Case file · Folklore / legend
Philipp von Hutten and the Omagua
The German conquistador Philipp von Hutten, working for the Welser bankers in Venezuela, marched south across the llanos in 1541 and reported glimpsing a great city of the Omagua, rich in gold.
1541 CE · 2.57, -72.64 · status: legend
The account
Hutten's sighting, somewhere near the Guaviare river (the position here is approximate), fed the belief that a golden kingdom lay in the forests south of the Orinoco. He was murdered in 1546 before he could return.
The sceptical view
No such city has been found; large, dense settlements along rivers did exist, but nothing matching the golden capital of the legend.
Connections in the atlas
- Gonzalo Pizarro and the Land of Cinnamon
- Lope de Aguirre, 'the Wrath of God'
- Tupinambá migrants reach Chachapoyas