Case file · Folklore / legend
Manuscript 512 and the lost city of Bahia
A Portuguese document dated 1753, kept in the National Library in Rio as Manuscript 512, describes explorers finding a ruined city with arches, statues and unknown inscriptions in the Bahian backlands.
1753 CE · -12.60, -41.40 · status: legend
The account
It was found in 1839 and published by the Historical and Geographic Institute. It inspired generations of searches, above all Percy Fawcett's, who called the city 'Z'. The point is placed in the Chapada Diamantina, where many searchers looked.
The sceptical view
No such city has been found. Historians read the text as a bandeirante tale of riches, possibly shaped by legends of lost mines.