Gold country
As a land of gold is called a mythological place where gold is said to occur in large quantities. The best-known gold countries include Eldorado and Ophir , the latter could be identical to punt .
Well-known gold countries
In ancient times, larger amounts of gold were mostly obtained from Africa , which is why Nubia ( nub Egyptian "gold" or "gold country") got its name. Most of the ancient gold countries, such as Ophir or Punt, were therefore often located in Africa. At the beginning of modern times and the voyages of discovery, America attracted many European gold seekers due to the wealth of gold of the indigenous population. Various goldland myths quickly spread among them, of which the Eldorado myth enjoyed great popularity until the late modern period.
- Eldorado : The most famous fabulous gold country is Eldorado. It is said to be in the interior of northern South America . The legend is based on a Muisca myth, in which the young ruler always sacrifices gold in a lake.
- Piru : The gold country Piru should be in the west of South America. The conquistadors tried to locate it from Panama to Peru .
- Curicuri : The gold country Curicuri should be in the Amazon region . In 1540 , locals told the team of the Gonzalo Pizarro expedition about a gold country on the huge river.
- Cibola and Quivira : Francisco Vásquez de Coronado started an expedition to the gold city of Cibola and the gold country of Quivira in 1540. He looked for it from the western United States to Kansas .
- Punt : A goldland punt appears in ancient Egyptian inscriptions and should have been located east of Egypt. Punt is often associated with Ophir. Today there is a de facto regime in Somalia in East Africa called Puntland .
- Ophir : In the Old Testament the gold country Ophir is mentioned. Maybe it was in Ethiopia or the Middle East .