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"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"--

El Dorado. --- Europeans --- Treasure troves. --- Geographical myths. --- History. --- South America --- Discovery and exploration.

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A wide-ranging edited collection that interrogates colonial expansion, and the mismatch between intention, perception and hype, and the actual realities. This volume explores how imperial powers established and expanded their empires through decisions that were often based on exaggerated expectations and wishful thinking, rather than on reasoned and scientific policies. It explores these exaggerations through the concepts of El Dorado, utopias and dystopias - undertakings based on irrational perceived values - in case studies from across the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries, and incorporates imperial traditions including Scottish, British, French, German, Italian and American. Various colonial spaces are considered, from the Mediterranean, Middle East, Africa, Australia, Asia and the Americas, and in doing so, the contributors offer new insights into the nature of imperialism and colonial settlement.

Imperialism --- Colonies --- Utopias. --- Dystopias. --- History. --- Social aspects. --- Social conditions. --- Economic conditions. --- Eldorado. --- Bambuk gold. --- British Mesopotamian El Dorado. --- Darien project. --- El Dorados. --- French Indochina. --- German Templer colonies. --- Greek expectations. --- Palestine. --- Patagonia. --- Scottish adventurism. --- Swan River Colony. --- colonial settlement. --- dystopias. --- imperial causality. --- imperialism. --- utopias.

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"Considers how the novels of five contemporary writers from the American tropics--Alejo Carpentier, Wilson Harris, Mario Vargas Llosa, Alvaro Mutis, and Milton Hatoum--engage with the legend of El Dorado in light of modern practices for extracting mineral deposits and other natural resources in Latin America"--

Natural resources --- Literature and society --- Mineral industries --- El Dorado in literature. --- Latin American fiction --- Extractive industries --- Extractive industry --- Metal industries --- Mines and mining --- Mining --- Mining industry --- Mining industry and finance --- Industries --- Literature --- Literature and sociology --- Society and literature --- Sociology and literature --- Sociolinguistics --- History. --- History and criticism. --- Social aspects --- 18.33 Spanish-American literature. --- Eldorado dans la littérature. --- Latin American fiction. --- Literature and society. --- Littérature et société --- Mineral industries. --- Mines --- Natural resources. --- Ressources naturelles --- Roman latino-américain --- History and criticism --- History --- Histoire --- Industrie --- Histoire et critique --- 1900-1999. --- Latin America.