Percy Fawcett

Percy Fawcett was a British geographer and explorer who disappeared in 1925 during an expedition to find an ancient city he called “Z.”

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Lost City of Z: The name Percy Fawcett gave to a supposed ancient city in the Amazon. Fawcett’s search for this city drew him and his companions into the Brazilian interior.
Royal Geographical Society: A British learned society founded in 1830 to advance geographical science and exploration. The Society sent Fawcett to survey boundaries in South America.
Jack Fawcett: Percy Fawcett’s eldest son, who accompanied him on the 1925 expedition and disappeared with him. His presence made the final journey a family expedition as well as a search for Z.
Amazonian archaeology: The study of past human societies in the Amazon basin through material remains, landscapes, and related evidence. Modern archaeological evidence tests assumptions about ancient settlement that surrounded Fawcett’s search.
1925 Fawcett expedition: Percy Fawcett’s final expedition into the Brazilian Amazon, from which he and two companions never returned. This journey ended in the disappearance that made Fawcett famous.
Bolivia–Brazil boundary survey: A series of surveys that established sections of the border between Bolivia and Brazil in the early twentieth century. Fawcett’s work on this boundary brought him extensive experience in the Amazon basin.
Raleigh Rimell: A friend of Jack Fawcett who joined Percy and Jack on their 1925 expedition and disappeared with them. He was the third member of the party that vanished in the Amazon.
Terra preta: A fertile, dark soil created through long-term human activity at archaeological sites in the Amazon basin. Its distribution is evidence of extensive, sustained human presence in the region Fawcett explored.
Kuikuro: An Indigenous people of Brazil’s Upper Xingu region with a long history of settled communities and earthworks. Their archaeological landscape shows that the Amazon interior held complex societies, challenging assumptions that shaped Fawcett’s search.
South American exploration: The exploration and mapping of South America by Indigenous peoples, local communities, and foreign expeditions. Fawcett’s career belonged to a longer history of journeys and mapping across the continent.