Explorers in the New WorldChristopher ColumbusPedro CabralPortuguese ExplorationVicente Yß±ez Pinz≤nAmerigo VespucciOther European ExplorersThe Conquistadors
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Colonel P.H. FawcettThe exploits of Colonel Percy Harrison Fawcett provided the real-life inspiration for Stephen Spielberg's Indiana Jones. The story of Colonel Fawcett and his son is legendary. In 1901 Percy Fawcett was a mystical student in love with geography. A married man and father, he left home to excavate sites in Bolivia and Brazil. After discovering some very important relief carvings, he felt sure that the remains of a major unknown civilization lay hidden in the still unspoiled regions of the upper Tapaj≤s and upper Xingu rivers. Captivated by the mystery of the Amazonas, Percy Fawcett returned to the virgin forest in 1920 after being promoted to colonel in the battlefields of France. Malaria drove him away, but in 1925 he turned up at Cuyabß, a camp of gold and diamond miners in Matto Grosso. This time his son Jack came with him. Percy Fawcett used to say that he was abiding by the wishes of an Indian witch doctor – "You will find a fabulous city," the sharman told him, "when your son is old enough to come back with you. You shall be taken prisoner, but by marrying he will set you free!" A Brazilian explorer provided them with two Indian guide and gave them a little dog which they promised to watch over. For a while, their campfires could be seen every night in the Sierra Azul, where peaceful Indian tribes lived. In June 1925 the guides came back alone, bringing with them wonderful letters and film that Fawcett had committed to their care. Percy explained that the increasingly dense jungle growth had made it impossible to clear a path with axes. He had built a canoe. His son, their friend Rimmel, and he, were travelling up the Rφo Koloseu towards the settlements of the primitive Kalapalo Indians. A few days later, the little dog, covered with sores and frightened to death, wandered into a logger's ranch – alone. In 1928, the news syndicate sent Commander George M. Dyott to locate Colonel Fawcet. Leading a hazardous expedition in five large canvas boats from the source to the mouth of the Xingu. Dyott discovered evidence that the Kalapalo tribesmen may have murdered Fawcett. Many years later, American photographer Loren MacIntyre found Dyott, then aged 86, living as a recluse among the Indians. The French explorer Courteville later reported that he had met up with a white man suffering from malaria and total amnesia – possibly Percy Fawcett – near the San Rafael river. Again, it was Percy Fawcett a Swiss explorer claimed to have seen living among a barbaric tribe. He had a white beard, spoke English, was in excellent health; but when the European tried to get near him, the Indians stood in his way; they were holding him prisoner. According to Italian scientist Michele Trucchi, who also explored the region, Jack Fawcett and Rimmel had died; but Percy desperate and suffering from leprosy had stayed behind with the Indians and swore never again to return to the civilised world. Brazilian ethnologist Willy Aureli, for his part, maintains that the sole survivor, Percy Fawcett survived to eventually rule over a tribe of cannibals.
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