The Hunt For El Dorado

Video Description

“Anyone who even thinks of abandoning this mission will be cut up into a thousand pieces…I am the wrath of God!” At the height of the age of exploration, during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, one story in particular gripped the imagination of European colonialists: El Dorado, a legendary city of gold, hidden in the very heart of the South American Rainforests. But no kingdom sought this prize more furiously than the mighty Spanish Empire. Determined to restore their fortunes with El Dorado’s treasures, they sent countless expeditions in search of the golden city, to no avail. Then, in 1559, the authorities in Lima assembled a new expedition, bigger and better than ever before, under the leadership of the knight Pedro de Ursula. The group he mustered to go with him would prove ill chosen indeed. Among them was his famously beautiful mistress, Dona Inez, and more ominously still, a fierce eyed, limp-footed man by the name of Lope de Aguirre. Little did his companions know that they had a devil in their midst. Aguirre would prove to be one of history’s strangest and most unsettling characters, and one of the great villains of the Spanish conquests of the New World. Cruel and psychopathic, he would eventually violently usurp Ursula’s command, and lead his companions not in search of El Dorado, but further and further into the Amazonian interior, enacting a regime of paranoid terror as they went. It would prove to be one of the strangest, most gruesome, and also the most horrific journeys of all time, replete with murder, betrayal, treason, and above all, madness…. Join Tom and Dominic, as they discuss the iniquitous Spanish conquistador Aguirre, and his journey both into the heart of the South American wilderness, but also into human madness. It is a story of mystery and adventure, gold and greed, horror and death. Download the SAILY app and use our code RESTISHISTORY at checkout to get an exclusive 15% off your first purchase ✅ 00:00 Tom gets excited 03:40 One of the strangest figures we’ve ever covered on The Rest Is History 06:30 the situation in the Spanish colonies 10:02 The expedition begins… 13:44 The people who set out 16:41 They set out on the boats 23:05 A new year… 25:08 The new leader says the campaign must continue 29:38 The nightmare begins… 38:24 Aguirre takes over 47:31 Aguirre loses the plot Join this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUYK0BJZF3yNb2fw1EdAXUQ/join Twitter: @TheRestHistory @holland_tom @dcsandbrook Producer: Theo Young-Smith Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett Video Editors: Vasco Andrede and Cristian Salas Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor