In the late spring of 1925, an eccentric British explorer named Colonel Percy Fawcett set off into the steaming jungle of central Brazil.
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| 'Fawcett: into the unknown |
His goal was the mysterious Lost City of Z, an ancient civilisation that he believed to be hidden in the depths of the rainforest, hundreds of miles from anywhere.
His journey was to take him through the treacherous Matto Grosso, a vast tract of wilderness that had never been penetrated by any European explorer. It was a highly dangerous undertaking, for the jungle was known to be home to hostile and ferocious indigenous tribesmen.
Colonel Fawcett was prepared to take the risk. He was convinced that at the far side of this virgin land he would find the gilded ruins of Z, one of the great Brazilian cities of antiquity.
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| The Lost City of Z, as it might have been |
‘I expect the ruins to be monolithic in character, more ancient than the oldest Egyptian discoveries…’ he wrote in a letter. ‘The central place I call Z - our main objective - is in a valley surmounted by lofty mountains. The valley is about ten miles wide…’
Fawcett had learned about Z from an ancient map known as Manuscript 512; it purported to show the whereabouts of the city. The map had been drawn by a Portuguese adventurer named Joao da Silva Guimaraes who claimed to have visited the city in 1753.
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| The Brazilian jungle: the world's toughest terrain |
Fawcett knew that the jungle expedition would test him to the limits of his endurance. It would depend for its success ‘on the selection of a limited personnel, able, if need be, to do without transport under extremely trying conditions.’
To this end, there was to be very limited back-up support. The principal team was to consist of himself, his son Jack and another young Englishman called Raleigh Rimell. The lads were both in their early twenties. In addition, there were two Brazilian labourers, eight mules, two horses and a couple of dogs.
On 20 April, 1925, this small team set off into the jungle. Five weeks later, on reaching the last (and very remote) outpost of civilisation, Fawcett managed to telegraph a final message to his wife. He informed her that he was leaving behind his Brazilian labourers and the animals: henceforth, he and the two boys were on their own.
It was the last that was ever heard of Fawcett and his two companions. They vanished without trace, swallowed up by the immensity of the jungle.
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| Percy Fawcett, I presume: the disputed bones |
What had happened to them? Had they been killed by Indians? Were they living amongst cannibals? Had they indeed found the Lost City of Z?
More than 100 people have subsequently died trying to discover the fate of Colonel Percy Fawcett.
In 1927, the American explorer George Miller Dyott penetrated the jungle and claimed to have evidence that Fawcett had been killed by Aloique Indians.
More than two decades later, the Brazilian adventurer Orlando Villas Boas pushed deep into the rainforest and spoke with the Kalapalo Indians. They told Boas that they had killed Fawcett and the two youths because they had arrived in their tribal lands without gifts.
In 1951, Boas made a new and dramatic claim: he said he had been given possession of Fawcett’s bones.
Initial analysis suggested they did indeed belong to Fawcett, but it later transpired that the analysis was faulty. His story - and that of George Dyott - fell apart.
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| Kalapalo Indians: did they kill him? |
In 1998, the British explorer Benedict Allen managed to interview an elder of the Kalapalo Indians for the BBC: the elder vehemently denied that his tribe had any part in the strange disappearance of Colonel Fawcett. His fate remained a mystery.
Most recently, the New Yorker journalist David Grann also managed to interview the Kalapalo tribe. He was told that Fawcett and his group had indeed passed through their village en route to the Lost City of Z.
The Kalapalo tribesmen had observed smoke from their camp-fire for five days after the explorers had left their village. But on the sixth day, the smoke disappeared and was never seen again.
There are numerous theories and stories as to what happened to the three intrepid adventurers. The most colourful comes from a German explorer who ventured deep into the jungle in 1932.
He reached a tiny settlement far from civilisation and got into conversation with a village elder.
‘You, my blood brother, ask me of Colonel Fawcett… I now show you something, but you must swear on white man's God to keep silent the name of me and my tribe..."
‘I solemnly promised.
"Look!" said the chief. He drew forth from the sack a small and horribly shrunken head.
‘I started back in horror and nausea. The features were those of Colonel Fawcett!’
Whatever the truth of Colonel Fawcett’s mysterious fate, he will be given a new lease of life if the projected Hollywood movie gets the green light later this year.
My new book, Wolfram: The Boy Who Went to War is now published: click here for more information. The American edition will be out in the fall.
