I read that one as a reference to
Walter Raleigh, a british explorer.
It is Walter Raleigh, since the achievement refers to El Dorado - Raleigh made abortive attempts to establish a British New World colony as part of a hunt for it.
Some others:
Vivre La Revolution: Vive la Revolution was originally a call to arms from the French Revolutionary period but has since entered pop culture. The use of Vivre in the achievement may be a typo from someone unfamiliar with French or may have other pop culture links I don't know (vivre is the unconjugated form of the verb "to live", vive the imperative form).
The Man Who Would Be King: A novella by Rudyard Kipling, and later a film.
The African King: Reference to the 1935 novel by CM Forester, The African Queen. Also later a film.
Arabian Knights: Pun reference to One Thousand and One Nights, a popular set of Arabian and West Asian folktales first published in English in 1706 as The Arabian Nights.
Age of Empire: A generally common phrase, but in this case probably also a deliberate reference to the game series Age of Empires, an early RTS originally inspired by Civilization.
Give Peace A Chance: Title of a 1969 John Lennon song, itself apparently acknowledging a hippy refrain of the period.
The Once and Future King: Reference to a 1958 fantasy novel of the same name based on Arthurian myth, subsequently adopted in pop culture as a reference to King Arthur generically.
Ruler of the Twelve Colonies: The Twelve Colonies of Kobol, and their destruction, is the setting for the sci-fi TV series Battlestar Galactica, originally aired in 1978 but "reimagined" (and considerably more successful) between 2004 and 2009. The game achievement refers to winning the game on a 12-civ map.
Battlefield Earth: Title of a 1982 science fiction novel by L Ron Hubbard, and later an unsuccessful film adaptation.
City of Lights: A reference to Paris, sometimes called the City of Light and recognised as a global cultural hub (the achievement is for generating 100 culture in a single city).
The Pen Is Mightier: The line "The pen is mightier than the sword" is first uttered by Cardinal Richelieu in an eponymous 1839 play, and has since entered common usage in English, although usually with more noble intent than Richelieu's Machiavellian assertion.
To Stand The Test of Time: A catchphrase in a popular computer game series whose name I can't quite remember...
Diplomacy By Other Means: "War is diplomacy by other means" is the common English translation of a phrase by the Prussian military strategist Carl von Clausewitz in his opus On War; probably more accurately it has also been translated as "war is the continuation of politics by other means".
Money Doesn't Grow On Trees: A popular cautionary idiom, I think particularly in British usage.
Marco Polo: A Venetian merchant who was the first Westerner to describe many of the cultures along the Silk Road and beyond, as well as life in the court of Kublai Khan. The degree to which Marco Polo's account is personal testimony rather than reporting the findings of others has been the subject of academic speculation since its original publication at the end of the 13th Century.
Magellan: Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan is credited as being the first to prove the world is round by circumnavigation, although he didn't survive the full journey. The first explorer to circumnavigate the globe and come back alive was the English privateer Francis Drake.
Flying Fortress: The common name of the American B17.
Three Musketeers: An 1844 novel by Alexandre Dumas, one of the classic foundational works of melodramatic "swashbuckling" literature and much-copied, parodied and filmed since.
Bollywood: Popular English-language reference to the Indian film industry (with an emphasis on films with a strong musical and dance element), by analogy with Hollywood in California.
All Roads Lead to Rome: Common English-language idiom used generically to refer to multiple routes to achieve a common goal. It refers to the historical centralisation of the Roman Empire and the Roman road network as one of that society's most famous accomplishments, although it was probably never literally true.
Sun Tzu's Art of War: The Art of War is the foremost of China's "Seven Military Classics" and the best-known in the West. By association with Sun Tzu, a legendary if not mythical general, its original publication is dated to the 5th Century BC, however the true provenance of most of the text is contentious and much of it appears to have been updated throughout Chinese history to reflect changes in technology and warfare more generally.
Tomb Raider: A series of highly popular computer games, the first instalment of which was published in 1996, and numerous spin-off media including two films (to this day, guides to Ta Prohm, one of the Angkor complex temples in Cambodia, tout "the Tomb Raider tree" used in a scene in the first film as a major attraction, and it is always crowded with tourists wanting their photos taken with said tree).
By The Waters of Babylon: Title of a post-apocalyptic sci-fi story published in 1937, and an early example of a post-apocalyptic tale foreshadowing the use of (then-imaginary) nuclear weapons.
Dr Heidigger's Experiment: Title of an 1837 short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne about a doctor who has received water from the mythical Fountain of Youth.
Time to Stitch A Tapestry: This achievement is for winning the 1066 scenario as Normandy, and references the Bayeux Tapestry commissioned (probably by Odo of Bayeaux, himself one of the leading commanders of the Norman Conquest) following the successful Norman Conquest of England to depict events leading up to and during the fateful Battle of Hastings.
Purple People Eaters: Reference to a 1958 rock 'n' roll novelty song by Sheb Wooley, since covered many times and now a Halloween classic.
The Choson One: Pun on the popular phrase "Chosen One" to refer to a messiah. Korea's Choson Dynasty was its longest-lasting, and the Korean city usually transliterated as Joseon can also be transliterated into the Roman alphabet as "Choson".
Baktun The Future: Pun on the 1980s sci-fi comedy film series Back To The Future. A Baktun is the longest period in the Mayan calendar cycle.
Defender of the Faith: English translation of Fidei Defensor, a title awarded to many Christian monarchs in Europe on ascending the throne. The English title was first awarded to an English monarch by Pope Leo X to Henry VIII of England. Shortly thereafter, Henry broke with the Catholic Church and the country had only one later, short-lived, Catholic monarch. The title has therefore been seen in England as a defender of Anglican Protestantism specifically ever since, and has consquently been rendered in English rather than Latin.
The Last Crusade: Reference to the 1989 film Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade. The film's plot centers around the search for the Holy Grail within the Lost City of Alexandretta; the "Treasury" in the Nabatean city Petra in Jordan was used as a stand-in for the "Lost City" (there's an Indiana Jones Gift Shop at the entry to Petra to this day). The film was set shortly prior to WWII, and one of its focal scenes involves a German tank approaching the city (with Indy clinging to it, naturally). The tank isn't actually a Landship (indeed the use of that word even for WWI tanks is a misnomer - a Landship was a proposed British development that was replaced by more practical tanks, not itself an early British tank).
Rastafari Messiah: Upon becoming governor of Harar, Tafari Makonnen Woldemikael adopted the official title Ras ("head") - although the period when he was known as "Ras Tafari", prior to taking royal office as Emperor of Ethiopia and adopting the name Haile Selassie (now Haile Selassie I), was rather short, it's the name adopted by the Caribbean religious movement that identifies him as the first of its five prophesied messiahs. In life, Haile Selassie never officially either endorsed or rejected the Rastafarian belief in him as a messiah, and on his only visit to Jamaica he did meet with Rastafarian leaders.
Apocalypse Now: Title of a famous Francis Ford Copppola film from 1979, set during the Vietnam War although explicitly based on Joseph Conrad's novel The Heart of Darkness, an expose of colonialism in the Congo.
The Java Script: I had to be reminded of this one myself, but it refers to the programming language Javascript.
Greed is Good: Quote from the fictional character Gordon Gekko in the 1987 Oliver Stone film Wall Street.
Tear Down This Wall: The achievement (force an Order player to adopt the Freedom ideology) refers to perestroika, the reformation movement that ended the Soviet Union. The name refers to the destruction of the Berlin Wall, seen as the symbolic end of the Cold War.
A Magnificent Victory: The Ottoman leader is known to history as Suleiman the Magnificent.
Master of the Universe: He-Man and the Masters of the Universe was a popular 1980s childrens' cartoon made - as with many others of the time (and I presume subsequently) - to sell a range of associated action figures, comics and other merchandise.
Model of a Modern Major General and
Modern Major General: Reference to the title of probably the best-known song by late 19th Century English composers Gilbert and Sullivan, famous for their popular musicals (known at the time as comic operas). I Am The Model of a Modern Major-General was part of the musical The Pirates of Penzance, which debyted in 1879.
One To Rule Them All: "One ring to rule them all" forms part of a short poem in JRR Tolkein's The Lord of the Rings that describes the Nine Rings of its fiction. It has since become a catchphrase for The Lord of the Rings as a whole.
God is Great: English translation of Takbir, a common Islamic Arab folk expression better-known by the phrase Allahu Akbar used in similar contexts (both religious and secular) to the Christian "Amen".
Riddle of the Sphinx: In the traditional Greek myth of Oedipus, the sphinx guarded Thebes and could only be passed by solving its riddle, "Which creature has one voice and yet becomes four-footed and two-footed and three-footed?".
People of the Longhouse: English translation of Haudenosaunee, the name used by Iroquois peoples to refer to themselves (the name Iroquois itself being French, although of uncertain etymology)
The Golden Horde: The name of a 13th Century successor state of the Mongol Empire.
Khaaan!: Famous shouted exhortation by Captain Kirk in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
Nobody Expects The Spanish Inquisition and
Nobody Expects...: One of the most famous phrases from the British sketch show Monty Python's Flying Circus; in the episode in which it appears, first broadcast in 1970, Michael Palin pops up to repeat it several times in response to a variety of characters uttering variants of "I wasn't expecting the Spanish Inquisition".
Macho Picchu: Pun on the name of the most famous Inca site, itself a Civ Wonder.
League of Extraordinary Hoyanehs: Reference to a comic series following the adventures of a varying cast of 19th Century literary figures united in a superhero organisation, the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Hoyanehs were appointed Iroquois chiefs.
All Aboard the Orient Express: The Orient Express was a long-running rail service originally between Paris and Istanbul, but with various changes in route over an operating period that ran from 1883 to 2009. The name came to be referred with the more luxurious classes of travel on the route. "All aboard" was a traditional cry by railway conductors, at least in Britain.
This Isn't Kansas: A reference to Dorothy's line from the 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and its numerous adaptations in other media (most famously the 1939 film). The achievement refers to finding Australia (affectionately referred to as Oz, a colloquial rendering of its official abbreviation Aus) in the Polynesia scenario.
This Was Their Finest Hour: A line from a 1940 speech by Winston Churchill to the House of Commons, which successfully portrayed Britain's forced evacuation from Dunkirk, following the British army's defeat in mainland Europe, as a victory (successful in the sense that this is the way Britain has imagined it ever since). The achievement refers to winning an Anglo-Saxon (i.e. English in the context of the scenario) victory in another pivotal moment of British history, the 1066 scenario.
Turtle Power: The catchphrase from the late 1980s superhero parody cartoon series Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Taekwon-DOH: Taekwondo is a Korean martial art first developed in the 1940s based on traditional Korean and Japanese forms; it subsequently became the world's most popular martial art and has been an Olympic event since 2000. D'oh! is a famous catchphrase by the TV cartoon character Homer Simpson.
Epic Gilgamesh: The Epic of Gilgamesh is the world's oldest known example of epic literature, originating in Sumer and which had combined a number of older, previously unrelated poems into a single epic narrative by the 18th Century BC.
It satrap: "It's a trap!" is one of the most famous lines from the 1983 George Lucas film Return of the Jedi (now styled Star Wars Episode VI), uttered by Admiral Ackbar and rendered memorable by the voice and the character's octopus-head mask.
Wonderwall: Title of a 1995 song by British pop group Oasis.
Et tu, Brute: Famous penultimate words uttered by Julius Caesar in Shakespeare's eponymous play, possibly based on a pre-existing tradition that these were Ceasar's last words (for which there is no evidence).
From Russia With Love: Title of a 1957 novel by Ian Fleming, and of the second James Bond film (1963) based on the book.
Workers of the World - unite!: Famous slogan dating from The Communist Manifesto, written in 1848 by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Translated into Russian it was the state motto of the Soviet Union, and has been widely used among both communists and trade union socialists elsewhere.
One Small Step: "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind" were Neil Armstrong's first words on stepping foot on the moon. Scripted prior to launch, when Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin was anticipated as being the first to set foot on the moon, the line actually read "One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind" but Armstrong got the line wrong and missed the critical "a". Although as now known to posterity the spoken version makes no sense, I think it's a better line.
Everybody Wants To Rule the World: Title of a 1985 song by English pop group Tears for Fears.
Here's Looking at You, Kid: Probably the most famous line from the 1942 film Casablanca. The film is set against the backdrop of the German North African Campaign and was released contemporary with the Allied invasion of North Africa; its characters are refugees aiming to escape Morocco for the United States. The achievement (airlift a civilian unit from Casablanca) references this.
Built in (Almost) A Day: Allusion to an English idiom exhorting patience, that Rome wasn't built in a day, a translation from a French proverb dating to the 12th Century.
Raiders of the Lost Ark: Title of the 1981 adventure film Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, the first film to introduce the now-famous character. The film's plot revolved around Indy trying to beat the Nazis to the Ark of the Covenant, which in the film (contrary to all historical and pseudo-historical hypotheses about its location) is buried in Egypt. The film's main antagonist is an American archaeologist working with the Germans. This is referenced in the achievement, for which you have to extract an artifact from Egypt with an American archaeologist within two tiles of a German archaeologist.
Losing My Marbles: Reference to the removal of surviving friezes from the Parthenon by Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin, between 1801 and 1812. This has since become one of the most controversial cases of archaeological relics being removed from a historic site, in part because it has been questioned since the removal itself whether the permits Elgin claimed from the Ottoman government did indeed permit the removal of artefacts from the Parthenon. Since independence Greece has repeatedly pressed the British government for the return of the Elgin Marbles, so far without success for various reasons relating to legal precedents, a perceived lack of ability for Greece to preserve the marbles from further damage, and the claimed lack of academic value of having the marbles in Greece.
It Belongs in a Museum: Phrase originally uttered by Indiana Jones in the pre-titles scene of Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade, and later repeated close to the film's conclusion.
British Invasion: Name given to the drastic growth in popularity in British pop and rock bands in mid-1960s America, led by The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Kinks and The Who but with many lesser-remembered acts.
Rock The Kasbah: Title (with Casbah spelled with a C) of a well-known 1982 song by English punk rock band The Clash. As an aside, I think I came up with the idea for this achievement...
Pyramid Scheme and
Nigerian Bank Account: A type of marketing scheme popularised in the 1990s when many people fell victim to early internet-based pyramid schemes promoted by con artists, and now illegal in many countries as well as a byword for unsound investments. The association of the achievement with the Louvre refers to the glass pyramid in this museum's forecourt, completed in 1993. in the 2000s, pyramid schemes have often taken the form of emails requesting investment in the bank account of wealthy individuals, especially in Nigeria, on the promise of a return on the investment down the line, and the "Nigerian" spam emails have become an internet meme and source of ridicule.
That's XCOM Baby!: A widely-used promotional phrase by Firaxis for the redesigned XCOM: Enemy Unknown released in 2012, referring to the random element of the X-COM games much treasured by many fans of the originals. It's associated particularly with bad luck in the game, hence the achievement being granted for having an XCOM unit go from 100 to 0 health within a single game.
Dr Livingstone I Presume?: Phrase famously uttered by Welsh-American journalist Henry Morton Stanley on finally meeting David Livingstone, Stanley having been sent to find him for a story following Livingstone's departure from public life for six years due mostly to illness.
The Rhodes Colossus: The achievement commemorates the effort by Cecil Rhodes to open Africa for exploitation with a railway leading from Cairo to the Cape of Good Hope. The railway was never completed. The name is a pun on the Colossus of Rhodes, an ancient bronze statue conventionally believed to have been erected in Rhodes and - as one of the largest statues of antiquity - immortalised as one of the Wonders of the Ancient World although it stood for less than a century.
