Sir Walter Ralegh And The Quest For El Dorado

Recounts the adventurous life of Ralegh the English explorer who led many expeditions to the new world.

This work tells of Nicholl's trip up the rivers of Venezuela, following the route of Sir Walter Raleigh on his search for Eldorado. Nicholl extends his journey into the beautiful tropical forests of Paragna and Canaima where he meets adventurers searching for gold and diamonds.

A biography of the adventurous Englishman who explored America, attempted to establish a colony on Roanoke Island, and searched for gold in South America.

The transporting account of an obsessive quest to find El Dorado, set against the backdrop of Elizabethan political intrigue and a competition with Spanish conquistadors for the legendary city’s treasure As early as 1530, reports of El Dorado, a city of gold in the South American interior, beckoned to European explorers. Whether there was any truth to the stories remained to be seen, but the allure of unimaginable riches was enough to ensnare dozens of would-be heroes and glory hounds in the desperate hunt. Among them was Sir Walter Raleigh: ambitious courtier, confidant to Queen Elizabeth, and, before long, El Dorado fanatic. Entering the Elizabethan court as an upstart from a family whose days of nobility were far behind them, Raleigh used his military acumen, good looks, and sheer audacity to scramble into the limelight. Yet that same swagger proved to be his undoing, as his secret marriage to a lady-in-waiting enraged Queen Elizabeth and landed him in the Tower of London. Between his ensuing grim prospects at court and his underlying lust for adventure, the legend of El Dorado became an unwavering siren song that hypnotized Raleigh. On securing his release, he journeyed across an ocean to find the fabled city, gambling his painstakingly acquired wealth, hard-won domestic bliss, and his very life. What awaited him in the so-called New World were endless miles of hot, dense jungle packed with deadly flora and fauna, warring Spanish conquistadors and Indigenous civilizations, and other unforeseen dangers. Meanwhile, back at home, his multitude of rivals plotted his demise. Paradise of the Damned, like Keith Thomson’s critically acclaimed Born to Be Hanged, brings this story to life in lush and captivating detail. The book charts Raleigh’s obsessive search for El Dorado—as well as the many doomed expeditions that preceded and accompanied his—providing not only an invaluable history but also a gripping narrative of traveling to the ends of the earth only to realize, too late, that what lies at home is the greatest treasure of all.

Sir Walter Ralegh's account of his 1595 expedition in search of the fabled empire of El Dorado was an immediate publishing success and is one of the most important pieces of Elizabethan travel literature. This edition presents the annotated texts of an unpublished copy of Ralegh's draft of The Discoverie of the Large, Rich, and Bewtifvl Empyre of Gviana and the subsequent printed versions. It demonstrates how the manuscript was altered for publication, to focus its appeal to investors in gold mines for which Ralegh had very little evidence.

In this engaging book, the oft-told narrative of Sir Walter Raleigh is blown apart through the chance discovery of hitherto neglected correspondence in a Swedish archive. In place of a deceitful and scheming Raleigh, Sellin paints a picture of man executed on trumped-up charges by those hoping to profit from the very gold mine they claimed he had invented. It will be of interest not only to specialists of the period, but to anyone with a sense of the romance of history.

Sir Walter Raleigh streaked across the Elizabethan heavens like a bright, shining star. Often regarded as a true Renaissance man—that is, a man gifted with many talents and abilities—he lived life to the fullest. Born to adventure, Raleigh parlayed a sharp mind and a yen for prestige and power into enough living for a dozen lesser men. As soldier, swashbuckler, writer, historian, poet, explorer, businessman, and more, he rose in favor at the court of Elizabeth I—England's Good Queen Bess—and made history as he wrote it. Raleigh fought courageously for England in France, Ireland, and elsewhere at sea. He founded the first American colony at Roanoke Island in the New World, introduced tobacco and the potato to Ireland, and searched for the golden city of El Dorado in South America. At the peak of his fame—some say infamy—he knelt down as a commoner and arose as a knight.