I'm doing a research paper (20 pages) on the mythical Golden City, and was wondering if there are any good books that could be recommended. I got Jstor and all those databases for tracking down primary sources (which is likewise a hassle), but I'm mostly having trouble with scholarly journals and books which are limited on the subject of El Dorado.
Basically I'm delving into how Spain misread a native story, and launched fruitless campaigns to find El Dorado with zealous furvor to claim religious superiority over the New World (and to of course fuel their lust for gold). Like the Quest for the Holy Grail renewed in Latin America.
Sorry for the late post, I meant to post earlier. I don't know of any books specifically about El Dorado, and the books I do have to reccommend only skim the ballpark I think you're aiming for, but in my experience, good books about Spain between the 1400-1500's are few in number. The books I can recommend can give you a decent sense of Spain and its colonization of South America, its colonialism in general which does seem partly what you're looking for anyways, but I can't necesarilly say they specifically cover El Dorado, or at least, not in detail. Nonetheless, here you go, I hope I provided at least the slimmest of helps :)
Empires of the Atlantic World: Britain and Spain in America 1492-1830 by J.H. Elliott. - This book shares a perspective of the New World with that of the British colonial possessions, but the book places a bit more emphasis on Spain than on Britain, and it covers the Spanish conquests and expansions in the New World, including South America. The rise, and fall of Spains conquests and then losses in the Americas are nicely detailed and described, and is worth a read.
Conquest: Cortes, Montezuma, and the Fall of Old Mexico by Hugh Thomas - While not necesarilly about El Dorado or South America like you want, the book is definitely worth a read if you want a look into the attitudes and motives behind Spanish colonialism in the Americas in general. It's a particularly interesting book since the author takes on the uncommon stance that the Spaniards were bad but not as bad in their colonialism as most make them out to be, which may or may not, depending on your taste, serve to give you a different perspective for Spains colonialism.
Imperial Spain: 1469-1716 by J.H. Elliott - This is last on the list because it's the least relevant to your topic. It does not talk about Spain's conquests of the New World, but if you want to know more about Spains economic and political stances throughout its Imperial Period, then this book is definitely a good read. It does, however, discuss its maintenance of its colonies, which might be of interest to you.