their jurisdiction. Irala sent a party to speak with the governor of Peru, Pedro de la Gasca, who only ordered the expedition to go no further under pain of death, so they had no choice but to return to Asunción. Irala organized several other expeditions to legendary locations like the "Land of Riches", the "Lake of El Dorado", and "Paititi". All of these expeditions ended in failure, with great cost in human lives and materials. Meanwhile, the king named Juan de Sanabria as the new adelantado in the region, but he died during preparations and was replaced by his son Diego, who ended up staying in Europe even though several of his ships had already sailed. Finally, the crown decided to formalize Irala's de facto power, so as Irala was preparing his next expedition, a royal emissary arrived in Asunción, informing Irala that he had been named governor of the Governorate of New Andalusia (also known as the Governorate of the Río de la Plata and Paraguay) with express orders not to lead any more expeditions. With Buenos Aires destroyed and the Sierra de la Plata under another jurisdiction, Paraguay experienced a long period of isolation under Irala, who finally died in October 1556 at the age of 70. Cerro Rico de Potosí The Sierra de la Plata legend likely corresponds to the Cerro Rico de Potosí in Bolivia, and the White King to the Inca Huayna Cápac. When Aleixo Garcia explored the region and discovered precious metals in the early 16th century, Spain had barely begun colonizing the coasts of Panama and Colombia, and Portugal had barely begun colonizing the coast of Brazil. Neither of the two crowns knew about the existence of the Inca Empire until Francisco Pizarro encountered it in 1528, traveling from the Pacific coast. King Charles I tried to solve conflicts between conquistadors by dividing South America into several governorates: New Castile, under Francisco Pizarro, which reached from the Santiago River, Ecuador to Pisco, Peru; New Toledo, under Diego de Almagro, from Pisco to Taltal, Chile; and New Andalusia, under Pedro de Mendoza, two hundred leagues south. Of these three, it was Almagro's men who first found the Cerro Rico de Potosí. See also Antillia City of the Caesars (Ciudad de los Césares) El Dorado La Plata Mountains Quivira and Cíbola Paititi Notes References Goodman, Edward J. The Explorers Of South America. Norman: University of