Present-day Sri Lanka, Ceylon in the late-19th-century was part of the British Empire. Fawcett is stationed there in 1888, when he meets Nina. It is also in Ceylon that Fawcett acquires his taste for jungle exploration.

The object of Fawcett’s obsession, the City of Z is his name for the lost civilization he believes is hidden deep in the Amazon jungle. Fawcett becomes convinced that this large civilization existed deep in the Amazon jungle based on evidence from early explorers and from pieces of evidence—broken pottery, suggestions of road networks, etc.—he discovered himself in his early explorations of the Amazon. Many dismissed Fawcett’s theory of the Z since most scholars and explorers were convinced that advanced civilization would be impossible in the dense, dangerous jungles of the Amazon. However, evidence of a large civilization in the region Fawcett believed Z could be found were discovered by Western explorers shortly after Fawcett’s disappearance. If the name of the imagined city has any meaning, Fawcett never explains it.

Cuiabá is the capital city of Mato Grosso, Brazil, and served as a starting and ending point for Fawcett’s expeditions. Though a small village, it was a good place to gather supplies and access needed resources when necessary, as the area had an accessible airport.