STEALTH EDUCATION
title refers to a Muiscan ritual in which a new Cacique or chief was initiated by covering his body with gold dust which he washed off by diving into lake Gua- tavita, located just north of present-day Bogota, Colombia. Thus the searches for El Dorado and the Seven Cities of Cibola were actually triggered as ex- ploratory expeditions to find the sup- posed treasure-laden Cities of Gold.
Figure 3. Distribution of Volcanoes and Earthquake epicenters in Central America- After Richard Rhoda and Tony Burton, January 10, 2010 – Figure 2-2 in Geo-Mexico, the geography and dynamics of modern Mexico, Paperback available through
Amazon.net.
The location of major cities and ports in the New World were heavily influ- enced by the character of the North Atlantic Gyre. Since this was an era of sailing ships, movement of ships and supplies was slow by today’s standards, about one and a half knots. With the aid of current flow in the southern side of the North Atlantic Gyre, that speed could be increased by up to two knots, reducing the transit time btween Spain to the new world by up to 50%, as long as they stayed within the latitudes af- fected by the current systems (see fig- ure 6, page 44.)
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Figure 4. Progression of Cocos Plate movement under Central America (After Luca Ferrari, 2004, Slab detachment control on mafic volcanic pulse and mantle heterogeneity in central Mexico: Geology, Vol. 32, Pgs. 77-80.
Most of the area claimed by Spain is characterized by ac- tive volcanoes and is rich in both gold and silver ore bodies. The initial conquest of the area was driven by discovery of stockpiles of gold and silver accumulated over centuries by the Aztecs, Inca, Muisca, Quimbaya, Sinu and other indig- enous tribes.
Most of the Spanish expeditions into North America were actually attempts to discover additional gold reserves, stimu- lated by mistranslations of “El Dorado” as a “City of Gold” instead of the proper translation “The Golden Man”. This
www.aipg.org
Thus the searches for El Dorado and the Seven Cities of Cibola were actu- ally triggered as exploratory expe- ditions to find the supposed trea- sure-laden Cities of Gold.
This made the establishment of port cities at impact points of the cur- rent systems very important and led to the establishment of major bases at
Cartagena, Colombia and Havana, Cuba in the Americas and Cadiz, Spain on the European leg of the journey (see figure 7, page 37). In like manner, Pacific ports, e.g. Panama, City and Acapulco, provided favorable locations for transhippment of Incan silver to the relatively narrow Isthmus of Panama and then to the Caribbean for trans-loading at Porto Bello, Panama. The city of Vera Cruz, Mexico was established as a transhipment port for silver from western Mexico to Havana, which was the primary supply center and departure point for the treasure fleets enroute to Spain.
Oct.Nov.Dec 2021 • TPG 35
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