Where Is the Lost Inca Gold?

The year is 1533; the place is a steep mountain trail in South America’s Inca Empire. Sixty thousand Inca men trudge along, bent under heavy loads of gold. Guarding them are 12,000 soldiers. All are on a mission of utmost importance: to save the life of their emperor, Atahualpa (ah-tuh-WAHL-puh).

Hundreds of miles away, in the city of Cajamarca (kah-huh-MAR-kah), soldiers from Spain are holding Atahualpa prisoner. They have agreed to free him—in exchange for enough gold to fill a large room.

Suddenly, a messenger arrives at the trail with terrible news: The emperor is dead! The Spanish soldiers have killed him.

In that moment, Rumiñahui (roo-me-NYAH-we), the Inca general leading the mission, makes a vow that will become the stuff of legend: No outsider will ever possess this gold—because he will hide it where it will never be found.

Today, nearly 500 years later, the Inca treasure would be worth an estimated $5 billion. But its location remains one of history’s great mysteries.

The year is 1533. The place is a steep mountain trail. It is in South America’s Inca Empire. Sixty thousand Inca men trudge along. They are bent under heavy loads of gold. Guarding them are 12,000 soldiers. All are on a very important mission. It is to save the life of their emperor, Atahualpa (ah-tuh-WAHL-puh).

Hundreds of miles away is the city of Cajamarca (kah-huh-MAR-kah). There, soldiers from Spain are holding Atahualpa prisoner. They have agreed to free him in exchange for enough gold to fill a large room.

Suddenly, a messenger arrives at the trail. He brings terrible news: The emperor is dead! The Spanish soldiers have killed him.

Rumiñahui (roo-me-NYAH-wee) is the Inca general leading the mission. In that moment, he makes a promise that will become the stuff of legend: No outsider will ever have this gold. He will hide it where it will never be found.

That was nearly 500 years ago. Today, the Inca treasure would be worth an estimated $5 billion. But its location remains one of history’s great mysteries.

Rumiñahui had collected about 750 tons of gold. Where could he have stashed so much treasure?

He and his men had been traveling south from the city of Quito. Some historians think they hid it nearby, in the Llanganates (yahn-gah-NAH-teez) mountain range of the Andes.

About 50 years after the emperor’s death, a Spanish man named José Valverde claimed to know the gold’s location. He wrote that his father-in-law, an Inca, had shown him the site as a wedding gift. Valverde became wealthy, which seemed to verify his story. But no one who followed his directions could find the gold.

In 1886, a Canadian treasure hunter named Barth Blake also claimed to have found it. He wrote of “thousands of gold and silver pieces… life-size human figures made out of beaten gold and silver, birds, animals, cornstalks, gold and silver flowers,” and much more. Too much, Blake claimed, for “thousands of men” to move. Apparently intending to return, Blake left Ecuador—then mysteriously disappeared.

Modern adventurers have taken up the search, but new technology is of little use in the Llanganates. The region ranges from about 4,000 feet above sea level to nearly 15,000 feet. Starting at about 8,000 feet, air becomes very thin, meaning it has less oxygen. Even experienced climbers find it hard to breathe and will get sick if they don’t give their bodies enough time to adjust.

Also, it’s often cold, and very wet: The Llanganates gets up to 157 inches of rain of a year. And when thick fog moves in, as it frequently does, it’s impossible to see more than a few feet in any direction. Broken bones from slips and falls are a constant risk. So are cuts from the sharp-edged grasses growing there—or accidents with machetes, the large knives needed to hack a path through dense vegetation.

Rumiñahui had collected about 750 tons of gold. Where could he have hidden so much treasure?

He and his men had been traveling south from the city of Quito. Some historians think they hid it in the nearby Llanganates (yahn-gah-NAH-teez) mountain range of the Andes.

About 50 years after the emperor’s death, a Spanish man named José Valverde claimed to know where the gold was. He wrote that his father-in-law, an Inca, had shown him the site as a wedding gift. Valverde became wealthy. That seemed to support his story. But no one who followed his directions could find the gold.

In 1886, a Canadian treasure hunter named Barth Blake also claimed to have found it. He wrote of “thousands of gold and silver pieces… life-size human figures made out of beaten gold and silver, birds, animals, cornstalks, gold and silver flowers,” and much more. Blake claimed it was too much for “thousands of men” to move. Blake left Ecuador. He apparently intended to return. But then he mysteriously disappeared.

Modern adventurers have taken up the search. But new technology is of little use in the Llanganates. The region ranges from about 4,000 feet above sea level to nearly 15,000 feet. Starting at about 8,000 feet, air becomes very thin. That means it has less oxygen. Even experienced climbers find it hard to breathe. They get sick if they do not give their bodies enough time to adjust.

Also, it is often cold, and very wet. The Llanganates gets up to 157 inches of rain of a year. Thick fog frequently moves in. When it does, it is impossible to see more than a few feet in any direction. There is a constant risk of broken bones from slips and falls. There is also a risk of cuts from the sharp-edged grasses growing there. And there are accidents with machetes. Those are the large knives needed to hack a path through dense vegetation.