a place of very great wealth. Spanish travellers of the 16th century believed there was a place with very large amounts of gold and silver somewhere in South or Central America, which they called El Dorado, but they never found it. (Spanish: "The Golden") Legendary golden city sought by Spanish explorers in the New World. It was the fabulously wealthy land of a king who was said to have been covered with gold dust so many times that he was permanently gilded. Many Spanish and English expeditions in the Americas were sent in search of El Dorado. In 1540 Francisco Vazquez de Coronado ventured as far north as Kansas seeking the Seven Golden Cities of Cibola. Walter Raleigh searched for El Dorado in vain in South America, leading an expedition up the Orinoco River in 1595
{i} legendary city of riches in South America; city in Illinois (USA); town in Maryland (USA); town in Texas (USA); town in Oklahoma (USA); village in Ohio (USA)
A name given by the Spaniards in the 16th century to an imaginary country in the interior of South America, reputed to abound in gold and precious stones