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230:. Despite Carvalho's reported diligence, the expeditions were unsuccessful and the previous enthusiasm about the city's existence was replaced by disillusion and skepticism. A predominant theory at the time was that the vision of the lost city was inspired by the strange rocky formations of Chapada Diamantina; Teodoro Sampaio, who traveled through the region between 1879 and 1880, was convinced that the account of Manuscript 512 was fictional and described the mountain range poetically.
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60:, where it is kept to this day, the document tells of a group of Portuguese adventurers who searched for a long time the legendary mines of Muribeca, traveling for about ten years in the Brazil's jungle. During their journey the adventurers discovered the abandoned settlement of a lost city whose architecture, monuments, and artifacts recall
290:. There was a river next to the square and after following it the group reached a collection of mineshafts where they found silver-infused rocks and more undeciphered inscriptions. Somewhere outside of the city they also found a large countryside manor which contained fifteen separate houses surrounding a great central room (possibly an
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The text relates that a
Portuguese colonel (whose name is missing) and his party were drawn by curiosity to the site of an impressively tall, glistening mountain range. By happenstance they found a path to summit the range with facility. When they reached the peak, they sighted a settlement that they
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The manuscript is one of the most famed documents of the
National Library's collection and some Brazilian historians consider it "the greatest myth of national archaeology", while others praise its vivid and picturesque writing style. During the 19th and 20th centuries, Manuscript 512 was the object
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connecting it to the earlier case of
Roberio Dias, also known as "Muribeca", a bandeirante arrested by the Portuguese crown for refusing to give information about mines of precious metals in Bahia, which later propelled numerous expeditions in the province.(The Bahia expansion was also motivated by
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The manuscript itself appears to be a transcription of a lost original work. Although the main body of the document appears to be a personal letter, the preamble given by the transcriber describes it as a historical report. Because some parts of the manuscript's pages are decayed, a portion of the
294:). The party then tested the soil near the river for gold flecks, which they found in abundance. The author reflects on the curious state of the abandoned city and gives a brief mention of the fauna that inhabit the ruins, apparently describing
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Although the author of
Manuscript 512 was (and still is) not identified, the members of the institute took the account as authentic in the hopes of finding the ruins of an advanced civilization in Brazil, a nation that had recently achieved its
204:, opined that the account about the lost city could be authentic because, according to explorers and some old inhabitants of the location, large ruins populated by runaway native and black slaves were commonly mentioned in tradition. Historian
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BARBOSA, Cônego Januário da Cunha. Advertencia do redactor d´esta revista, o Conego J. da C. Barbosa. Revista do
Instituto Histórico e Geographico do Brazil, Número 3, Tomo I, 1839; terceira edição, Río de Janeiro, Imprensa Nacional,
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initially mistook for one of Brazil's coastal cities. Upon approaching it, they found it was actually dilapidated and abandoned. The city's only entrance was ornamented with a triple archway, similar in appearance to
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ALMEIDA, Eduardo de Castro e. Inventario dos documentos relativos ao Brasil existentes no
Archivo de Marinha e Ultramar de Lisboa, v. I, Bahía, 1613-1762. Río de Janeiro, Officinas Graphicas da Bibliotheca Nacional,
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in Mexico and fortifications in the
Peruvian border, and that could signify that similar monuments were also hidden in Brazil. Accounts about rocks with purportedly Pre-Columbian inscriptions were common since
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BARBOSA, Cônego Januário da Cunha. Relatorio do secretario perpetuo. Revista do
Instituto Histórico e Geographico do Brazil, Número 4, Tomo I, 1839; terceira edição, Río de Janeiro, Imprensa Nacional, 1908.
509:
ROCHA PITA, Sebastião da. Historia da
America Portuguesa desde o anno de mil e quinhentos do seu descobrimento até o de mil e setecentos e vinte e quatro. Lisboa, Officina de Joseph Antonio da Silva, 1730.
512:
SAMPAIO, Dr. Theodoro. O rio de S. Francisco. Trechos de um diario da viagem e a
Chapada Diamantina. Publicados pela primeira vez na Revista S. Cruz. 1879-80. São Paulo. Escolas Profisionaes Salesianas,
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in 1598, which contains what appears to be Latin letters. As such, Manuscript 512 strengthened the theory that an ancient Graeco-Roman civilization could have existed at some remote time in Brazil.
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266:, on which there were inscriptions in an unknown language. The city's square had a black pedestal with a statue of a man pointing north and a large building near it was decorated with
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KRUSE, Herman. O manuscripto 512 e a viagem à procura da povoação abandonada. São Paulo, janeiro de 1940. Río de Janeiro, Departamento do Patrimônio Histórico, Arquivo Nacional.
144:("Historical relation of an occult, large, very old settlement with no inhabitants that was found in the year 1753"), in the library's collection. He then presented it to the
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Between 1841 and 1846, searches for the lost city sponsored by the Brazilian Historic and Geographic Institute were conducted by Fr. Benigno José de Carvalho through
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Catálogo da Exposição de História do Brasil realizada pela Bibliotheca Nacional, Typographia de G. Leuzinger & Filhos, 1881.
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in one of the houses they searched, which depicted a boy kneeling down on one side and a bow, arrow, and crown on the other.
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in 1766 and, by the 1840s, were fully consolidated, in addition to being mixed with stories about indigenous refuges or
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253:, Algeria. The arch at the lost city's entrance described in the manuscript is similar in appearance to this one.
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Relação histórica de huma oculta, e grande Povoação, antiguissima sem moradores, que se descubrio no anno de 1753
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Access to the original document is very restricted, but a digitalized version is currently available online.
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BURTON, Richard F. Explorations of the Highlands of the Brazil. Vol. II. London, Tinsley Brothers, 1869.
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The "lost city" described in the manuscript inspired several articles, films and novels, such as
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of intense debate and instigated many expeditions by adventurers and investigators, notably Sir
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In 1839, naturalist Manuel Ferreira Lagos casually found the document, whose full title was
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The number 512, by which the manuscript is currently known, first appeared in 1881 in the
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of dubious veracity and unknown authorship that relates the discovery of a "lost city" in
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explained that rumors about ruins were already popular after the death of bandeirante
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WILKINS, Harold T. Mysteries of Ancient South America. Rider & Co., London, 1946.
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mentioned that João Antônio (the only member whose name was preserved) found a
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FAWCETT, Percy Harrison. Lost Trails, Lost Cities. Funk & Wagnalls, 1953.
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later publicized a full copy of the manuscript in the institute's magazine,
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CALMON, Pedro. O segredo das minas de prata. Río de Janeiro: À noite, 1950.
460:"O MANUSCRITO 512: A CIDADE PERDIDA DA BAHIA - Wagner Ribeiro de Carvalho"
386:"Comprehensive translation and interpretation of Manuscript 512 • Neperos"
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the search for silver mines, although only saltpeter mines were found.)
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and sought to build a strong national identity. At the time, ruins of
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Colonial Brazilian document telling of the discovery of a lost city
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In 1840, Ignacio Accioli Silva and A. Moncorvo, two scholars from
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may have been inspired by the events surrounding Colonel Fawcett.
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bore a relief carving of a half-naked figure wearing a
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Revista do Instituto Histórico e Geográfico Brasileiro
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352:Learn how and when to remove this message
282:) in all four corners. The main street's
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571:1839 archaeological discoveries
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467:FACE - UNEB
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194:Paraíba
164:preface
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