The region north of the Vaal River has been home to two major gold rushes. The second began in 1870, but it was not until the XNUMXth century that the introduction of electricity and industrial machinery generated substantial wealth. Enough to establish a mint, a bank, dozens of other businesses and the homes of the South African national monument Pilgrim's Rest.
Two centuries after the heyday of prospecting, lost in time and in the vastness of the Central Plateau, Goiás esteems its admirable colonial architecture, the surprising wealth that remains to be discovered there.
The last great American gold rush is long over. These days, hundreds of cruise ships each summer pour thousands of well-heeled visitors into the shop-lined streets of Skagway.