentious parts of the Amazon in one of the most inflammatory periods in Amazonian history there were very hostile tribes in the very areas he was going through there were roaming gangs people who
• 06:00 - 06:30 threatened your lives people who were killing [Music] people all of this would many people have made the assignment sound terrible but of course to force it it was just like throwing coal on the fire he loved it but as the years passed by something else was beckoning him foret was becoming hook on exploring the Amazon
• 06:30 - 07:00 [Music] jungle deep down inside of me a tiny voice was calling at first scarcely audible it persisted until I could no longer ignore it inexplicably amazingly I knew I love that hell it's fish grasp had captured me
• 07:00 - 07:30 foret realized that the surveying work was holding him back and by 1911 he had had enough and [Music] resigned foret once said that he much preferred the company of savages to civilized BS I think that says a lot about the man that he was someone who was a Maverick who was an outsider who wanted Freedom who sort of embraced the Wilds somehow
• 07:30 - 08:00 [Music] for it heart was in Exploration but what he needed now was a mission Grand enough to satisfy his passion when he first went out and was surveying he heard stories stories of an advanced civilization in Brazil he was on to the gossip these
• 08:00 - 08:30 stories that twirled around and swirled around these areas he didn't reject them he rather accepted them and it was those stories that led him piecing them together like a jigsa puzzle I had by this time heard in several places vague Traditions about the remains of the ancient civilizations and my imagination was stirred by them to such an extent that the urge to investigate was becoming more more and
• 08:30 - 09:00 more [Music] insistent we knew that there were incredible civilizations in the highlands and in Mexico so why would there not be in the heart of Amazonia some extraordinary civilization that people just hadn't gotten around to finding then in the same year foret stop surveying the ancient incor ruins of Machu Picchu were discovered in the Peruvian Andes by the US it was the most important find in South America since
• 09:00 - 09:30 the days of the Spanish Conquest this really fired forcett's belief he became certain that there had to be something even more fabulous out there Matthew pichu's romantic Discovery was recent news but my objective dated much earlier than the incor and I felt it was to be sought farther east in the wild still unknown all the great Indian tribes had traditions of a once great civilization
• 09:30 - 10:00 to the east he was in an area which was at the Confluence not just of the Inca civilizations but also the Confluence of Bolivian civilizations and these upper Amazonian civilizations and those area were talked about with a great deal of interest in the early exploration in the 1500s one story that obsessed for it was the historical account of the Spanish
• 10:00 - 10:30 conquistadors Amazon expedition in 1541 foret was very familiar with the literature of the Amazon and he must have been hugely struck by the earliest accounts accounts from the 16th century people like franccesco de Oriana was the man who first descended the amson and discovered it for Europe for 8 months Oriana and his 57 conquistadors traveled down river towards the Seas searching for Eldorado
• 10:30 - 11:00 a kingdom of gold described by various Indian tribes as being a city deep inside the jungle and eventually as they went down they met large groups of people in villages they went as far as as finding roads heading to the interior they heard that they were towns in the interior Ariana tells us that there were highly populated river banks and we're talking about is perhaps of 20,000
• 11:00 - 11:30 strong so this must have played on Force its's mind they recorded a different set of groups and different groups of people some were dressed some were not and they noted that they were in very large quantities could this be what foret was looking for if so where was this city foret then came across another intriguing record housed in Rio's naal archives library in
• 11:30 - 12:00 Brazil one of the documents that we know particularly fascinated foret was document 512 this decaying historical account was known simply by the catalog number 512 because it had no author the name of the person who discovered the city had worn away so foret called him Francisco raposo raposo was a Portuguese soldier of Fortune who described how after a
• 12:00 - 12:30 long Troublesome Journey incited by the insatiable greed of gold he and his men came across a mountain path that had been cut by man rather than by [Applause] nature and when they reached the top they saw a spellbinding Vista a huge deserted City
• 12:30 - 13:00 discover the past with exclusive history documentaries from history hit and uncover the secrets of some of the most famous people and events in history history hit gives you access to a growing range of documentaries presented by and featuring historians at the Forefront of research and debate whether you are looking to find out more about charismatic leaders like Cleopatra or to discover the story behind the industrial revolution history hit will have something for you we also aim to bring you the story and legends that shaped
• 13:00 - 13:30 our world through our award-winning podcast Network sign up now for a free trial and absolute history fans get 50% off their first 3 months just be sure to use the code absolute history at checkout the man forcet dubbed raposo had written we went on into this strange city and we came on a road of great length and a well set out Plaza and in the middle of the plaza a column of black Black Stone of extraordinary
• 13:30 - 14:00 Grandeur we went with fear and trembling into some of the houses and in none did we find vestages of furniture or movable objects by which or whose use we might guess at the sort of people who had dwelt there in the city was deserted but within it they found all manner of fantastic things these large halls and columned buildings and Broad
• 14:00 - 14:30 boulevards uh just like something you might find in ancient Greece or imagine you'd find in ancient Greece sitting there right in the middle of the jungle at at a fork in the river we marveled that this place had been abandoned by those who had formerly inhabited it for with all our careful investigations and great diligence we had met no person in this Wilderness who might tell us of this deplorable Marvel of an abandoned city whose ruins statues and grandeur attested its former
• 14:30 - 15:00 populousness wealth and its flourishing in the centuries past foret was fascinated raposo had come across this vast lost city I've looked at it myself and it conures up images of a lost world a sort of city of gold although there was no mention in the document of the city's location forcet now had further evidence of the existence of an ancient civilization
• 15:00 - 15:30 deep inside the Amazon jungle and he was also convinced that this was the same city that Oriana had seen 200 years earlier it was exactly what he was looking for it was proof positive this wasn't his imagination this wasn't something he'd made up or that was just the the myth story of native peoples here we had it in black and white had Oriana and raposo seen the lost city of Eldorado
• 15:30 - 16:00 foret himself would never call it Eldorado I call it Zed for the sake of convenience he wrote even though forcet had never seen this lost city he was happy to describe what it would look like to his younger son [Music] Brian the central place I call Zed our main objective is in a valley surmounted by lofty mountains the valley is about 10 Mi wide and the city is on an Eminence in the middle of it approached
• 16:00 - 16:30 by a barreled roadway of stone I expect the ruins to be monolithic in character more ancient than the oldest Egyptian discoveries judging by inscriptions found in many parts of Brazil the inhabitants used in alphabetical writing Allied to many ancient European and Asian scripts we don't really know an exact moment when Zed came into his mind he had always believed that there were certain places in the
• 16:30 - 17:00 world that were home to Advanced civilizations foret was also convinced of something else he believed the people who lived in these remote hidden places possessed extraordinary abilities in this he had been influenced by his peculiar upbringing forit had a very unusual background as an Explorer he wasn't someone whose father was someone who wanted to get to the South Pole or North Pole nothing obvious about him at all
• 17:00 - 17:30 rather the opposite he was from a strange background you could say his aristocratic father spent the family's wealth and died of drink at the age of 45 and so it was to his mother the young Percy turned for inspiration his mother was very interested in spiritualism and it had a very great influence on foret and it lasted all his life forcett's wife Nina was also interested
• 17:30 - 18:00 in seances and astrology and his elder brother Edward was a member of the theosophy movement a philosophical School formed by helina Petrova blavatsky to obtain hidden wisdom and Enlightenment he was influenced particularly in the religious area among other things Percy at one point went out to India to be with Helen blatsky blavatsky's many followers included Gandy Thomas Edison and Sir Arthur Conan
• 18:00 - 18:30 Doyle all this greatly inspired forcett's beliefs especially blavatsky's conviction that there were Master priests capable of producing psychic messages to save Mankind and they lived in remote cities in such places as Tibet and South America by September 1914 foret was getting closer to locating his lost city of Zed in his mind a vast spiritual
• 18:30 - 19:00 [Music] civilization but before he could go the first world war broke out foret found himself in the thick of it on the Western Front he fought some of the major battles and was very active was mentioned in dispatchers was promoted in the field to Colonel for I think that for several days he was actually a
• 19:00 - 19:30 general by the end of the war foret had received two medals the distinguished servis medal for bravery and a gold medal from the Royal geographical Society for his historic mapping of South [Music] America but his obsession hadn't left him on his return to England foret was more determined than ever to make his path to zed as he called it a reality for for it told his young son Brian the
• 19:30 - 20:00 answer to the Enigma of ancient South America and perhaps of the prehistoric world may be found when those old cities are located and opened up to scientific research that the cities exist I [Music] know gradually piece by piece clue by clue force it zeroed in on where Zed had to be influences from his past especially his mother and helina latsky conversations with tribal
• 20:00 - 20:30 peoples archival records from Francisco de Oriana's 1541 expedition of seeing communities 20,000 strong and raposo's account of a spellbinding Vista of a huge deserted City eventually pointed forcet to just one place his lost city of Zed lay alongside the shingu river in an area of Southwestern Brazil called the mat Gro all he needed was the money to get
• 20:30 - 21:00 there but foret was facing severe setbacks Britain was exhausted after the war and experiencing a severe economic [Music] collapse to return again would take every penny I could find I came out of the war convinced that as a world power Britain was on the way many thousands must have come through those four years
• 21:00 - 21:30 of mud and blood with the same disillusionment raising money for another Amazon Expedition proved almost impossible his hopes were dashed very quickly he had hoped that the Royal geographical society would provide the funds he found that there wasn't money to come money wasn't the only thing foret had to contend with forcett's professional colleagues began to questioned the importance and validity
• 21:30 - 22:00 of his quest for a lost city called Zed people were beginning to say just a minute you know uh some of these stories this fellow are telling are nonsense this can't be right uh it it doesn't make sense do we really want to finance this stuff many felt that the lost city of Zed could not exist for environmental reasons they argued that the soil of the Amazon was simply not productive enough
• 22:00 - 22:30 to support a large Society seething with frustration foret wrote I cannot induce scientific men to accept the supposition that there are traces of an old civilization in the Amazon but eventually help did come although the Royal geographical Society couldn't pay for forcett's next Expedition they did support his application with the Brazilian
• 22:30 - 23:00 government to secure some money in 1920 foret was back in the Amazon searching for his Eldorado the lost city of Zed with two male [Music] companions but the Expedition didn't go
• 23:00 - 23:30 smoothly rains flooded their route and destroyed their equipment four weeks into their joury Journey their animals started to
• 23:30 - 24:00 die a starving dog had to be shot and for it killed one of their horses to put it out of its misery the place became known as dead horse [Music] camp then one of forcett's companions suffered a mental breakdown and the other ran off to Rio to get married
• 24:00 - 24:30 [Music] undeterred force it carried on alone he really was obsessed with finding this city people were falling sick all around him but somehow it didn't seem to affect him he could go on and on and [Music] on all Explorers are driven people you you've got to be driven you've got to be
• 24:30 - 25:00 someone who is able to hang on to your vision whatever you come across and yet this is A Man Apart he really was a [Music] fanatic always driven by the hope of finding Zed the hope that it was over the next Hill that there would be a new scrap of information that would lead him there loneliness is not intolerable when enthusiasm for a quest fills the mind
• 25:00 - 25:30 the chief disadvantage seemed to be that were I to find anything of scientific or archaeological value there would be no witnesses to support my [Applause] [Music] word soon finding Zed became the least of forcets worries the rainforest looks incredibly abundant it looks like the perfect place to survive in but the soils are thin a
• 25:30 - 26:00 lot of that food is right up in the tree canopy up there the monkeys your greatest danger is starvation starvation sounds almost unbelievable in Forest Country and yet it is only too likely to happen and after 3 months alone in the jungle exhausted without food and close to death for abandoned his
• 26:00 - 26:30 expedition back home in Devon he would spend the next 2 years kicking his heels with frustration the last few years have been the most wretched and disillusioning of my life full of anxieties my wife and children have been sacrificed for it I think that his wife and children
• 26:30 - 27:00 missed him enormously Nina particularly was very sad and lonely with his long long absences and the children doted on him and Fa of our 2 24 years of married life only 10 have been spent together apart from four years in the Great War I have spent 10 in the forest you have to feel for his wife poor old Nina when whenever he was back in Devon he felt he wants to exchange
• 27:00 - 27:30 that love and that comfort that she could provide for the danger for the mystery of the Amazon who will ever understand that I want no glory from it no money for myself that I am doing it unpaid in the hope that its ultimate benefit to mankind will justify the years spent in the [Music] quest in desperation forc it went to New York to find backers for his next
• 27:30 - 28:00 Expedition these kinds of expeditions were quite costly so he had to be able to self-promote and to make this seem as the most important imaginable Expedition out there at the time so that he could um attract the funds attract the attention and force it did attract some attention his promotional speeches convinced scientific institutions like the Museum of the American Indian and
• 28:00 - 28:30 the American geographical Society to support his journey with $1,000 each but it wasn't nearly enough he gave a series of lectures he went around to see big business foret was not a man to bring doubt into his conversation he spoke very forcefully but he still couldn't raise the money and was forced to come up with a new plan faucet was quite a bit of a
• 28:30 - 29:00 self-promoter he constructed things as what we might call a kind of reality show in which he would then be able to catapult himself into a icon of exploration forcet approached the National American newspaper Alliance whose members had a paper in almost every city in the country with a novel idea he would send Runners back out of the Jungle with minute by- minute dispatches of their quest to find the lost city of Zed so his readers would be
• 29:00 - 29:30 able to follow and experience their Journey as it happened captivated by his idea the newspapers gave foret a very lucrative deal similar deals were made with newspapers around the world ensuring millions of readers but most of the money would only be paid to force it on the completion of their journey in some ways I am rather glad that not one of the three of us makes a
• 29:30 - 30:00 red scent unless the journey is successful for nobody can say we were after the money in undertaking this rather perilous [Music] quest in 1924 foret was back in Britain as news of the planned Expedition grew in excitement and support the Royal geographical Society agreed to pay for their equipment eventually forcet managed to raise around $5,000 the very bare minimum force it
• 30:00 - 30:30 believed to get them through to zed I found enough to make it imperative to go again with the right companions the right organization and knowledge of the right way to go in it can be brought to a successful conclusion and our story when we return from the next Expedition May thrill the world but foret was reluctant to give too much way to the Press before they
• 30:30 - 31:00 left I cannot say all I know or even be precise as to the locality for these things leak out and there can be nothing so bitter to the pioneer as to find the crown of his work anticipated a traveler is someone who wanders along perhaps just for the sheer hell of it but an Explorer has a dream has a vision and is determined not just to pull off that Vision but to bring back information bring back evidence of
• 31:00 - 31:30 whatever it is he or she's [Music] found after his disastrous last Expedition forc had carefully picked his travel companions this time his son jack now 21 and as strong as a horse and as Keen as mustard wanted to go with him with Jack was his lifelong friend Raley Rimmel foret knew what he was up against he was hardened he seen firsthand the forest he'd lived there but that wasn't
• 31:30 - 32:00 the case for his two companions rally Rimmel in his 20s his son jack again in his 20s totally fresh totally naive foret warned them both of the risks it would be one of the most difficult and dangerous Expeditions in the history of exploration the ultimate test of faith courage and determination so here was a man who understood the importance of precision and yet here also was a Mystic a man who
• 32:00 - 32:30 was prepared to set off with two inexperienced companions Into the Blue into a mapless state and wander around somehow until he found his lost city very civilized people he told his wife he said look we're going to be away a long time could be a year don't be frightened don't expect to hear from us we're going to go forward we're going to find Zed we're going to have this enormous success
• 32:30 - 33:00 [Applause] [Music] in January 1925 forcet Jack and Raleigh sailed from New York to Brazil watched by the world's press it was a world renowned Expedition and it was being followed very closely by this time they had been interviewed by all of the major
• 33:00 - 33:30 newspapers people were really excited that they were going off to find a lost civilization and they believed they were going to do it and so there was indeed a huge sendoff he was a major celebrity Front Page [Music] News the following month they left Rio de Janeiro on their 1,000 mile journey by train and boat into the interior of
• 33:30 - 34:00 Brazil their destination the mat grosso's Capital kuaba foret called it their stepping off point on April the 20th 1925 foret Jack and Raleigh put on their Explorer outfits and STS and hats grabbed their 30 caliber rifles and 18in machetes and left for the jungle opinion was divided as to whether
• 34:00 - 34:30 their expedition was sheer lunacy or not it's a little bit like Fitz corala where everyone thinks oh what a nut getting a ship over a mountain and putting it on another tributary but people were doing that all the time so even though we might think it's the sign of total Madness uh in fact at the time it was a reasonable conjecture and a bold thing to try their Direction was towards the mat grosso's upper shingu river system a
• 34:30 - 35:00 tributary of the Amazon where foret believed the city of Zed would be the mat Gro is thick forest mat Gro that's what it means and it is a devil of a place that's the sort of phrase he would have used a a thick nasty place we're used to seeing a horizon we're used to heading toward something but in the forest you see tree after tree after tree and no more so than in the mat Gro sticking to the deal made with the Press
• 35:00 - 35:30 forcet use Runners to keep the public informed of their progress as they went on each step of the journey foret would write a report what they had seen what they had experienced and this chap would run back to civilization with it they appeared in the American Press in the British press in the Australian press in quite a number of Continental European papers Jack told his mother of meeting Stark naked Indians of never feeling so well on his 22nd birthday and that it would
• 35:30 - 36:00 take a couple of months to reach Zed possibly on his daddy's 58th [Music] birthday in fact things were now becoming difficult for the explorers in forcett's private letters to Nina another story emerged along with descriptions of the difficulties of traveling he revealed how r Bar's foot had been poisoned by the
• 36:00 - 36:30 insects I suspect constitutional weakness and I fear that we shall be handicapped by him he wrote there was Rally's foot it was painful it was slowing them down foret warned him that there would be no way out if it got any worse but Raleigh refused to go back Raleigh felt that he'd come all this way they were so close to the great treasure he wasn't going to drop out at this stage no matter what they were also approaching an area
• 36:30 - 37:00 where there were tribes known to be aggressive it was forcett's hope that he would be able as he had in the past to make friends quickly um to to gain their confidence uh and in fact more than their confidence to gain their generosity because they needed their [Music] food it is obviously dangerous to penetrate large hordes of Indians traditionally hostile but I believe in our mission and its purpose I believe our little party of three white men will make friends with them
• 37:00 - 37:30 [Music] all on the 29th of May 1925 39 days into their Journey they reached dead horse camp where forcet had passed through on his last [Music] Expedition forcet sat alone we know this because Jack also wrote and and said that his father had sat alone and and
• 37:30 - 38:00 wrote to his beloved Nina back in Devon the attempt to write is Frau with much difficulty here we are at dead horse camp the spot where my horse died in 1920 only his White Bones remain Jack is well and fit Raley I am anxious about he still has one leg in a bandage but won't go back so far we have plenty of food but I'm not sure how long this will
• 38:00 - 38:30 last it is very cold at night and fresh in the morning but the insects and heat are out in full force come midday and from then until evening it is sheer misery and Camp I cannot hope to stand up on this journey better than Jack or Riley my extra years tell though I do my best to make up for it with enthusiasm but I had to do this [Music]
• 38:30 - 39:00 despite all this forcet remained upbeat and ended his letter with you need have no fear of any failure the next day foret gave the guide Nina's letter and waved him goodbye these were the last words to his
• 39:00 - 39:30 wife with Just Jack and Raleigh as company he headed out into Uncharted [Music] [Music] [Music] Territory [Music]
• 39:30 - 40:00 [Applause] all over the world people waited for news wondering where they were but there was nothing but silence and the tensions on the home front of course were just awful Nina had this great faith in him she did believe that all was
• 40:00 - 40:30 well even two years after foret had vanished Nina believed he was coming back any day now may bring a cable from my husband announcing that he is safe and is returning with Jack and Raleigh to read her correspondence is heartbreaking 10 years after he disappeared she still believed that he would turn up any day that he was still alive probably at that point that he was
• 40:30 - 41:00 living in Zed but the news she longed for never came and despite the many search parties sent out to try and find them over the years their bodies have never been [Music] found [Music]
• 41:00 - 41:30 25 years later in 1955 the New York Times declared that Force its disappearance had set off more searches than those launched through the centuries to find the fabulous Eldorado were they killed by Indians as most believe or did they die of hunger or was it something else I don't think he was killed by hostile
• 41:30 - 42:00 Indians I don't think he was bitten by a snake I don't think he was Swept Away by flood water I don't think he's still living out there and Immortal in some shanga some City of Gold I think one or other of them stumbled fell couldn't keep on going any longer because of disease and then the others had a choice do we stay with this dying man our
• 42:00 - 42:30 companion or do we head off and go for help well there's no help available out there and I'm afraid they probably all died [Music] together but no one really knows they had vanished without [Music] Trace
• 42:30 - 43:00 did Percy forcet and his companions die in vain were all those doubters right there was no great civilization in the jungle called El Dorado had he simply been [Music] deluded in recent years scientists have made a series of extraordinary discoveries in the same area where Francisco de
• 43:00 - 43:30 Oriana and his 57 conquistadors saw cities of 20,000 people in 1541 and just 100 m West to force its last search for Zed compelling evidence of past civilizations is now being Unearthed he basically traversed one of the areas in which some of the most exciting discoveries in the Amazon Bas now taking place hidden in the jungle for several hundred years and only emerging now as
• 43:30 - 44:00 trees are failed to create Farmland is evidence of a vast network of ancient SES these sights seen from the air show an extraordinary crisscrossed landscape with straight lines cutting across the Savannah amongst the open Plains there are also thousands of isolated Mounds or islands of Rich Forest linked by Giant [Music]
• 44:00 - 44:30 causeways recently it was discovered in these Forest Islands there are clear signs of past human habitation fragments of food remains Pottery cooking ears and human bones are now being uncovered on a massive scale here was evidence of a huge civilization archaeologists believe these sites and Forest areas are part of an ancient civilization state that stretches over 160 square miles and was
• 44:30 - 45:00 once home to hundreds of thousands of people it's important to remember that these cities were as large as Constantinople in the 1500s or as large as London which was one of the largest cities of the time these great civilizations were complex we know that they had complex religions they had complex Technologies they were the Great engineering
• 45:00 - 45:30 societies of the [Music] time could these be the remains of the great cities Francisco de Oriana and raposo had described all those years ago the ones that inspired forcett's quest to find his lost city of Zed if so why have they been swallowed up by the [Music] [Applause] [Music] jungle the answer is almost certain that the
• 45:30 - 46:00 people met the fate of all the other Indians who were killed by disease brought in by European explorers with contact from the Spanish in the 16th century swiftly over 95% of their population was wiped out and their homes and cities disappeared with them but how did these great civilizations exist at all if the most modern agricultural techniques can't
• 46:00 - 46:30 seem to make the jungle productive today how did these large communities of the past managed to do it the answer may be in the discovery of the Mounds of Black Earth or Terra praa as the Brazilians call it it is dotted over many areas of the Amazon jungle when scientists analyzed this terraa they discovered that it contained
• 46:30 - 47:00 a mixture of common Amazon yellow soil and organic waste this meant that it was man-made what we understand from ethnographic and archaeological evidence is that these soils formed as a result of very simple activities of burning litter rubbish the relocating of bits of soil into other places and discard of charcoal from Potter production fish bone and all the
• 47:00 - 47:30 [Music] rest the extraordinary thing about this black soil is how productive it [Music] is it produces incredibly high yields if communities rather than just plant and harvest the yields that would come out of very poor soils were able to modify soils then larger populations could be had larger Villages could be had and hence larger societies could be
• 47:30 - 48:00 had it does seem incredible that where we now can't do anything with the soil this ancient civilization had brought about an agricultural Miracle existence of these large populations was predicated on the use of teroa it increases productivity in the same way that irrigation increases productivity in dry lands or Terraces increased productivity on mountainous
• 48:00 - 48:30 lands Terra praa is so remarkable that scientists are now working out how to reproduce it so it could be used all over the world I think that what we're going to see is that it's going to play a major role in enhancing the productivity of small and mediums scale Agriculture and also to provide livelihoods and sustenance for uh rural populations in much of the world so Percy forc it was onto
• 48:30 - 49:00 something there really was a society out there that may well have had a great treasure to share with us but it wasn't gold as he himself had once written the answer to the Enigma of ancient South America and perhaps of the prehistoric world may be found when those old cities are located and opened up to scientific research that the cities exist I [Music]
• 49:00 - 49:30 [Music] [Music] no