This thread about why gold is so widely treasured got me wondering how universal the love of gold is around the world. Are there any societies, either ancient and modern, who consider gold just another metal? Outside of totally isolated communities, were there any societies that had never even heard of gold?
I’ve always heard the Aztecs and other natives of the Americas were puzzled by the Spaniard’s lust for the yellow stuff; they used it for decoration, but used feathers as money (to the extent they understood the concept at all).
That also influenced the legend of El Dorado, where the Amazonian king was said to coat himself in gold dust every morning and wash it away at night. Cortez himself mystified Aztec envoys by saying that the Spaniards suffered from a disease of the heart, that could only be cured by gold.
Here’s an image of a chief in Panama throwing gold at the feet of Balboa in disdain for Spanish avarice.
Native American societies did value gold jewelry as an indicator of status, but did not really value the substance in and of itself. That the Spanish would melt finely crafted objects down into ingots made no sense to them.