Orellana: Down the Amazon, 1541–42

Gonzalo Pizarro was charged by his half-brother Francisco with finding the "Land of Cinnamon", and at Quito he gathered 220 Spaniards and 4000 natives. He left in February 1541, just before his second-in-command Orellana arrived with 23 men and horses; Orellana hurried after the main expedition and caught up in March. By the time the column had left the mountains, 3000 natives and 140 Spaniards had died or deserted.

Location precision: The pin marks the centre of Quito, not a documented departure point.

Visitor guidance: Quito's historic centre is the natural place to start; nothing there marks the departure itself.

On the Coca River the expedition built a brigantine, the San Pedro, to carry the sick and supplies, and Pizarro ordered Orellana to explore the river and come back. At the confluence with the Napo his men threatened mutiny if they did not go on. On 26 December 1541 Orellana agreed to be elected chief of a new expedition, and with the friar Carvajal and 50 men he went on downstream; the current made a return impossible. The city of Coca now stands at the confluence.

Location precision: Sources place the split at the confluence, not at a specific bank; the pin marks the city of Coca.

Visitor guidance: Coca (Puerto Francisco de Orellana) is visited by tourists travelling into the rainforest.

Unable to go back against the current, Orellana waited for Pizarro at a village on the Napo, sent three men back with a message and began a second brigantine, the Victoria. Pizarro had meanwhile returned to Quito by a more northerly route, with only 80 men left alive. Leaving the village, Orellana's men continued downstream to the Amazon, threatened constantly by the Omaguas on the banks.

Location precision: The Napo is a long river; the pin marks its mouth, not a recorded camp.

The expedition reached the Negro River on 3 June 1542, and Orellana gave it its name. Just below, the Negro meets the Solimões in the phenomenon known as the Meeting of Waters, where the two form the Amazon River.

Location precision: The sources do not say where on the river the party stood; the pin marks the Rio Negro near its confluence.

Visitor guidance: The Meeting of Waters is the phenomenon to look for where the Negro joins the Solimões.

On 24 June 1542, near the island of Tupinambarama at the junction with the Madeira, a skirmish with warriors reportedly included women fighting alongside the men. Orellana described the river as the "river of the Amazons", after the mythical Amazon warriors. Carvajal's account of large towns along the banks was dismissed for centuries; a 2022 study in Nature suggests his reporting is very likely correct.

Location precision: The sources only say the clash happened in the neighbourhood of Tupinambarama; the pin is a rough centre of that island group.

At about 54 degrees west the party stopped for 18 days to repair the boats, then reached the Atlantic on 26 August 1542. Orellana was the first European to travel from the Andes to the mouth of the river. The mouth is split by Marajó, the world's largest combined river and sea island, so no single point marks the exit.

Location precision: The mouth is a wide, disputed estuary; the pin marks Marajó island within it.

Coasting toward Guiana, the two brigs were separated and met again at Nueva Cadiz on Cubagua, off Venezuela. The San Pedro arrived on 9 September 1542, and the Victoria, carrying Orellana and Carvajal, on 11 September. Cubagua was valuable to Spain for its pearl oysters from 1501. Its ruins are a National Monument of Venezuela.

Location precision: The pin marks the island; the exact landing place is not given in the sources.