Yeah, the amount of content he produces really is amazing... I imagine that there will still be new content for years after he retires someday.... lol 😆
Growing up in New Mexico, there was a rather funny version of the El Dorado story that I used to hear from some Pueblo people that may not be true but is rather entertaining. The story is that some conquistador or another was in the NM area looking for El Dorado, but the local people weren't sure what he was talking about when he asked about "gold", so he had his translator describe it. "It's yellow, it shines in the light, and it is tremendously valuable." So then they suddenly realized what he was asking, and took him to the village that grew all their corn.
Why did i think this was going to end as... "It's yellow, it shines in the light, and it is tremendously valuable." So then they suddenly realized what he was asking, and took him to the village of *Golden Showers*... 🤣🤣
Dr. Heckenberger was my archaeology professor at the University of Florida! He was awesome. He considers himself an ethno-archaeologist which means he works with the indigenous tribes and excavates with their cooperation. Such a fascinating tribe!! I think he has helped them with the Brazilian government too.
I'm starting to notice this channel has seemingly become my favourite of yours, interesting topics, some biography stuff, some geography stuff, a lot of history and you have that sweet spot perfect reasonable approach
I only discovered this channel a week ago. It is already one of my favorite channels on all of youtube. It'll take me a while to go through the whole back catalog but looking forward to it. Keep up the good work.
Yeah, I definitely hit up his channel and check out the community section (I believe) but yeah, home boys got like 12 maybe more different channels with a TON of content.
Simon, my wife is Colombian. Her great-grandfather grew up in Guatavita but later moved to San Bernardo de Cundinamarca where my wife, her grandparents and her parents were born. On New Year’s Day 2014 we decided to visit Guatavita to see where her ancestors came from. The Muisca who run the site now gave us the same history you read. The notch in the side of the mountain is still quite obvious and I got better photos of it that day than the ones you showed (much better lighting on Jan 1, 2014). If I can find a way to upload one I’d be happy to share it.
Yeah you don't have a clue. That area is pretty much always clouded over. Like the OP my wife is Colombian and from close to that area so we actually know what we're talking about...
When I was a kid, the Mysterious cities of gold cartoon was my favorite thing to watch on the TV, to this day when I hear El Dorado the opening song earworms its way into my head.
Рік тому+65
This is the perfect opportunity for me to suggest covering the fabled Treasure of the Llanganatis. According to the legend, some of the gold for Atahualpa's ransom (as mentioned in the video) never made it to Pizarro, but instead was hidden in the Llanganates mountain range in my homeland of Ecuador. It remains lost to this day, as were (if I remember correctly) the lives of a few who went looking for it. Death, betrayal, mystery, more death, and Conquistadors being dicks: it sounds like a case for Decoding the Unknown!
One of the primary reasons for the lack of wheel use throughout the Amazon is basically that the terrain just really sucks and wheels don't work very well in the dense jungle.
Gaily bedight, A gallant knight, In sunshine and in shadow, Had journeyed long, Singing a song, In search of Eldorado. But he grew old- This knight so bold- And o'er his heart a shadow Fell as he found No spot of ground That looked like Eldorado. And, as his strength Failed him at length, He met a pilgrim shadow- "Shadow," said he, "Where can it be- This land of Eldorado?" "Over the Mountains Of the Moon, Down the Valley of the Shadow, Ride, boldly ride," The shade replied- "If you seek for Eldorado!" - Edgar Allan Poe
Sam is the hero of LotR. You don't know the name because like a real hero he doesn't need recognition nor does he know how incredible his deeds truly were.
Well since its the conquistadors we're talking about I'm sure they could have gotten the native populations to do many impressive things given enough time and...well.. lets call it... "motivation"...
I just found my old Gameboy advance going thru my boxes Simon. Found pokemon red as well and started a playthrough. Already got my Charmander evolved to Charmeleon
My city was founded (1561) by a spaniard in an atempt to expand the spanish territories to the east and was used as a base to search for the Paitití. With the new discoveries of the civilizations in the amazon forest now we know that he was actually really close.
I visited Columbia last May. We went to Guatavita and the Museo Del Oro in Bogotá, it was really fascinating. You can see where they dug out the side of the crater of the lake and the water level still hasn’t recovered since all of the drainage happened. The Muiscas had some very interesting practices around the lake and the isolation of the new chief took place over many years. The Columbians that we met are fiercely proud of their heritage and ancestors. While they are obviously descended from both the local populations and the Spanish, they refer to the Spanish as “them” and to the native people as “we” because they recognize that so many people are descended from women who were r*ped by the Spanish but were raised by their tribes. As a Canadian, I would never for a second refer to myself as being part of the Native peoples - my ancestors were invaders and did great harm. Here, it would be insulting of me to state that I was anything other than a native to Canada as opposed to a Native Canadian. So it was interesting to meet people who are so entwined with both parts of their bloodlines. Also, the figurine of the raft is quite small which makes the details so much more impressive. Their gold work was incredibly intricate and I have seen a lot of ancient metal work in my time. I would 100% recommend visiting. Come for El Dorado, stay for the actual history and culture.
*Ilze:* Everyone and their canary has heard about El Dorado, the city of Gold. *Simon:* I've never heard of El Dorado... *Ilze:* Everyone and their canary except of course Simon has heard about El Dorado, the city of Gold.
Imagine the translator "they think there is a city made of gold. I know it's completely stupid, just point further down the river and we will be on our way" 🤣
A ship carrying a giant golden boulder once capsized in Kootenay Lake. Loosing the boulder to the depths. It remains unfound, but its legend still tantalizes Kootenay folk to this day.
I can't for the ultra compilation of all of Simon's channels, which one day will reach a length that is unwatchable in a human lifetime. Still not infinite, but it might as well be.
When is Simon going to have time to record more than a lifetime work of videos? Maybe his son can take over the business (LOL, reference to his comments in another video - forget which).
I just got my bachelors in archaeology and this summer I'm going to a field school on Bonaire island to excavate shipwrecks. I"m so excited, I hope I find something interesting. My grandpa said we are Yaqui and Aztec, it would be cool to find some of my peoples stolen items.
That gold nugget weighing 36lbs. is worth $1,076,544 at today's spot price of $1,869 per oz. And yes, you can get significantly more for it being in one big chunk like that if it's natural because museums and collectors will buy them. Most natural gold deposits found nowadays are about 1 to 2 oz. per ton of dirt processed.
I'm wondering how much gold washed down the Colorado River in acciant times. They found a few nuggets that size just laying above ground in the desert.
@@Emprivan also old mines where the pay dirt was not processed properly. Id be interested knowing the amount of gold that has been "missed" by dredging or running over sluece boxes. I bet its impressive
@@mattt525 I would guess in general, up to 50% but that is placer/dust and maybe slags and tailings. I mean recovery would be expencive for most. Finding some exposed vien or decomosing rock thats just laying on the surface with pounds of gold as a nugget. Also you could find meteorites that big, worth more than gold. And that kind of gold follows fault lines/volcanic caldera interfaces. So I would say all those easy exposed areas in mex down into south america are still there. Like where rivers once flowed millions of years ago and a road crew cut thru it, workers never noticed.
The thing I find fascinating about gold, is that all the gold found on Earth was formed within a supernova or a collision of stars. Pretty cool when you think about it.
Wow Trinidad mentioned in a Fact Boi video😮… love from a long time fan from Trinidad and Tobago!!!!! 🇹🇹🇹🇹🇹🇹 We have a town here also called El Dorado, not sure if we got it from this myth.
I've always thought this was extremely interesting. I've never cared much for gold or silver. But I decided to buy some gold/silver bars/coins a year ago just for a novelty thing and christmas gifts for my employees. Nothing huge I promise. But the first time I held a 5oz silver bar I was honestly awestruck. Then I bought a 1/4 ounce Gold kangaroo and I'm hooked. The weight is what gets me its sooooo dense I can hardly believe it. And honestly beautiful 😍 I give out 5 oz bars for Christmas gifts now. And every time a person holds a silver bar or gold piece they are in almost disbelief. Now I understand why people are amazed by these two metals.
Simons gonna find more riches from this El Dorado story than anyone who ever went searching for it. Well deserved! Our UA-cam conquistador! There are many more channel ideas just a little further south…keep scrolling
The "elixir of life" might be better, since that would encompass talking about the "philosopher's stone" by necessity. It's a red-colored stone, that produces the elixir of life.....the "elixir of life" was mercury, the ore of which is the red-colored rock called Cinnabar.
3:50 - Chapter 1 - The story of el dorado 7:20 - Chapter 2 - The origins of a myth 13:15 - Chapter 3 - The riches of peru & mexico 24:45 - Chapter 4 - Europe goes on a southamerican tour 27:10 - Chapter 5 - Let's find that lake 32:50 - Chapter 6 - Let's split the party 35:45 - Chapter 7 - The madman in the jungle 49:40 - Chapter 8 - The modern search for el dorado 51:50 - Chapter 9 - The truth, was el dorado real ? 1:02:50 - Wrap up PS: 10:50 , i think you are referencing *Crazy Stories of Ancient Gods Being Douchebags*
The real reason for the gold raft not leaving home is that there was once another that was lost when the ship it was on went down in flames on its way to loan to Germany in the 1950's. The remaining raft is forbidden to leave Bogota for that reason. I saw The Gold of Eldorado exhibition in London in 1978 as a young teen. It's always stuck with me - amazing craftsmanship.
Perhaps the most fucked up part about the Spanish stealing Peruvian gold is that when the shipwreck of the Mercedes, that contained huge quantities of stolen gold, was discovered both Spain and Peru entered claims. Spain ended up with the gold.
Fun little rabbit hole: Why has gold been the standard for currency across basically all of human history? Well, if you want any sort of standardized currency, you don't want it to be something that someone can just make down the street, so it can't be something synthesized (paper currency only represents value, it doesn't actually have value, as opposed to hard currency). So that leaves elements. Obviously it can't be a gas. Water evaporates. That leaves metals, but it can't be a metal that corrodes. That pretty much leaves silver, gold, platinum, and other platinum-like metals (osmium, iridium, palladium). The last category wasn't even discovered until the early 1800's, Platinum is too rare. That leaves gold and silver as basically the default for "thing which is common enough that almost everyone on Earth knows what it is, will withstand almost all corrosion, and yet is rare enough that you can't just pick it up off the street." So that's why almost every society in human history has used gold as a standard on which to base value.
Simon looking down on cultural mytholgy makes me love to think in a couple hundred to thousand years, people will be scratching their heads in disbelief that people actually subjected themselves to Simon's shows as entertainment. They will remark on how outlandish and insane it is compared to beliefs and past times of their world. Whenever Simon remarks "the past is the worst" they will either burst out in laughter at the irony or shiver in dear at what THAT must have been like comparatively.
The Irish used to be forest dwelling people until the English came and cut down roughly 97% of the ancient forest to build churches and palaces and ships as their own ancient forest was protected for the king. Ireland has the lowest percentage coverage of ancient forest in the whole if Europe.
If it makes you feel better, Simon, my husband's grandfather actually did take the opportunity he had to get off a burning warship. He was the WW2 equivalent to a Navy Seal (UDT), which makes it even more amusing.
On the subject of taking your chances swimming if a gunpowder store caught fire on a ship you were on, as an ex-sailor myself, that is probably a bad bet. We someone go overboard once that wasn't immediately noticed. She went topside during helicopter operations, when the aft watch is stood down so the helo can take off or land, and went over the side. Whether it was suicide or an accident is still anyone's guess but she definitely shouldn't have been up there. Anyway, we realized she was missing about an hour later and went back looking for her, we didn't find her alive, and found her body about 24 hours later. The ocean is really, really, really big. Even if there is someone looking for you, your chances of surviving in it are slim. Your chances of finding a shore in it are even slimmer. Unless shore is already in sight and you know the currents in that area, you are honestly better off taking your chances on the ship. Sailors are very, very well trained at putting out fires. A fire in the ammo mag is actually one of the simulated casualties you have to respond to just to make it out of boot camp, and you are going to redo a drill like that every week (way more than that if you are actually a firefighter) until you get out. If you are one of those sailors, you know what to do, and if you aren't, you can trust that they know what to do. It's definitely a better place to put that trust than the chance of you washing up somewhere instead of dying of hypothermia and dehydration miles away from the nearest land.
And I can't help but feel this growing pit of dread as expedition after expedition makes off down the rivers like a deadly disease making its way through a body...
I wonder how many of the treasure hunters now a days just say screw it and melt it down and just sell it for the gold and silver value. You might not make as much but you would be able to sell all the gold and silver. Also I don't think very many of them are worried about destroying history, the ones that do care do it the legal way and just get the 10-20% of the appraised value.
People should remember that back in those days, what the conquistadors did was no different from what every other culture did. Conquer or be conquered. It’s still the same in the modern era, just done in a more “civilized” way.
5:22 - for such a smart guy, you get a lot of small details wrong. Aluminum was never rare. The ore (bauxite) is everywhere. The high price of it was due to the difficulty and incredible amounts of energy in turning the ore into usable aluminum.
I grew up watching the Mysterious Cities of Gold. A French / Japanese collaboration animation that had me hooked on central and South American cultures as they weaved facts into the fiction. After each episode they would go into detail on the realities of what was seen in the show. I learnt a lot about Mayans, Aztecs, Olmec's, and Incans in research after the series was over.
My theory is that Simon is secretly a huge fantasy fan who pretends to hate it. He let it slip, pretending not to know who Samwise was but then quickly naming the exact source material.
I think I saw somewhere that the wheel just wasn't useful in the rough terrain, and that's why they didn't use it, but small wheels on toys or decorations or something have been found.
You don't need wheels if you have pack animals and boats. Also, given that they lacked horses and oxen, not sure how much use carts would be, without anything to pull them
Using wheels for transport requires large quantity bronze metal working and the tribes in the americas didn’t do that in large quantities (ie they made toys for the upper society but not tools for everyone) I’m not sure I buy the rough terrain argument. There is plenty of flat land in the Americas that was occupied by many cultures. There are also many cultures in mountainous terrain or jungled terrain that used the wheel. (Think Greece or the khmer in 1700bc)
@@NickSteffen wheeled carts and wagons were mostly used to deliver goods long Distances In Europe and Asia. Merchants knew that they could travel further and get better prices at places their goods seemed exotic. Many of the cultures and locations in the Americas were largely self contained city states or smaller tribal communities that were by and large self sufficient. They didn't have the need to export or import goods from their neighbors. Trade in pre-Columbian America was fairly limited with most trade consisting not of food or natural resources but of labor, either forced or otherwise. The economies of these independent nations and people's were very self contained. That's one reason they groups like the Toltec fell from power- bad weather caused droughts and famine, and the limited trade meant they couldn't import what they needed and their enemies knew all thru had to do was wait them out as they starved and fell apart. I'm over simplifying of course, but the limited trade was a bigger influence on the lack of wheeled vehicles than most other factors IMHO.
@@Scudboy17 Sounds reasonable, but I would say there’s one flaw. Even if there wasn’t long distance trade, local trade benefits massively from carts. Farmers for instance need to get their food into town. Carrying a reasonable amount of farmed goods even a few miles without a cart is a Herculean undertaking. You can make similar statements about tree cutting, mining and construction. There is almost no part of society that isn’t touched by a cart even when restricted to short distances. It would dramatically decrease the cost of almost every good. So i don’t think it was lack of necessity. Additionally, a lot of ancient carts weren’t very durable (Ie an axel sitting between two pegs under the cart. Simple friction would quickly wear it down so they were likely only good for short distances anyways. This is a big part of why ancient societies tend to develop on coasts and rivers. A large canoe or raft can carry more than a cart and is faster making it much better for long distance trade.
This description feels like a city that had a lot of brass. Brass is a metal that shines golden, but can be made in abundance. If you are surrounded by enemies, having a metal that says "i'm rich, attempt at your own peril" while being very cheap, would most likely work. The other option i can think of: Sunlight. At certain angles, Sun can and does bathe the whole area in a way that it looks like it's filled with gold.
I recommend that if you want to learn more about the spanish conquest of the new world you check out the Fall of Civilizations podcast by Paul M.M. Cooper, he did one on the fall of the Aztecs and one on the Inca. That's why I knew about the Inca civil war and how dummy much gold he had. Atawalpa did fill a room with gold that wasn't even from his own treasury. Also Pezzaro was illiterate.
As a scubadiver in a very wreck-rich region (literally muscets lying around, old merchant ships, centuries old porcelain and the like just laying there) I adhere by the rules: "take only photos, leave only bubbles". However, seeing people preparing for a dive with god damn powertools tells me not everyone does. :D
BSAA Flight CS59 the final leg of that flight has an interesting story behind it. The plane was called "Stardust" and it crashed in unusual and possible strange circumstances. The final transmission from the plane was the Morse code "STENDEC" which was repeated twice as the tower sort confirmation on a previous Morse code message. There isn't consensus on what this means, There are "Tin Foil Hat" theories about a "Kings Messenger" on board. There was a good BBC Horizon doc about 15-20 years ago about this, about this time the glacier the plane crashed into started to eject parts of the plane.
35:00 a “Pedro” and a “Lope” on the same expedition that ended up being one of the most brutal? Coincidence? I don’t think so. Pedro Lopez was there! Haha
Fun fact more recently theyve found a city in the jungle on a mesa with white stone/marble structures but the issue is no one has entered the area in hundreds of years since it's right in the middle of one of the most dangerous areas of the jungle, one of the areas where literally every inch if land is covered in poisonous snakes, spiders and other animals and plants. Like that gap near Panama where it's impossible to build a road without people dying
Hey Simon, if you're fascinated by the overlap between myth and history, look over at Overly Sarcastic Productions and the recent (ish) videos on Minoan and Mycanean (sp?) Greece. How the myths of the Trojan War related to the Bronze Age Collapse, and how a mysterious, aggressive civilization with massive palaces with bull decorations led to the minotaur...
moctezuma kept forking out gold because he quite literally thought the Spanish were the return of Quetzalcoatl and his coaterie. not Quetzalcoatl the deity but Quetzalcoatl the man who was a Toltec Ruler who left on a boat headed east centuries before the Aztec settled in lake texcoco. to the Aztecs the Toltecs were a divine race and we know very little about them because the Aztecs raided all their ruins in antiquity.
1st of all, shout out to Ilze, she's my favorite DtU writer. Definitely the best at getting Simon riled up with her scripts. Brava, madam. You've achieved or maybe even surpassed Danny in getting the Factboi worked up. 2nd, Petition for a video where Simon reacts to one of his videos after Sam on Brain Blaze or Jen here have gotten their hands on it. I would love to see what Simon makes of how efficiently and hilariously they utterly brutalize him without having to say a word. What legends.
@@BryceHomier17 I was paying someone a compliment because I enjoyed their work. You didn't need to say anything. Why do you choose to go out of your way to be a dick?
The suffering and destruction of the people and the cultures is the worst thing - but also, think of all the art and other artifacts that were just melted, lost forever.
Hi Simon! It is me, the Pie vendor whom you met on the way to the fair. Do you not remember? You still owe me a penny. But in lieu of that you can take the local bus, or Uber, to the Josipov district in the city where you currently reside & take some photos of the "Old-New Synagogue" wherein (allegedly) rests the mysterious Golem. No need to make videos of mythical golden cities halfway across the world when you have a big Unknown to Decode right in your own back yard! Also, I approve of your decision to make Big Glasses & Beard your signature look. I have watched some old TopTenz videos from years ago & you look[ed] like a boiled owl.
I just watched a TIFO episode from 3 years ago and Simon was raving on about how a 30 minute video was "super long." How far you've come, man!
You should see some of the CC videos he does
@@TheCarIinistthe longer the better, pause
@@TheCarIinist yeah, I've seen CC. 3 years ago he was amazed at 30 minute episodes and now he regularly does multiple 1 hour plus shows, weekly.
Yeah, the amount of content he produces really is amazing... I imagine that there will still be new content for years after he retires someday.... lol 😆
In the scripts defense…. Half the video is random tangents.
Growing up in New Mexico, there was a rather funny version of the El Dorado story that I used to hear from some Pueblo people that may not be true but is rather entertaining. The story is that some conquistador or another was in the NM area looking for El Dorado, but the local people weren't sure what he was talking about when he asked about "gold", so he had his translator describe it. "It's yellow, it shines in the light, and it is tremendously valuable." So then they suddenly realized what he was asking, and took him to the village that grew all their corn.
True, I hope.
This also happened in Pocahontas haha
@@tulliamarie6137nnn Jun n him nn book nnn by nnnnn him Ann by n, n min, nnn Jun,n
Why did i think this was going to end as... "It's yellow, it shines in the light, and it is tremendously valuable." So then they suddenly realized what he was asking, and took him to the village of *Golden Showers*... 🤣🤣
Why did they trust them to show them whatever they asked for?
Dr. Heckenberger was my archaeology professor at the University of Florida! He was awesome. He considers himself an ethno-archaeologist which means he works with the indigenous tribes and excavates with their cooperation. Such a fascinating tribe!! I think he has helped them with the Brazilian government too.
An hour long Decoding the Unknown? This Monday just got so goddamn much better.
We love you Simon! We’re all so lucky to have you 😊 Can’t believe how many years of my life you’ve narrated!
I'm starting to notice this channel has seemingly become my favourite of yours, interesting topics, some biography stuff, some geography stuff, a lot of history and you have that sweet spot perfect reasonable approach
I only discovered this channel a week ago. It is already one of my favorite channels on all of youtube. It'll take me a while to go through the whole back catalog but looking forward to it. Keep up the good work.
There's a 12 hour compilation of the oldest stuff
I suggest the Loch Ness, vampire, and mermaid episodes. The cryptic ones are my favorite lol
Don't neglect his over a dozen other channels. 😂
Welcome to the world wide family. Greetings from Dimboola, in Victoria, Australia 🇦🇺.
Yeah, I definitely hit up his channel and check out the community section (I believe) but yeah, home boys got like 12 maybe more different channels with a TON of content.
Simon, my wife is Colombian. Her great-grandfather grew up in Guatavita but later moved to San Bernardo de Cundinamarca where my wife, her grandparents and her parents were born. On New Year’s Day 2014 we decided to visit Guatavita to see where her ancestors came from. The Muisca who run the site now gave us the same history you read. The notch in the side of the mountain is still quite obvious and I got better photos of it that day than the ones you showed (much better lighting on Jan 1, 2014). If I can find a way to upload one I’d be happy to share it.
If only the sun shined on it other days other than just Jan 1st 2014 :(
Yeah you don't have a clue. That area is pretty much always clouded over. Like the OP my wife is Colombian and from close to that area so we actually know what we're talking about...
When I was a kid, the Mysterious cities of gold cartoon was my favorite thing to watch on the TV, to this day when I hear El Dorado the opening song earworms its way into my head.
This is the perfect opportunity for me to suggest covering the fabled Treasure of the Llanganatis. According to the legend, some of the gold for Atahualpa's ransom (as mentioned in the video) never made it to Pizarro, but instead was hidden in the Llanganates mountain range in my homeland of Ecuador. It remains lost to this day, as were (if I remember correctly) the lives of a few who went looking for it. Death, betrayal, mystery, more death, and Conquistadors being dicks: it sounds like a case for Decoding the Unknown!
I second that, it is a great idea.
That is a great story.
I third this love treasure hunts
The most incredible part of this history is that LOTS of people believed this place actually existed. Many died searching for it.
Fascinating indeed.
That’s exactly what someone who knows where El Dorado is located would say 😏
@@ismarwinkelman5648 Hey, do not tell people about it!
@@MCsCreations Cut me in for 25% and I’ll shut up right here right now 🤫
@@ismarwinkelman5648 there's a town by the name in my state, what do I win?
It was real it just got decimated like all cities and raided repeatedly by the time the spanish got there they took anything shiny left
Mythology is the cultural version of the fisherman's story where the fish is larger with each retelling of the story.
One of the primary reasons for the lack of wheel use throughout the Amazon is basically that the terrain just really sucks and wheels don't work very well in the dense jungle.
They also didn't have draft animals, so it would have been a matter of pushing carts by hand.
Gaily bedight, A gallant knight, In sunshine and in shadow, Had journeyed long, Singing a song, In search of Eldorado. But he grew old- This knight so bold- And o'er his heart a shadow Fell as he found No spot of ground That looked like Eldorado. And, as his strength Failed him at length, He met a pilgrim shadow- "Shadow," said he, "Where can it be- This land of Eldorado?" "Over the Mountains Of the Moon, Down the Valley of the Shadow, Ride, boldly ride," The shade replied- "If you seek for Eldorado!" - Edgar Allan Poe
Sam is the hero of LotR. You don't know the name because like a real hero he doesn't need recognition nor does he know how incredible his deeds truly were.
It's been nearly 3 month since I last said how much I like the editing. I thinks it's about time again, great job
"Apparently you CAN empty a lake with buckets" best epiphany ever.
Well since its the conquistadors we're talking about I'm sure they could have gotten the native populations to do many impressive things given enough time and...well.. lets call it... "motivation"...
Excellent script, Ilze. Thank you. And thank you Simon, for the reading, I really enjoyed this one.
Just started the video, and so happy see another hour + video. Fact boy doing the holy work of keeping people distracted from their problems 🙌
I just found my old Gameboy advance going thru my boxes Simon. Found pokemon red as well and started a playthrough. Already got my Charmander evolved to Charmeleon
Simon needs to watch The Emperor's New Groove so that he can pronounce Cuzco
He could also do the llama dance!
My city was founded (1561) by a spaniard in an atempt to expand the spanish territories to the east and was used as a base to search for the Paitití. With the new discoveries of the civilizations in the amazon forest now we know that he was actually really close.
I visited Columbia last May. We went to Guatavita and the Museo Del Oro in Bogotá, it was really fascinating. You can see where they dug out the side of the crater of the lake and the water level still hasn’t recovered since all of the drainage happened. The Muiscas had some very interesting practices around the lake and the isolation of the new chief took place over many years. The Columbians that we met are fiercely proud of their heritage and ancestors. While they are obviously descended from both the local populations and the Spanish, they refer to the Spanish as “them” and to the native people as “we” because they recognize that so many people are descended from women who were r*ped by the Spanish but were raised by their tribes. As a Canadian, I would never for a second refer to myself as being part of the Native peoples - my ancestors were invaders and did great harm. Here, it would be insulting of me to state that I was anything other than a native to Canada as opposed to a Native Canadian. So it was interesting to meet people who are so entwined with both parts of their bloodlines. Also, the figurine of the raft is quite small which makes the details so much more impressive. Their gold work was incredibly intricate and I have seen a lot of ancient metal work in my time. I would 100% recommend visiting. Come for El Dorado, stay for the actual history and culture.
How can you have such an appreciation for the history but not be able to spell Colombia 😂
*Ilze:* Everyone and their canary has heard about El Dorado, the city of Gold.
*Simon:* I've never heard of El Dorado...
*Ilze:* Everyone and their canary except of course Simon has heard about El Dorado, the city of Gold.
thank you Ilze
"Pimp-ass cutlery" is now my new favorite phrase. 😂😂😂😂😂
Imagine the translator "they think there is a city made of gold. I know it's completely stupid, just point further down the river and we will be on our way" 🤣
A+ video!
The story, the research, the visuals, the analysis...it is so well done it is even hard to express in words.
I adore long form videos. Very relaxing to just put it on and listen. :)
Thank you for the effort!
A ship carrying a giant golden boulder once capsized in Kootenay Lake. Loosing the boulder to the depths. It remains unfound, but its legend still tantalizes Kootenay folk to this day.
Thanks so much for all your amazing work Simon and friends! Love waking up on a fresh morning to a myriad of simon videos. :) top bloke keep it up!
I can't for the ultra compilation of all of Simon's channels, which one day will reach a length that is unwatchable in a human lifetime. Still not infinite, but it might as well be.
When is Simon going to have time to record more than a lifetime work of videos? Maybe his son can take over the business (LOL, reference to his comments in another video - forget which).
@@whom382 in the future the AI version of Simon will keep producing this ludicrous amount of content
I just got my bachelors in archaeology and this summer I'm going to a field school on Bonaire island to excavate shipwrecks. I"m so excited, I hope I find something interesting. My grandpa said we are Yaqui and Aztec, it would be cool to find some of my peoples stolen items.
That...would....be...EPIC.
Good luck!
Maybe keep a daily account of your adventure there.
That gold nugget weighing 36lbs. is worth $1,076,544 at today's spot price of $1,869 per oz. And yes, you can get significantly more for it being in one big chunk like that if it's natural because museums and collectors will buy them.
Most natural gold deposits found nowadays are about 1 to 2 oz. per ton of dirt processed.
I'm wondering how much gold washed down the Colorado River in acciant times. They found a few nuggets that size just laying above ground in the desert.
@@Emprivan also old mines where the pay dirt was not processed properly. Id be interested knowing the amount of gold that has been "missed" by dredging or running over sluece boxes. I bet its impressive
@@mattt525 I would guess in general, up to 50% but that is placer/dust and maybe slags and tailings. I mean recovery would be expencive for most. Finding some exposed vien or decomosing rock thats just laying on the surface with pounds of gold as a nugget. Also you could find meteorites that big, worth more than gold. And that kind of gold follows fault lines/volcanic caldera interfaces. So I would say all those easy exposed areas in mex down into south america are still there. Like where rivers once flowed millions of years ago and a road crew cut thru it, workers never noticed.
You're right Simon the last 10-20 mins is the best part of these videos!
There is an awesome movie of Aguirre, it’s called "Aguirre, the wrath of God“ by Werner Herzog. Great movie 👌🏼
The thing I find fascinating about gold, is that all the gold found on Earth was formed within a supernova or a collision of stars. Pretty cool when you think about it.
Wow Trinidad mentioned in a Fact Boi video😮… love from a long time fan from Trinidad and Tobago!!!!! 🇹🇹🇹🇹🇹🇹 We have a town here also called El Dorado, not sure if we got it from this myth.
I need "Humans gonna human" on a tshirt 😂
Has anyone ever suggested a video on Cargo Cults? It is a fascinating look into how myths can be created very quickly.
It always surprises me that people around the world value the same thing. Even before first contact
I've always thought this was extremely interesting. I've never cared much for gold or silver. But I decided to buy some gold/silver bars/coins a year ago just for a novelty thing and christmas gifts for my employees. Nothing huge I promise. But the first time I held a 5oz silver bar I was honestly awestruck. Then I bought a 1/4 ounce Gold kangaroo and I'm hooked. The weight is what gets me its sooooo dense I can hardly believe it. And honestly beautiful 😍 I give out 5 oz bars for Christmas gifts now. And every time a person holds a silver bar or gold piece they are in almost disbelief. Now I understand why people are amazed by these two metals.
Ouuu shiny, I value this, hotdang monkey brains
Simons gonna find more riches from this El Dorado story than anyone who ever went searching for it. Well deserved! Our UA-cam conquistador! There are many more channel ideas just a little further south…keep scrolling
Gaily bedight,
A gallant knight,
In sunshine and in shadow,
Had journeyed long,
Singing a song,
In search of Eldorado.
Episode idea: The quest for the philosopher's stone
The "elixir of life" might be better, since that would encompass talking about the "philosopher's stone" by necessity. It's a red-colored stone, that produces the elixir of life.....the "elixir of life" was mercury, the ore of which is the red-colored rock called Cinnabar.
Both. Both are good
Didn't Hagrid take it for safekeeping?
@@Vaeldarg😢
@@matthewfitzpatrick4290 it was the sorcerer’s stone if you’re in the United States 😂
Ilze's writing is awesome filled with many gems.
Man I've hearing yo voice all day. Keep it up. The content feels endless.
3:50 - Chapter 1 - The story of el dorado
7:20 - Chapter 2 - The origins of a myth
13:15 - Chapter 3 - The riches of peru & mexico
24:45 - Chapter 4 - Europe goes on a southamerican tour
27:10 - Chapter 5 - Let's find that lake
32:50 - Chapter 6 - Let's split the party
35:45 - Chapter 7 - The madman in the jungle
49:40 - Chapter 8 - The modern search for el dorado
51:50 - Chapter 9 - The truth, was el dorado real ?
1:02:50 - Wrap up
PS: 10:50 , i think you are referencing *Crazy Stories of Ancient Gods Being Douchebags*
The real reason for the gold raft not leaving home is that there was once another that was lost when the ship it was on went down in flames on its way to loan to Germany in the 1950's. The remaining raft is forbidden to leave Bogota for that reason. I saw The Gold of Eldorado exhibition in London in 1978 as a young teen. It's always stuck with me - amazing craftsmanship.
"It's not good when the English come anywhere" I love it
Admitting the British museum stole their artifacts. Perfect fact boy, 100% true
Perhaps the most fucked up part about the Spanish stealing Peruvian gold is that when the shipwreck of the Mercedes, that contained huge quantities of stolen gold, was discovered both Spain and Peru entered claims.
Spain ended up with the gold.
Fun little rabbit hole: Why has gold been the standard for currency across basically all of human history? Well, if you want any sort of standardized currency, you don't want it to be something that someone can just make down the street, so it can't be something synthesized (paper currency only represents value, it doesn't actually have value, as opposed to hard currency). So that leaves elements. Obviously it can't be a gas. Water evaporates. That leaves metals, but it can't be a metal that corrodes. That pretty much leaves silver, gold, platinum, and other platinum-like metals (osmium, iridium, palladium). The last category wasn't even discovered until the early 1800's, Platinum is too rare. That leaves gold and silver as basically the default for "thing which is common enough that almost everyone on Earth knows what it is, will withstand almost all corrosion, and yet is rare enough that you can't just pick it up off the street."
So that's why almost every society in human history has used gold as a standard on which to base value.
But why gold & not silver, out of those 2?
Simon looking down on cultural mytholgy makes me love to think in a couple hundred to thousand years, people will be scratching their heads in disbelief that people actually subjected themselves to Simon's shows as entertainment. They will remark on how outlandish and insane it is compared to beliefs and past times of their world. Whenever Simon remarks "the past is the worst" they will either burst out in laughter at the irony or shiver in dear at what THAT must have been like comparatively.
I love Star Wars… the reference made me smile haha
The Irish used to be forest dwelling people until the English came and cut down roughly 97% of the ancient forest to build churches and palaces and ships as their own ancient forest was protected for the king. Ireland has the lowest percentage coverage of ancient forest in the whole if Europe.
If it makes you feel better, Simon, my husband's grandfather actually did take the opportunity he had to get off a burning warship. He was the WW2 equivalent to a Navy Seal (UDT), which makes it even more amusing.
On the subject of taking your chances swimming if a gunpowder store caught fire on a ship you were on, as an ex-sailor myself, that is probably a bad bet. We someone go overboard once that wasn't immediately noticed. She went topside during helicopter operations, when the aft watch is stood down so the helo can take off or land, and went over the side. Whether it was suicide or an accident is still anyone's guess but she definitely shouldn't have been up there. Anyway, we realized she was missing about an hour later and went back looking for her, we didn't find her alive, and found her body about 24 hours later. The ocean is really, really, really big. Even if there is someone looking for you, your chances of surviving in it are slim. Your chances of finding a shore in it are even slimmer. Unless shore is already in sight and you know the currents in that area, you are honestly better off taking your chances on the ship.
Sailors are very, very well trained at putting out fires. A fire in the ammo mag is actually one of the simulated casualties you have to respond to just to make it out of boot camp, and you are going to redo a drill like that every week (way more than that if you are actually a firefighter) until you get out. If you are one of those sailors, you know what to do, and if you aren't, you can trust that they know what to do. It's definitely a better place to put that trust than the chance of you washing up somewhere instead of dying of hypothermia and dehydration miles away from the nearest land.
"We got a problem with all these golds!
"What's the problem?"
"It wasn't enough!"
"How much is enough?"
"NEVERRRRRRR"
Every time i hear stories about this, it reminds me of the 80's cartoon "The Mysterious Cities of Gold", it was cool and still is, i loved it.
Simon a video idea that might be interesting is WHY there is a universal human interest in gold and silver.
I second that idea.
I wonder if it was always like that....
Actually, both of those are used in this music video (which I have probably seen 30 times).
ua-cam.com/video/xVkU8dDSC9w/v-deo.html
The Washington monument was capped with a pyramid of aluminum when it was completed in the 1880’s.
And I can't help but feel this growing pit of dread as expedition after expedition makes off down the rivers like a deadly disease making its way through a body...
Crazy how when you actually listen to the people living in an area, who have been living in that area for a long time, you find things out. Wow.
"I miss a lot. It's the nature of making videos that aren't infinite in length." - Simon
Making infinite youtube channels, on the other hand...
I wonder how many of the treasure hunters now a days just say screw it and melt it down and just sell it for the gold and silver value. You might not make as much but you would be able to sell all the gold and silver. Also I don't think very many of them are worried about destroying history, the ones that do care do it the legal way and just get the 10-20% of the appraised value.
I just listened to the podcast version & it was brilliant as always Ilza & Simon. Ilza, I think you need your own series about mythbusting
People should remember that back in those days, what the conquistadors did was no different from what every other culture did. Conquer or be conquered. It’s still the same in the modern era, just done in a more “civilized” way.
Ilsa with a banger once again.
Today I learned that two Spanish explorers named Quarters and Bizarro once invaded a Costco. Nice pronunciation, Simon! 😂
I wish I could explain how hard the random screaming of "Where is Harry Potter's castle" made me laugh. Thank you Simon
Simon- "Yeah, but... human's gonna human." Priceless! :D
5:22 - for such a smart guy, you get a lot of small details wrong. Aluminum was never rare. The ore (bauxite) is everywhere. The high price of it was due to the difficulty and incredible amounts of energy in turning the ore into usable aluminum.
It would be fascinating to hear a DTU on Harold Lasseter and his gold reef in Central Australia (Lasseters Reef).
If a person is determined enough they can drain lakes and move mountains.
Just don’t let them drain mountains and move lakes.
I grew up watching the Mysterious Cities of Gold. A French / Japanese collaboration animation that had me hooked on central and South American cultures as they weaved facts into the fiction. After each episode they would go into detail on the realities of what was seen in the show. I learnt a lot about Mayans, Aztecs, Olmec's, and Incans in research after the series was over.
There's an Eldorado Park in South Africa... It's quite interesting.
My theory is that Simon is secretly a huge fantasy fan who pretends to hate it. He let it slip, pretending not to know who Samwise was but then quickly naming the exact source material.
I think I saw somewhere that the wheel just wasn't useful in the rough terrain, and that's why they didn't use it, but small wheels on toys or decorations or something have been found.
The Mayan calendar in particular was based on wheels, with wheels nested inside other wheels to determine dates.
You don't need wheels if you have pack animals and boats.
Also, given that they lacked horses and oxen, not sure how much use carts would be, without anything to pull them
Using wheels for transport requires large quantity bronze metal working and the tribes in the americas didn’t do that in large quantities (ie they made toys for the upper society but not tools for everyone)
I’m not sure I buy the rough terrain argument. There is plenty of flat land in the Americas that was occupied by many cultures. There are also many cultures in mountainous terrain or jungled terrain that used the wheel. (Think Greece or the khmer in 1700bc)
@@NickSteffen wheeled carts and wagons were mostly used to deliver goods long Distances In Europe and Asia. Merchants knew that they could travel further and get better prices at places their goods seemed exotic. Many of the cultures and locations in the Americas were largely self contained city states or smaller tribal communities that were by and large self sufficient. They didn't have the need to export or import goods from their neighbors. Trade in pre-Columbian America was fairly limited with most trade consisting not of food or natural resources but of labor, either forced or otherwise. The economies of these independent nations and people's were very self contained. That's one reason they groups like the Toltec fell from power- bad weather caused droughts and famine, and the limited trade meant they couldn't import what they needed and their enemies knew all thru had to do was wait them out as they starved and fell apart. I'm over simplifying of course, but the limited trade was a bigger influence on the lack of wheeled vehicles than most other factors IMHO.
@@Scudboy17 Sounds reasonable, but I would say there’s one flaw. Even if there wasn’t long distance trade, local trade benefits massively from carts. Farmers for instance need to get their food into town. Carrying a reasonable amount of farmed goods even a few miles without a cart is a Herculean undertaking. You can make similar statements about tree cutting, mining and construction. There is almost no part of society that isn’t touched by a cart even when restricted to short distances. It would dramatically decrease the cost of almost every good. So i don’t think it was lack of necessity.
Additionally, a lot of ancient carts weren’t very durable (Ie an axel sitting between two pegs under the cart. Simple friction would quickly wear it down so they were likely only good for short distances anyways. This is a big part of why ancient societies tend to develop on coasts and rivers. A large canoe or raft can carry more than a cart and is faster making it much better for long distance trade.
This description feels like a city that had a lot of brass. Brass is a metal that shines golden, but can be made in abundance. If you are surrounded by enemies, having a metal that says "i'm rich, attempt at your own peril" while being very cheap, would most likely work.
The other option i can think of: Sunlight. At certain angles, Sun can and does bathe the whole area in a way that it looks like it's filled with gold.
Id LOVE to one of your writers Simon. What an awesome job!
I recommend that if you want to learn more about the spanish conquest of the new world you check out the Fall of Civilizations podcast by Paul M.M. Cooper, he did one on the fall of the Aztecs and one on the Inca. That's why I knew about the Inca civil war and how dummy much gold he had. Atawalpa did fill a room with gold that wasn't even from his own treasury. Also Pezzaro was illiterate.
As a scubadiver in a very wreck-rich region (literally muscets lying around, old merchant ships, centuries old porcelain and the like just laying there) I adhere by the rules: "take only photos, leave only bubbles". However, seeing people preparing for a dive with god damn powertools tells me not everyone does. :D
BSAA Flight CS59 the final leg of that flight has an interesting story behind it.
The plane was called "Stardust" and it crashed in unusual and possible strange circumstances.
The final transmission from the plane was the Morse code "STENDEC" which was repeated twice as the tower sort confirmation on a previous Morse code message. There isn't consensus on what this means, There are "Tin Foil Hat" theories about a "Kings Messenger" on board.
There was a good BBC Horizon doc about 15-20 years ago about this, about this time the glacier the plane crashed into started to eject parts of the plane.
35:00 a “Pedro” and a “Lope” on the same expedition that ended up being one of the most brutal? Coincidence? I don’t think so. Pedro Lopez was there! Haha
The Road to El Dorado, with Simon Whistler as Chel.
I thought El Dorado was Uncharted
I saved this video for tonight shift, got 2 hrs remaining so a one hour video will soon pass the time then home.. thanks Simon 😊
I’m quite sure one of Simon’s many creative writers could find a way to write about sky trumpets.
Fun fact more recently theyve found a city in the jungle on a mesa with white stone/marble structures but the issue is no one has entered the area in hundreds of years since it's right in the middle of one of the most dangerous areas of the jungle, one of the areas where literally every inch if land is covered in poisonous snakes, spiders and other animals and plants. Like that gap near Panama where it's impossible to build a road without people dying
Im glad you covered some of the cultures at the end.
Hey Simon, if you're fascinated by the overlap between myth and history, look over at Overly Sarcastic Productions and the recent (ish) videos on Minoan and Mycanean (sp?) Greece. How the myths of the Trojan War related to the Bronze Age Collapse, and how a mysterious, aggressive civilization with massive palaces with bull decorations led to the minotaur...
Thanks, this is a blast to hear your humor and sarcasm
moctezuma kept forking out gold because he quite literally thought the Spanish were the return of Quetzalcoatl and his coaterie. not Quetzalcoatl the deity but Quetzalcoatl the man who was a Toltec Ruler who left on a boat headed east centuries before the Aztec settled in lake texcoco. to the Aztecs the Toltecs were a divine race and we know very little about them because the Aztecs raided all their ruins in antiquity.
Thanks for reminding me to watch goldmember again. Simply the best Bond-esque movie ever made. " I luuvv Goooold"
Oh god! Not those aweful new world tigers!!! From Detroit right?
1st of all, shout out to Ilze, she's my favorite DtU writer. Definitely the best at getting Simon riled up with her scripts. Brava, madam. You've achieved or maybe even surpassed Danny in getting the Factboi worked up.
2nd, Petition for a video where Simon reacts to one of his videos after Sam on Brain Blaze or Jen here have gotten their hands on it. I would love to see what Simon makes of how efficiently and hilariously they utterly brutalize him without having to say a word. What legends.
She is absolutely his worst writer. By far.
@@BryceHomier17 I was paying someone a compliment because I enjoyed their work. You didn't need to say anything. Why do you choose to go out of your way to be a dick?
The suffering and destruction of the people and the cultures is the worst thing - but also, think of all the art and other artifacts that were just melted, lost forever.
38:08 Dude is big brain. He saw what they did to they guy in charge.
El Dorado, the place that came into being after the natives realized that the Spanish were after gold. They then made it up to keep the Spanish away
Hi Simon! It is me, the Pie vendor whom you met on the way to the fair. Do you not remember? You still owe me a penny. But in lieu of that you can take the local bus, or Uber, to the Josipov district in the city where you currently reside & take some photos of the "Old-New Synagogue" wherein (allegedly) rests the mysterious Golem. No need to make videos of mythical golden cities halfway across the world when you have a big Unknown to Decode right in your own back yard! Also, I approve of your decision to make Big Glasses & Beard your signature look. I have watched some old TopTenz videos from years ago & you look[ed] like a boiled owl.