El Dorado Compass Rose Geocoin - Guatavita

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Guatavita: Antique Bronze

The El Dorado Compass Rose Geocoin® design comes from the map “Guyana” by Sir Robert Dudley 1646.

The front incorporates design aspects from native Columbian clothing. This design surrounds the coin in bright colors reminiscent of the area. On the back, various archaeological sites in northern South America, including Machu Picchu and the San Agustin stone figures, were used to create our own rendition of how El Dorado might have looked. As El Dorado was thought to be rich in emeralds as well as gold, we have added four Swarovski crystals in each Cardinal direction.

The story of El Dorado originates in the northern part of South America. In the early 1500s, Spanish explorers heard stories from the natives of a king referred to as El Dorado who was covered in gold powder during a ceremony to ascend to power. The king would then dive into Lake Guatavita while his subjects would throw golden items and jewels into the lake to satisfy one of their gods. Once the Spaniards learned of this story, they went in search of this fabled king. Other Europeans also learned of the tale and purchased exploration rights from the Spanish crown to seek out the coveted treasures.

Over time, this story became more embellished and changed locations various times which led to increased exploration and mapping of northern part of South America. A story surfaced about an explorer by the name of Juan Martin de Albujar. He claimed to have lived with a tribe of natives in a city of gold called Manoa after he became the sole survivor of a failed expedition on the Orinoco River. This brought new efforts to try and find this city now dubbed, Manoa – the golden city of El Dorado. While El Dorado was never found, people are still searching for it to this day.