Machu Picchu Overview & History

Introduction

Machu Picchu is located in the Andes Mountains of Peru, approximately 50 miles northwest of the city of Cusco. Believed to be built as a retreat for the Inca Emperor beginning in approximately 1450 AD, it would be abandoned nearly 100 years later and left hidden from most of the world, buried under the encroaching forest.

Timeline

  • 1438: New Inca Emperor Pachacutec begins rapid expansion of Inca Empire
  • 1450: Construction begins at Machu Picchu
  • 1471: Empire grows to 2,500 miles in length and upwards of one million people
  • 1531: Francisco Pizarro of Spain lands in Peru to claim it on behalf of his Queen
  • 1532: Pizarro captures the Inca EmperorAtahualpa.
  • 1572: The last Inca city, Vilcabamba, falls and final vestige of the empire disappears
  • 1911: Yale University lecturer Hiram Bingham is led to Machu Picchu on July 24th
  • 1912: Bingham and National Geographic Society expedition excavate at site
  • 1913: National Geographic devotes entire April issue to Bingham’s find

Available Online from:

Stone Offerings, Machu Picchu's Terraces of Enlightenment