The case for Fawcett

Listed below is the basis of our argument that Conan Doyle's The Lost World was influenced by Colonel Percy Fawcett's 1908 expedition over the Serra Ricardo Franco plateau in Brazil. He made the claim in his notes written sometime after the publication of The Lost World in 1912 and before he disappeared in 1925. His son published the notes in 1953, by which time Mount Roraima in Venezuela had already been established as the inspiration for the table top mountain. However the claim gives few details other than the fact he met with Doyle to describe the trip and show him photographs. By tracing Fawcett's expedition we were able to see the geography firsthand and look for similarities in the book.

Geographical similarities

1. The pinnacles: In the book the four adventurers climb onto the plateau by scaling a pinnacle and felling a tree to create a bridge. Fawcett's plateau had many pinnacles around it.