Ancient Wonders of the World

The Seven Cities of Gold

Legend once said that there existed cities that had more gold than anyone could fathom. When the Moors conquered Spain in the middle of the 12th century, seven bishops fled the city in fear of religious relics becoming sacked by the Muslims. They fled Spain to far away lands and founded the fabled cities. The cities began to prosper. The stories of these rich cities began to fuel expeditions in the hopes of acquiring riches beyond anyone’s wildest dreams. Rumors began to speculate that seven cities existed for each one of the bishops that had managed to escape. Many expeditions had been led to find these cities, but to no avail. One of the last expeditions had found that the existence of such cities may have been fed off of the lies of an explorer, Marcos de Niza, who had said there was a place where people had houses built of gold and ate from dishes of silver and gold. Many anthropologists believe that the adobe houses had mica flakes, which might have given the appearance of a gold like city. But whether or not these cities really existed is anyone’s guess.

Petra

Founded in the first century BC, this ancient city is isolated amongst the mountains of Jordan. It stems from the Latin word paetra, which literally means rock. It had remained unseen for thousands of years until 1812. The seclusion of this city not only allowed it to be naturally protected, but it controlled the main commercial routes for trade, as well as creating an artificial oasis. Because of flash floods, the Nabataeans used dams and water conduits to control the water. At one point, the population of Petra reached 20,000. When Rome began to gain power, it gobbled up the thriving city, and annexed it in AD 106. Two and a half centuries later, and earthquake would devastate the city and disrupt its water supply. Petra would not have the means to rebuild itself, and by AD 363, the wondrous city of the mountains would be abandoned.

The Legend of Inca Gold

The Llanganates mountain range of South America is rumored to have Inca gold hidden by Spanish conquistadors. In the 16th century, two warring half-brothers, Atahualpa and Huascar, were feuding over control of the Incan empire. Francisco Pizarro captured Atahualpa. Pizarro told Athualpa he could go free if he was capable of paying a ransom worth a roomful of gold. However, Pizarro ended up killing Atahualpa despite his paying for his freedom. And legend has it that the Spaniards hid the gold in a secret cave. Apparently 50 years after the Incan ruler’s death, a man named Valverde became rich after being led to the gold by his Indian bride. When he died, he left detailed instructions to the whereabouts of the lost treasure (the Derrotero de Valverde). Until the 1850’s the location of the gold became a cold trail. A botanist named Richard Spruce reportedly found the gold using a map made by a man named Atanasio Guzman. In 1886, a treasure hunter, Barth Blake went in search for the treasure following on the trails of Spruce. He reported that a thousand men could not possibly remove all the treasures of the Incas. So he took what he could, and reportedly disappeared overboard on a trip to New York. Many others have also died trying to find the lost treasures, traversing through the dangerous mountain ranges. Legend also says that the Incans threw much of the gold into a lake when they discovered the death of their leader.