The claim
There’s billions of dollars worth of gold hidden in a secret city in a south American rain forest
During the 16th century the Spanish invaded large portions of south America and in doing so came up against the local civilisations. They fought against various tribes but no one caused them more trouble than the Incas of Peru who they fought for decades.
The Incas did not have gunpowder weapons like the Spanish did and were at a disadvantage when it came to open battles, but they were fierce warriors and used the jungle to their advantage and managed to keep the Spanish at bay for some time.
However in 1572 the Spanish captured the last known Inca city located in the Vilcabamba Valley. Upon entering the city they found that all its inhabitants had fled, along with their enormous stores of gold.
Its believed they went to a city hidden within the jungle called Paititi, which is said to be along the Brazil – Bolivia border or possibly in south – east Peru, though the Spanish never found the city. Within this hidden stronghold the Incas lived out the last of their days and never reestablished their territories and are believed to have generally died out, with the inhabitants of the city eventually leaving for some reason and the city falling into ruin, but what of the gold?
The best thing about gold as a treasure is that it doesn’t rust, which means no matter how its kept it will never be naturally destroyed, so it must still be out there “somewhere”.
The city itself would most likely have had some kind of vault type building, most probably an underground chamber of some sort where the gold would have been kept, and with such a religious and suspicious people, if the hiding spot of the treasure was “cursed” the locals most likely wouldn’t have touched it with the very real possibility of those that knew where it was taking their knowledge to the grave.
Other theories suggest the last people who knew where it was died during the end of their city, which could have been caused by anything from starvation or disease to an attack by another tribe, and even if some survivors knew exactly where it was they weren’t a people known to keep maps, and the description of “its surrounded by jungle in that direction” wasn’t exactly telling someone the location.
Various efforts to find the city have been conducted since the late 1500’s shortly after the official defeat of the Inca people, with many of these expeditions turning up some interesting finds.
In 1971, 3 members of a French – American team were found dead within the jungle after getting lost, as did another explorer who set off in 1997 who’s body has never been found and is believed to be somewhere in the unexplored areas of Bolivia.
The expedition have turned up numerous new Inca sites, such as some large ruins located east of lake Titicaca, and various smaller sites like small pyramid type structures and isolated settlement ruins and sites of worship, but as of yet no one has actually found anything that could be the city of Paititi, so why do people even think it exists?
Reasons for the existence of Paititi:
- The Incas chose to desert their last known city in Vilcabamba Valley as they couldn’t defend it against the Spanish and decided to run instead, which means they must have went to a known location. A tribe simply does not gather all its wealth and belongings, head out into the middle of the jungle and hope for the best.
- A missionary names Andres Lopez wrote a report from his time in Peru and described in some depth a city heavy with gold and jewels located in the middle of the rain forest, that the natives referred to as Paititi. There is a conspiracy theory that Lopez informed the pope of his discovery and that the exact location of the city is known to the Vatican but kept as an internal secret.
- There are numerous mentions within Spanish reports from the 16th century about locals talking about a city called Paititi which is said to contain great wealth, though they either didn’t know the exact location themselves or simply wouldn’t say.
- The gold has never been found and though this isn’t proof of a secret city, ancient civilisations of south America were known to be very rich with gold, which was often traded with other tribes and given to the Spanish before they were at war with each other.
Though many expedition have been conducted over the years and various ancient Inca sites have been discovered, its safe to say that the city of Paititi remains hidden as does its gold, and because of the number of deaths of amateur explorers trying to find it and the increasing danger of the area due to illegal activities, it doesn’t look like its going to be found any time soon.
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