Francisco de Orellana and Francisco Pizarro, two ambitious Spanish adventurers, set off down the Amazon River in 1541 in search of valuable cinnamon. Rumors had reached Lima, capital city of the newly conquered Vice-Royalty of Peru, that cinnamon lay in abundance on the other side of the Andes Mountains. They were to travel through unexplored territory, where it was believed the Amazons lived. These fierce female warriors were the subject of legends from the time of the Greek writer Homer.
