Machu Picchu

History

Machu Picchu is a 15th-century Inca citadel in the Eastern Cordillera of southern Peru. It stands on a mountain ridge at 2,430 meters (7,970 ft), about 80 kilometers (50 miles) northwest of Cusco. It is above the Sacred Valley and along the Urubamba River. People often call it the "Lost City of the Incas." It is one of the most famous symbols of the Inca civilization.

We think people built Machu Picchu around 1450, maybe as a home for the Inca emperor Pachacuti. It was left empty about a century later, perhaps during the Spanish conquest.

Features

Machu Picchu was built in the classical Inca style with very neat dry-stone walls. Important buildings there include the Temple of the Sun, the Temple of the Three Windows, and the Intihuatana ritual stone.

Modern Discovery

Even though local people knew about Machu Picchu, the world learned about it in 1911 thanks to an American historian named Hiram Bingham III. In 1981, Peru made it a National Historic Sanctuary. Then, in 1983, it became a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In 2007, people chose it as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. Today, lots of visitors go there each year, making it Peru's most popular place for tourists from other countries.

Etymology

The name Machu Picchu comes from the Quechua language. In this language, machu means "old" and pikchu means "peak" or "summit." So, the name can be understood as "old mountain" or "old peak."

We do not know the original name the builders used. Some think it might have been called Huayna Picchu, after a nearby smaller peak, or just Picchu. The name Machu Picchu became famous through the writings of American explorer Hiram Bingham in 1911.

History

The Machu Picchu story is full of mystery. Experts think people lived there between about 1420 and 1530. Many believe the Inca emperor Pachacutec Inca Yupanqui built it as a special home.

Machu Picchu was probably a place for important Inca people to visit. It was left empty around the mid-1500s, maybe because of the Spanish coming and sicknesses like smallpox in the Inca Empire. The site stayed hidden until explorers found it in the early 1900s.

Current state

Further information: Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu is a special protected area called a "Historic Sanctuary." It covers 325.92 square kilometers and has many plants and animals. You can find the Andean fox, puma, and more than 420 kinds of birds here. In 1983, UNESCO chose Machu Picchu as a World Heritage Site because of its special Inca design.

Close to the ruins is a town named Aguas Calientes. This town has hotels, a train station, and places for visitors to use. Many people visit Machu Picchu each year. To keep the site safe, there are rules that limit how many people can visit each day and how tourism is managed.

Geography

Machu Picchu is in the Southern Hemisphere, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) northwest of Cusco. It is high in the mountains at 2,430 meters (7,970 feet) above sea level. This gives it a milder climate than Cusco. This famous place is one of the most important archaeological sites in South America and a popular tourist spot in Peru.

The city is between two mountains, with cliffs dropping down to the Urubamba River below. The area often has morning mists from the river. The land around Machu Picchu has special stone terraces that help protect the site and allow farming. Several old roads connect Machu Picchu to nearby places, with one main path leading through the Sun Gate.

Site

Machu Picchu has two main parts: an agricultural area in the southeast with terraces, and an urban area in the northeast with homes, temples, and storage buildings. The urban area has an upper town and a lower town. The upper town includes the Sacred Plaza and important temples like the Intihuatana, the Temple of the Sun, and the Temple of the Three Windows. The lower town has simple houses and spaces for community activities.

The Intihuatana stone is a special ritual stone that points toward the sun during certain times of the year. The Temple of the Sun is a rounded structure with fine stonework, and the Temple of the Three Windows offers views of sunrises and sunsets over the mountains. Machu Picchu’s buildings show clever use of the landscape, with stone walls fitted together without mortar to stay strong despite earthquakes and heavy rain.

In popular culture

Machu Picchu has appeared in many movies, TV shows, and music. The film Secret of the Incas (1954), starring Charlton Heston and Yma Sumac, was the first big Hollywood movie filmed there. Other movies like Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972), The Motorcycle Diaries (2004), and Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (2023) also used Machu Picchu as a setting. It has been in TV shows such as "Ghosts of Machu Picchu" from NOVA, and even an episode of The Simpsons. The site continues to inspire artists and filmmakers everywhere.