“Descubrimiento del Rio Amazonas”.

Below is the inspiration of the project created by Giancarlo A. Paredes. Please enjoy the collection and come back for more as this page is continuously updated throughout the project dates.

It all began with Hector A. Paredes, my father. This project was brought to life thanks to a radio show Hector was an announcer for in Houston, Texas in the 90’s. At the time, covering Soccer games was the primary talk of the show, especially covering Ecuadorian Soccer leagues. During his tenure my father, Hector, was presented with a gift. This gift was an unreleased, never before seen, unpublished book titled, “Descubrimiento del Rio Amazonas”. This is a 2 part collection, first part covers historical data of the founding of Quito and Guayaquil Ecuador their regions, population, religion and political developments. The second part are 80 hand painted graphics, depicting the famous Spanish conquest, the search for "El Dorado”. This is the expedition of Francisco de Orellana, better know for naming and being the first documented explorer to sail the entire Amazon River. These documentations and drawing have been with my family for nearly 30 years. It is I, Giancarlo, now with the inherited responsibility to finish the work of my father, the artist, and original author who were not able to share these drawings and context.

The reason why this release is titled “Proyecto Uno” is to first pay tribute to my Latino heritage, second this is my first attempt in generating public awareness and bringing the material into light. With not much contact history to go off of, I did my best to find the original authors and even tried to contact research institutions to find how this can best be shared with the world. I ultimately decided just as my family came to the United States with a dream, I too can serve the book justice; by entering the digital world and converting the book into digital media. “Proyecto Uno” presents the opportunity for the online community to own a piece of the hand paintings through NFT (Non-fungible token). The NFTs are listed as Descubrimiento del Rio Amazonas (D.d.R.A) followed by the sequential order the graphic is structured in the book. For example, the 47th illustration of the hard copy book is listed as, D.d.R.A # 47.

The vision is to generate high level of public awareness through NFTs, while I work on preserving the hard copy book. The book contains about 20 pages of historical records I intend published and work with institutions to make available online. Until then it is my goal for all to see this book and read its story through its art work.

Throughout the project dates, my goal is to release 2-3 pages of this book alongside 2-3 NFTs per week. I will post the original pages behind each NFT with a transcript and translation below the collection. I will keep Twitter and Instagram social feeds up to date prior to release. Link to social media accounts can be found top right icons.

Below are the names of those who contributed to this book:

R. Betancourt R. - Artist

M. Bolanos - Artist

Rafael Guzman - Historian

Hector Paredes - Record Keeper

Giancarlo Paredes - Digital Media Producer

All proceeds earned through this project will go towards CasaOne’s mission to support fellow military veteran art creators and a portion will go towards a Nonprofit organization supporting an Ecuadorian community later to be determined.

This project is available on the SolSea marketplace.