In late 1541 Francisco de Orellana and 57 conquistadors began the first documented journey by Europeans down the Amazon River. Beginning their expedition in the west from Quito, the party had to travel the entire length of the river to its mouth in order to escape the jungle with their lives. Friar Gaspar de Carvajal will chronicle the experience. He writes about starvation, attack, massive cities, poison arrows, cannibals, and fighting the legendary Amazonian women. Nearly 100 years later the Portuguese will travel the river in their own adventure but their accounts don’t write about the same glory as Carvajal. The jungle they move through is largely uninhabited. So was the Friar’s description a lie or is there another explanation?
For the 20th century the majority of scholars believed that Carvajal’s account was mostly fiction but in this episode I work to examine the possibility of what could have been there. The episode compares the accounts of the first explorations to modern evidence and works to answer the two most important questions on the topic as proposed by UCLA’s David Wilkinson:
1. “If there were Amazonian cities, what became of them?”
2. “If there were Amazonian cities, how could they possibly have been sustained?”
Wilkinson provided two answers for each of the questions. “recurrent catastrophes” and “exemplary agronomy,” respectively.
This episode is part one in a multi-part series on the Amazon Jungle. Previously, I told Cavajal’s story on the first written account of traveling the river. In the next episodes, we will look at the legendary Amazonian warrior women.
But what do you think was in the Amazon? Comment below.
Resources
America Before: The Key to Earth’s Lost Civilization by Graham Hancock (book)
Amazonian Civilization? By David Wilkinson 4/1/2016 scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/v...
River of Darkness by Buddy Levy (book)
The Discovery of the Amazon: According to the Account of Friar Gaspar De Carvajal and Other Documents (Book)
Relación del nuevo descubrimiento del famoso río Grande que descubrió por muy gran ventura el capitán Francisco de Orellana ("Account of the recent discovery of the famous Grand river which was discovered by great good fortune by Captain Francisco de Orellana") SPANISH VERSION blogs.elpais.com/papeles-perd...
UNCOVERING AMAZONIA editions.lib.umn.edu/openrive...
Francisco de Orellana en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franc...
Gaspar de Carvajal en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaspa...
Amazon Jungle Once Home to Millions More Than Previously Thought
By Erin Blakemore
www.nationalgeographic.com/hi...
Archaeologists find vast network of Amazon villages laid out like the cosmos
By Laura Geggel published December 09, 2020
www.livescience.com/clock-fac...
Searching for the Amazon’s Hidden Civilizations: Statistical model predicts signs of agriculture in the rainforest. www.science.org/content/artic...
What did the Amazon Look Like Before European Contact: New findings stir debate in archeological circles www.science.org/content/artic...
Exclusive: Laser Scans Reveal Maya "Megalopolis" Below Guatemalan Jungle by Tom Clynes www.nationalgeographic.com/hi...
Betty Meggers en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betty...
9 июн 2022