The zipa used to cover his body in gold dust, and from his raft, he offered treasures to the Guatavita goddess in the middle of the sacred lake. This Muisca tradition became the origin of the legend of El Dorado. Muisca raft in the Gold Museum, Bogotá, ColombiaVotive objects found at the bottom of Lake Guatavita. British Museum[4]
Lake Guatavita (Spanish: Laguna Guatavita) is located in the Cordillera Oriental of the Colombian Andes in the municipality of Sesquilé in the Almeidas Province, Cundinamarca department of Colombia, 57 km (35 mi) northeast of Bogotá, the capital of Colombia.
The lake is circular and has a surface area of 19.8 hectares. The earlier theories of the crater's origin being a meteorite impact, volcanic cinder, or limestone sinkhole are now discredited. The most likely explanation is that it resulted from the dissolution of underground salt deposits from an anticline,[3] resulting in a kind of sinkhole.
There are hot springs nearby in the municipality of Sesquilé, which means "hot water" in the now-extinct language of Chibcha, once spoken by the local indigenous people, the Muisca.
Spanish colonizers and Conquistadors knew about the existence of a sacred lake in the Eastern Ranges of the Andes possibly as early as 1531. The lake was associated with indigenous rituals involving gold. However, the first conquistador to arrive at the actual location was Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada, possibly in June 1537, while on an expedition to the highlands of the Eastern Ranges of the Andes in search of gold. This brought the Spanish into first contact with the Muisca inhabiting the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, including around Lake Guatavita.
The lake is now a focus of ecotourism, and its association with the legend of El Dorado is also a major attraction.
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^ abDietz ,R.S.; McHone, J.F. (1972). "Laguna Guatavita: Not Meteoritic, Probably Salt Collapse Crater". Meteoritics. 7 (3): 303. Bibcode:1972Metic...7..303D. doi:10.1111/j.1945-5100.1972.tb00444.x.
LakeGuatavita (Spanish: Laguna Guatavita) is located in the Cordillera Oriental of the Colombian Andes in the municipality of Sesquilé in the Almeidas...
was constructed in Guatavita. In the GuatavitaLake the new zipa was inaugurated in rituals performed by the cacique of Guatavita, represented by the...
initiation rite, covered himself with gold dust and submerged himself in LakeGuatavita. A second location for El Dorado was inferred from rumors, which inspired...
the sacred LakeGuatavita and the later legend of El Dorado, as narrated by early Spanish chronicler Pedro Simón. Magdalena of Guatavita Noncetá Usaca...
place at LakeGuatavita. In this ritual, the new chief (zipa), who was aboard a raft and covered with gold dust, tossed gold objects into the lake as offerings...
and other treasures to the Guatavita goddess. To do so, the zipa covered himself with gold dust and washed it off in the lake while tossing gold trinkets...
worshipped their gods at sacred sites, both natural, such as LakeGuatavita, the Siecha Lakes and Lake Tota and constructed; the Sun and Moon Temples in respectively...
crowns and accompanied by music and dance, took place on a raft in LakeGuatavita, in the northern part of the flat Bogotá savanna. Accounts of such ceremonies...
exception to please the gods for good harvests and prosperity. LakeGuatavita, Guatavita, was the location where the new zipa would be inaugurated. It...
Kingdom Jordan River – River in West Asia which flows to the Dead Sea LakeGuatavita – Lake in Cundinamarca Department, Colombia Nile – Major river in northeastern...
Blanca Monster of Lake Tota Muisca religion Lake Guatavita, Lake Iguaque, Lake Suesca, Siecha LakesLake Tota - Bird Life International - accessed 02-05-2016...
committed suicide and infanticide by drowning herself and her son in sacred LakeGuatavita. In the times before the Spanish conquest of present-day Colombia, the...
his 1707 map that the Marañón "has its source on the southern shore of a lake that is called Lauricocha, near Huánuco." Fritz reasoned that the Marañón...
Chocó Cabo Marzo Ensenada de Utría Los Katíos Cundinamarca Chingaza LakeGuatavita Rocas de Suesca Guainía Atabapo River Cerros de Mavecure La Guajira...
Chocó Cabo Marzo Ensenada de Utría Los Katíos Cundinamarca Chingaza LakeGuatavita Rocas de Suesca Guainía Atabapo River Cerros de Mavecure La Guajira...
lake and named after the Muisca. Muisca religion, Bachué LakeGuatavita, Lake Tota, Siecha Lakes "Santuario de Fauna y Flora Iguaque" (in Spanish). Archived...
with gold and float out on a royal barge to the middle of the sacred LakeGuatavita, where he would offer up golden trinkets. This is widely believed to...
pictures the initiation ritual of the new zipa, that took place in LakeGuatavita. When the Spanish who resided in the coastal city of Santa Marta, founded...
Chocó Cabo Marzo Ensenada de Utría Los Katíos Cundinamarca Chingaza LakeGuatavita Rocas de Suesca Guainía Atabapo River Cerros de Mavecure La Guajira...
visitors per day is allowed. Liborio Zerda Muisca religion LakeGuatavita, Lake Iguaque, Lake Tota Google Maps Area Calculator Google Maps Elevation Finder...
an initiation rite, covered himself with gold dust and submerged in LakeGuatavita. The legends surrounding El Dorado changed over time, as it went from...
Chocó Cabo Marzo Ensenada de Utría Los Katíos Cundinamarca Chingaza LakeGuatavita Rocas de Suesca Guainía Atabapo River Cerros de Mavecure La Guajira...
situated not in LakeGuatavita as is currently accepted to have been the site of the inauguration of the new zipa, but in the Siecha Lakes in the Chingaza...
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