Case file · Folklore / legend
Raleigh's last expedition and San Thomé
Released from the Tower of London to find a gold mine in Guiana, Raleigh sent Lawrence Keymis up the Orinoco in 1617. The party attacked the Spanish post of San Thomé and Raleigh's son Wat was killed.
1617 CE · 8.29, -62.75 · status: official
The account
No mine was found. Keymis killed himself, and on Raleigh's return to England in 1618 he was executed under his old sentence, partly to appease Spain.
The sceptical view
A documented historical episode: the El Dorado dream had real political and human costs.