James Stewart

The Amazon was one of the least explored places in modern history, but beneath its towering trees and twisting vines lies the memory of a hidden cityscape, a web of buildings, gardens, roads and canals, centuries old, swallowed by the wilderness itself, and for a while, lost completely.

But what was once forgotten is now being rediscovered.

Satellite imagery and laser scanning techniques have combined to bring a new version of the Amazon to life.

A rainforest that's been shaped by humans for thousands of years, not only through spectacular buildings, but by manipulating entire ecosystems.

Networks of creatures that were only just beginning to untangle.

Those creatures make up 10% of the world's wildlife species, and a new plant or animal species is discovered every other day in this great forest.

But these aren't the only treasures hidden in the Amazon, whatever came of the lost city of El Dorado.

I'm James Stewart and you're watching Astrum Earth.

Join me in this video as we venture beneath the canopy to find a different story of the Amazon.

From the early explorers that left clues centuries ago, to the modern science finally deciphering the code to uncover the true secrets hidden in the rainforest.

And we'll be answering one big question.

What still might be waiting to be found?

With 6 million square kilometers of continuous green canopy, the Amazon comprises more than half of Earth's total remaining rainforest.

For centuries, European explorers spread rumors amongst themselves that there was a legendary wealthy city deep in the Amazon.

They called it El Dorado, the City of Gold.

In 1542, Spanish conquistador Francisco de Orellana reported travelling down the Amazon and finding vast rich lands, with farms, villages, and even large walled settlements.

But when others later followed his route, they found only impenetrable jungle and small groups of hunter-gatherer tribes.

Scientists assumed that Orianna's story was just that, a story.

Nothing but the fanciful dreamings of a gold-hungry conquistador.

But the search for El Dorado did not stop there, and actually it lasted for more than a century.