Machu Picchu is a pre-Columbian Inca site
located 2,430 metres (8,000 ft) above sea level. It is situated
on a mountain ridge above the Urubamba Valley in Peru, which
is 80 kilometres (50 mi) northwest of Cuzco and through which
the Urubamba River flows. The river is a partially navigable
headwater of the Amazon River. Often referred to as "The
Lost City of the Incas", Machu Picchu is one of the most
familiar symbols of the Inca Empire
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The Incas started building it around 1460
AD but was abandoned as an official site for the Inca rulers
a hundred years later, at the time of the Spanish conquest
of the Inca Empire. Although known locally, it was said
who to have been forgotten for centuries when the site
was brought to worldwide attention in 1911 by Hiram Bingham,
an American historian. Since then, Machu Picchu has become
an important tourist attraction. It has recently come to light
that the site may have been discovered and plundered several
years previously, in 1867 by a German businessman, Augusto
Berns. In fact, there is substantial evidence that a British
missionary, Thomas Payne, and a German engineer, J. M. von
Hassel, arrived earlier than Hiram, and maps found by historians
show references to Machu Picchu as early as 1874.Machu
Picchu was declared a Peruvian Historical Sanctuary in 1981
and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983. Since it was not
plundered by the Spanish when they conquered the Incas, it
is especially important as a cultural site and is considered
a sacred place.
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