Deluded by a legend, Francisco Orellana and Gonzalo Pizarro departed from Ecuador in 1541 in a disastrous expedition towards the Amazon Basin; they did not find any gold or lost cities but Orellana became the first person to navigate the entire Amazon River. What were they seeking?
Amazon River that reminded De Orellana of the mythical female Amazon warriors from the ancient Hellenic culture in Greece. Gonzalo Pizarro set off in 1541 to explore east of Quito into the South American interior in search of "El Dorado", the "city of gold" and La Canela, the "valley of cinnamon". He was accompanied by his second-in-command Francisco de Orellana. After , the Coca River joined the Napo River (at a point now known as Puerto Francisco de Orellana); the party stopped for a few weeks to build a boat just upriver from this confluence. They continued downriver through an uninhabited area,
Francisco de Orellana Orellana's first exploration. Francisco de Orellana Francisco de Orellana (; 1511 – November 1546) was a Spanish explorer and conquistador. He completed the first known navigation of the entire length of the Amazon River, which initially was named "Rio de Orellana." He also founded the city of Guayaquil in what is now Ecuador. Orellana died during a second expedition on the Amazon. Born in Trujillo (various birth dates, ranging from 1490 to 1511, are still quoted by biographers), Orellana was a close friend, and possibly a relative of Francisco Pizarro, the Trujillo-born conquistador of Peru (his cousin, according to some