Photos of Top 10 Inca Ruins to See -- National Geographic 1. Sacsahuaman Photograph by Gonzalez, Laif/Redux Not long ago, Machu Picchu was voted one of the New Seven Wonders of the World, a result that will surprise none of the millions of people who’ve visited the spectacular stone citadel in the sky. What most visitors to Peru don’t know, however, is that the country is thick with ancient Inca wonders. Here are ten others worth checking out. Many are within a day’s journey of Cusco and can be combined with a visit to Machu Picchu. The first is Sacsahuaman (pictured above). Arguably the greatest Inca ruin outside of Machu Picchu, this gargantuan complex overlooks the city of Cusco. (You can take a taxi or hike up in less than an hour.) Sacsahuaman is believed to have once been a royal retreat, a fortress, or both. Its zigzag walls are built with some of the largest stones to be found in Inca masonry; some are estimated to weigh as much as 300 tons, yet are fit together as tightly as the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.

— Mark Adams , author of Turn Right at Machu Picchu 2. Vitcos/Yurak Rumi Photograph by Mark Adams When Hiram Bingham came to Peru in 1911 to search for the Lost City of the Inca, one of his top priorities was finding this former Inca settlement. The main palace here is enormous—its front wall measures more than 200 feet across—and its doorways feature some of the finest Inca stonework in existence. The real draw, though, is Yurak Rumi (pictured above)—“White Rock” in Quechua—an intricately carved granite boulder the size of a city bus, which was once one of the holiest shrines in the Inca Empire. 3. Pisac Photograph by Raach, laif/Redux These ruins, overlooking the Urubamba River less than an hour northeast of Cusco, are notable for their Inca waterworks and beautiful, curving agricultural terraces, which offer excellent vistas of the Sacred Valley.

The religious buildings in particular are as finely made as those at Machu Picchu, and the site features one of Peru’s only remaining intihuatanas, enigmatic carved rocks that were used for astronomical observation. The town of Pisac, located beneath the ruins, also hosts a popular local crafts market. 4. Ollantaytambo Photograph by Paul Spierenburg, Laif/Redux In 1536, this settlement was the site of the Inca's greatest military victory over the invading Spaniards. Today, it is one of the only towns in Peru that retains its original Inca walls and street grid, dominated by long, ancient stone walls that once divided groups of homes around communal courtyards. An imposing set of stone terraces (from which the Inca assaulted their Spanish invaders with slingshots and arrows), capped by six enigmatic slabs of pink granite, looms above the town. Most trains to and from Machu Picchu stop at Ollantaytambo, making it an ideal overnight stop. 5.

Cusco and the Koricancha Photograph by Vassil Donev, EPA/Corbis The name Cusco can be translated as “navel of the world,” and this holy city was once the nexus of the Inca Empire; four roads led out from its central plaza in the cardinal directions, toward the empire’s four quarters. Cusco was also home to the palaces of its rulers. Most of the original Inca buildings were destroyed by the conquistadors, but some walls—famous for masonry so precise that a knife blade cannot be wedged between stones—were incorporated into new structures. The walls were so well made that they’ve withstood major earthquakes and can still be seen in Cusco’s tight alleyways. The holiest site of all was the Koricancha, or sun temple, which at the time of the Spanish invasion was covered in sheets of gold. The precious metals have long since departed, but much of the original temple still stands beneath the veneer of a Spanish monastery. 6. Moray Photograph by Ian Wood, Alamy This unique archaeological site is one of the best examples—along with Machu Picchu—of what might be called extreme Inca landscaping.

Three enormous pits, each with beautifully curved sides that staircase down like the interiors of titanic flowerpots, have been carved out of the earth to depths of up to 100 feet and more. Air temperatures between the top and bottom layers can differ by more than 20 degrees, which has led some researchers to theorize that Moray was an Inca agricultural site where experiments on crops were conducted. 7. Choquequirao Photograph by Jason Rothe, Alamy Often referred to as Machu Picchu’s sister city because of its striking similarity to the more famous site, Choquequirao may in fact be the larger of the two. (Only 30 percent of the original complex is believed to have been uncovered; in 2005, several sets of ancient agricultural terraces decorated with stone llamas were found.) In addition to its fascinating ruins around a central plaza (as at Machu Picchu), Choquequirao offers the most breathtaking views of any Inca site.

The arduous two-day walk to what was probably the estate of an Inca emperor is slowly gaining in popularity as an alternative to the Inca Trail, but to reach the ruins one must walk up and down the steep sides of a valley almost a mile deep. 8. Isla del Sol Photograph by Karl-Heinz Raach, Laif/Redux According to the creation myth of the Inca, this island in the middle of Lake Titicaca is where the waters that once covered the Earth receded and the all-powerful sun god, Inti, first emerged. Today the island—which is located on the Bolivian side of the lake—is still home to dozens of Inca and pre-Inca ruins connected by hiking trails (no cars are allowed on the island). Among the most impressive sights are the labyrinth-like structure called the Chincana (above) and the sacred Titi Khar’ka—Rock of the Puma—which gave the lake its name. 9. Tipon Photograph by Linda Whitwam, Getty Images The Inca were brilliant engineers who strove to integrate their architecture with its natural surroundings.

Tipon, a 500-acre site built around a spring near Cusco, has been called their masterpiece of water management. Because the waterworks were constructed as part of a country estate for Inca nobility, Tipon has beautiful stone structures akin to those at Machu Picchu, built in the imperial Inca style, with trapezoidal doors, and serviced by finely cut stone fountains. The intricate baths and irrigation channels still function five centuries after the Spanish conquest, which provides Tipon with an endless, soothing soundtrack of running water. 10. Huchuy Cusco Photograph by Rebecca J. Spurling This Inca town, whose name means “Little Cusco” in Quechua, is believed to have been constructed by an early Inca emperor to mark the conquest of a nearby rival tribe. Today, it’s best known for its impressive number of stone buildings and commanding view of the Sacred Valley. What makes the ruins especially appealing, though, is that they are accessible only on foot, and can be reached from (Big) Cusco in less than a day, making them a popular overnight trip. Much of the scenic uphill journey is made through winding gorges and on original stone Inca roads.

Machu Picchu: Facts & History Machu Picchu: Facts & History By Owen Jarus, Live Science Contributor | August 31, 2012 12:32pm ET MORE Machu Picchu was an Incan retreat for its emperor. Credit: UNESCO Machu Picchu is a 15th-century Inca site located on a ridge between the Huayna Picchu and Machu Picchu mountains in Peru. It sits 7,970 feet (2,430 meters) above sea level on the eastern slope of the Andes and overlooks the Urubamba River hundreds of feet below. The site’s excellent preservation, the quality of its architecture, and the breathtaking mountain vista it occupies has made Machu Picchu one of the most famous archaeological sites in the world today. The site covers 80,000 acres (32,500 hectares). Terraced fields on the edge of the site were once used for growing crops, likely maize and potatoes. In 1911, explorer Hiram Bingham III, a professor at Yale University, visited the site and published its existence for the first time.

He found it covered with vegetation, much of which has now been removed. The buildings were made without mortar (typical of the Inca), their granite stones quarried and precisely cut. When Bingham discovered the site he was actually searching for Vilcabamba, the last capital of the Inca before their final defeat at the hands of the Spanish in 1572. The explorer found Machu Picchu largely intact, having apparently never been visited by the Spanish conquistadors. In fact, the only reference to the site at all in Spanish documents is a mention of the word “Picchu” in a 1568 document, the text implying that it belonged to the Inca emperor. An emperor’s abode Machu Picchu is believed to have been built by Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui, the ninth ruler of the Inca, in the mid-1400s. An empire builder, Pachacuti initiated a series of conquests that would eventually see the Inca grow into a South American realm that stretched from Ecuador to Chile.

Many archaeologists believe that Machu Picchu was constructed as a royal estate of sorts, the presence of elite residences in the northeast sector of the site backing that idea up. It would have been used by the emperor and his family as a temporary respite, the site supporting a small number of year-round caretakers. Other examples of Inca royal estates are known in Peru. Interestingly, the dwelling of the emperor himself appears to be in the southwest part of the site, away from the other elite residences. A building known today as the “Temple of the Sun” is adjacent to it. A staircase running beside the royal compound leads to a plaza below, and the emperor was afforded a garden, a private bath and even a private toilet area — the only private one on site. Although Machu Picchu has a wall, modest gateway and dry moat (likely used for collecting rainwater) it doesn’t appear to have been set up with military purposes in mind, and there is no evidence that a battle of any sort was fought there. Temple of the Sun Machu Picchu has a number of structures that would have enhanced the spiritual significance of the site.

One of them, the “Temple of the Sun,” or Torreón, has an elliptical design similar to a sun temple found at the Inca capital of Cuzco. It is located near where the Inca emperor is believed to have resided at Machu Picchu. A rock inside the temple could have served as an altar. During the June solstice the rising sun shines directly into one of the temple’s windows, and this indicates an alignment between the window, rock and solstice sun. Beneath the temple lies a cave, naturally formed, which the explorer Bingham referred to as a “royal mausoleum,” although there’s little evidence that it was used as such. A boulder carved into a stairway lies near the cave entrance and the underground chamber likely served a religious function of some form. Principal temple & Intihuatana A series of religious structures is located on the northwest of the site, bordering the plaza. One of the buildings, dubbed the “Principal Temple,” contains a carved stone altar. When it was excavated by Bingham he found that it has a layer of white sand, something seen in temples at Cuzco, the Incan capital.

[ Images: Top 10 Ancient Capitals ] A building adjacent to the “Principal Temple” is known as the “Temple of the Three Windows” and contains a large amount of broken pottery, ritually smashed it appears. But perhaps the biggest puzzle at Machu Picchu is a giant rock, named “the Intihuatana” by Bingham, after other carved stones found in the Incan empire. The stone at Machu Picchu is situated on a raised platform that towers above the plaza. Its purpose is a mystery, with recent research disproving the idea that it acted as a sundial. It may have been used for astronomical observations of some form. It may also be connected with the mountains that surround Machu Picchu. Abandonment of Machu Picchu Machu Picchu did not survive the collapse of the Inca. In the 16th century the Spanish appeared in South America, plagues afflicting the Inca along with military campaigns waged by conquistadors. In 1572, with the fall of the last Incan capital, their line of rulers came to end. Machu Picchu, a royal estate once visited by great emperors, fell into ruin.

Today, the site is on the United Nations' list of World Heritage sites. Peru: History History History Early History Peru has been inhabited since at least the 9th millennium B.C., and the earliest known American civilization, sometimes called the Caral-Supe, emerged there in the Norte Chico region by c.3200 B.C. Peru was later the center of several developed cultures, including the Chavín (see Chavín de Huántar ), the Chimu , and the Nazca . In the 12th cent. A.D., the Quechua-speaking Inca settled around Cuzco, and in the mid-15th cent. they established by conquest a large, well-organized empire that included most of present-day Peru and Ecuador and parts of Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, and Colombia. Their fortress city of Machu Picchu is perhaps the most extraordinary ruin in the Americas. Around 1530 the empire was weakened by civil war initiated by Atahualpa and Huáscar , who had been designated as dual heirs by their father, Huayna Capac .

The Spanish Conquest Atahualpa had defeated Huascar for control of the Inca empire by 1532, when Francisco Pizarro , a Spaniard, arrived on the coast of Peru with a small band of adventurers. Atahualpa agreed to meet Pizarro at Cajamarca , where he was imprisoned after refusing to accept Spanish suzerainty and Christianity. Although the emperor's followers collected a huge ransom in gold and silver for his release, the Spaniards executed him in mid-1533. By late 1533, Pizarro had captured Cuzco, the Inca capital, and the empire had disintegrated. In 1535, Pizarro founded Lima, which in 1542 became the center of Spanish rule in South America. From 1536 to 1544, Manco Capac , who had succeeded Atahualpa as emperor, led several unsuccessful uprisings against the Spaniards.

At the same time, Pizarro and his brothers and companions (including Sebastián de Benalcázar ) were unsuccessfully challenged by Pedro de Alvarado and then by Diego de Almagro and his son, who was defeated (1542) by Vaca de Castro , a representative of the Spanish crown sent to restore order. Pizarro forced the natives held in encomienda to work in the mines, on the lands of Spanish landlords, and in the small textile mills ( obrajes ). The New Laws of 1542, which would have ended the abuses of the encomienda system, caused Gonzalo Pizarro to revolt (1544). He defeated the viceroy, Blasco Núñez Vela , but was in turn defeated (and executed) by Pedro de la Gasca in 1548. However, the New Laws were never administered for the benefit of the native peoples. Francisco de Toledo , who was viceroy from 1569 to 1581, improved administration, defeated a revolt under the Inca Tupac Amaru, and resettled the natives in new villages, or reductions .

The viceroyalty of Peru was expanded to include all of Spanish-ruled South America except Venezuela, and the mining of silver and gold increased. Lima was the administrative, religious, economic, and cultural center of the viceroyalty. In the 18th cent. Peru was drastically reduced in size by the creation of the viceroyalty of New Granada and a viceroyalty centered at Buenos Aires (see Argentina ); as a result, Lima lost control over considerable trade and mineral wealth. At the same time, government in Peru was reformed, but Spaniards retained almost complete control in the viceroyalty, and the indigenous peoples and creoles (persons of Spanish descent born in Peru) remained powerless and poor. Led by a man who called himself Tupac Amaru in reference to his alleged Inca ancestor, the native inhabitants revolted in 1780, but were defeated by 1783. There were a few additional uprisings in the early 19th cent. Independence The ideas of the French Revolution, and Napoleon I's conquest (1808) of Spain, led to strong independence movements in all of Spain's Latin American holdings except Peru.

Peru's loyalty to Spain was due to the relatively large number of Spaniards who resided there, to the concentration of Spanish power at Lima, and to the efficiency of the government in the viceroyalty. As a result, Peru achieved independence (1821) largely because of the efforts of outsiders, notably José de San Martín and Simón Bolívar . After he had ended Spanish rule in Chile in 1818, San Martín captured the Peruvian port of Pisco in 1820. Shortly thereafter the viceroy evacuated Lima, and on July 28, 1821, San Martín proclaimed the independence of Peru. However, Spanish forces remained in the interior. Bolívar took over the leadership of the liberation movement in 1822, and in 1824 he and his aides Antonio José de Sucre and Andrés Santa Cruz assured Peru's independence by defeating Spain at the battles of Junín and Ayacucho . Santa Cruz left Peru to govern Bolivia in 1828, and government in Peru became confused as several military leaders vied for power.

Taking advantage of the disorder, Santa Cruz joined Bolivia and Peru in a confederation in 1836. Fearing the power of the new state, Chile intervened militarily and the confederation was terminated (1839) after the battle of Yungay. Peru continued to be torn by civil strife until the emergence of Gen. Ramón Castilla , who was president from 1844 to 1850 and from 1855 to 1862. Under Castilla, Peru enjoyed stability and economic development. The Late Nineteenth Century A republican constitution was promulgated in 1860 and remained in effect until 1920. After Castilla, Peruvian politics again were in turmoil, due to corruption, growing foreign indebtedness, and an attempt by Spain to regain Peru. Claiming that Peru had not met its financial obligations, Spain seized the guano-rich Chincha Islands in 1863. Aided by Chile, Bolivia, and Ecuador, Peru defeated the Spanish at Callao in 1866; a truce was signed in 1871 and in 1879 Spain recognized Peru's independence.

Meanwhile, President José Balta (1868–72) undertook a costly program of public works, including the building of Peru's first railroad, between Mollendo and Arequipa. Foreign debt had risen dramatically by the time the country's first civilian president, Manuel Pardo (1872–76), inaugurated a series of economic reforms. In 1873, Peru signed a secret defensive alliance with Bolivia, which led to war with Chile (see Pacific, War of the ) in 1879. Chile badly defeated the allies and by the Treaty of Ancón (1883) Peru had to yield the province of Tarapacá and also to surrender the other southern coastal provinces of Tacna and Arica to Chilean administration for a period of 10 years, when a plebiscite was to be held. There ensued the Tacna-Arica Controversy , which was not resolved until 1929, and tensions over the border have periodically flared since. Peru emerged nearly bankrupt from the war. President A. A.

Cáceres (1886–90) created a syndicate of foreign capitalists to manage the guano deposits and the railroads, and foreign influence and holdings in Peru grew stronger. Twentieth-Century Peru The first third of the century was dominated by President Augusto B. Leguía (1908–12, 1919–30), who for much of his tenure was a virtual dictator; he promoted economic development in the interest of the country's dominant oligarchy. In 1924 a new political party, the Alianza Popular Revolucionaria Americana ( APRA ), was founded by Víctor Raúl Haya de la Torre ; it called for radical reform, especially of the condition of native peoples. The party was banned by Leguía and was again outlawed after Sánchez Cerro overthrew Leguía in 1930. The 1930s were marked by bitter rivalry between leftists and rightists, with the latter dominating politics for most of the decade. However, a more moderate course was followed by President Manuel Prado y Ugarteche (1939–45).

Peru was involved in a serious boundary dispute with Ecuador in 1941 and sided with the Allies in World War II. APRA was allowed to take part in the 1945 elections and backed the victorious moderate, José Luís Bustamante y Rivero. However, APRA split with Bustamante in 1947, and the resulting disputes led to a military coup by Manuel Odría in 1948. Odría, a conservative, was president until 1956, when Prado was again elected, this time with APRA support. In the 1962 presidential elections Haya de la Torre won by a small plurality, but did not receive the required one third of the total vote. The military seized power and conducted elections in 1963 that were won by Fernando Belaúnde Terry , a moderate reformer. Belaúnde opened up the interior of the country by constructing a highway system through the Andes, but his regime was plagued by budgetary deficits and spiraling inflation. In 1968 he was deposed by a military junta, which installed General Juan Velasco Alvarado as president.

Velasco suspended the constitution and assumed dictatorial powers, seeking to diversify the country's economy by exploiting its natural resources (especially petroleum) with foreign help but without foreign control. In 1970 a severe earthquake in N Peru killed about 50,000 people. In 1975, Gen. Francisco Morales Bermúdez headed a new junta, and in 1980, a new constitution came into force and civilian government was restored. Both Morales and his successor, Belaúnde, instituted austerity programs to aid the failing economy. Inflation soared, leading to civil unrest, much of it led by a Maoist guerrilla group based in the Andes Mts. known as the Shining Path and by the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA). Alan García Pérez , elected president in 1985, instituted a broad range of social and economic reforms, but the cost of military actions against the insurgents continued to strain the economy, which suffered from rampaging inflation. His term was also marred by cronyism and corruption and charges of army abuses in actions against the Shining Path, and he left office widely discredited.

In 1990, Alberto Fujimori defeated author Mario Vargas Llosa for the presidency. Insurgent violence continued, and in Apr., 1992, Fujimori suspended the constitution, claiming that emergency action was necessary to fight guerrillas, drug traffickers, and corruption. By Sept., 1992, many Shining Path leaders had been captured and jailed, and the rebel group no longer posed a serious threat to the government. After three years of economic liberalization, hyperinflation was eliminated, and the economy was growing at a good rate. In 1993 voters approved a new constitution that allowed Fujimori to run for a second consecutive term; he was easily reelected in 1995, and his party won a large majority in the new congress. There was, however, international criticism of his authoritarian policies and concern over the power of the Peruvian army. In 1995 Peru and Ecuador clashed in a brief border war; the dispute was resolved by treaty in 1998. On Dec.

17, 1996, a group of MRTA guerrillas infiltrated a reception at the Japanese ambassador's residence in Lima and took about 600 hostages, many of whom were soon released; the MRTA's demands included freedom for their jailed comrades. Following months of failed negotiations, Peruvian forces stormed the building on Apr. 22, 1997, saving all but one of the remaining 72 hostages and killing 14 guerrillas. In the late 1990s, Fujimori continued with his privatization program as Peru struggled with a recession due in part to the effects of a particularly damaging El Niño and a financial crisis in Asia; the economy began recovering in 1999. In the 2000 presidential contest, his government orchestrated widespread media attacks on his opponents, but despite this Alejandro Toledo Manrique , a business-school professor, forced Fujimori into a runoff election. The election commission was accused by observers of vote tampering and trying to steal the first-round election, and Toledo withdrew from the runoff, expecting Fujimori's campaign to engage again in fraud.

In the congressional elections, Fujimori's party, Peru 2000, lost control of the congress but remained the largest bloc, with more than 40% of the seats. In September his chief adviser and head of the intelligence service, Vladimiro Montesinos, was revealed to have bribed opposition lawmakers, and Fujimori abruptly offered to hold new presidential elections in which he would not run. Ongoing political instability and the possibility of a corruption investigation led Fujimori to resign in November while traveling in Japan, where he remained in exile. The congress, however, refused to accept his resignation and declared him morally incapacitated and the presidency vacant. Congress speaker Valentín Paniagua became interim president, and new congressional and presidential elections were scheduled for the following year. In June, 2001, Toledo was elected president, after defeating former president Alan García in a runoff. Although the electorate showed no great enthusiasm for either candidate, the election was notable for being nearly free of irregularities.

Toledo sought to purge Peru's military and security forces of supporters of Fujimori and Montesinos; the latter was arrested in mid-2001 and later convicted of corruption, plotting to overthrow Fujimori, and other charges. Toledo's popularity subsequently evaporated, however, as a result of political promises that went unfulfilled and ethical scandals involving several ministers in his government. Elections in Nov., 2002, for the newly established regional governments were a victory for Alan García's APRA party. In July, 2004, Toledo was charged by a former aide with taking a $5 million bribe from a Colombian company. Toledo denied the accusation, but the charge further eroded what little public standing he had. In Jan., 2005, a group of 150 army reservists staged an abortive uprising in Andahuaylas, in S central Peru, and called for Toledo's resignation; they surrendered after four days. Charges that Toledo and his party had been involved in forging signatures to register for the 2000 elections led in 2005 to a congressional committee investigation that, after splitting along party lines, accused Toledo of electoral fraud.

The congress, however, did not vote to impeach Toledo. In Oct. 2005, voters rejected a goverment proposal to consolidate 25 of Peru's regions into five "macroregions." An ambush by Shining Path guerrillas in December led to the declaration of a two-month state of emergency in E Peru, and the group experienced something of a resurgence beginning in 2007 due to payments it derived from protecting the illegal cocaine trade. Peru accused Venezuelan president Chávez of interfering in its politics in Jan., 2006, when he met with and offered support to Peruvian presidential candidate Ollanta Humala , a leftist nationalist who had led an abortive military uprising in 2000 (and whose brother had led the 2005 uprising). The two nations subsequently (April) recalled their ambassadors, but agreed to resume ties eight months later. Also in January, an attempt to register Fujimori, who had visited Chile and was arrested there at Peru's request, as a presidential candidate was denied. Humala finished first in the Apr., 2006, presidential election, but fell well short of a majority of the vote.

Humala was forced into a runoff with former president Alan García, who won the post after the June vote largely because he was regarded by many as the lesser of two evils. Humala's party, however, won the largest bloc of seats in the Peruvian congress. In Dec., 2006, Humala was charged with rebellion in connection with the 2005 Andahuaylas uprising. An earthquake in Aug., 2007, caused extensive devastation in the Ica region of SW Peru; more than 500 persons were killed. Fujimori was extradited from Chile to Peru in Sept., 2007, and he was subsequently convicted (2007, 2009) in four cases arising from his presidency. In Oct., 2008, seven members of García's cabinet lost their posts over their possible involvement in a corruption scandal in which a Norwegian oil exploration company was accused of paying kickbacks in return for government contracts. The cabinet changes were also partially prompted by demonstrations over the regional distribution of mining revenue.

In Apr., 2009, there were demonstrations and blockades in Peru's Amazonian region against laws passed by decree in 2007–8 that governed the economic development of government lands; indigenous peoples feared that the laws would permit businesses to gain control of their lands. In June, following a deadly clash between government forces and protesters in which dozens died, the laws were repealed, and the prime minister resigned in July. The incident was the worst of a series of confrontations with indigenous groups over resource development that marked the last half of García's second term. In Apr., 2011, Humala again won the first round of the presidential election, with about one third of the vote; Keiko Fujimori, daughter of the former president, placed second. In the June runoff, Humala defeated Fujimori by a relatively narrow margin. The new government subsequently faced massive antimining protests that turned violent and deadly, and led to a declaration of a state of emergency. One of Humala's two vice presidents, Omar Chehade, resigned in Jan., 2012, after he faced impeachment over corruption charges; Chehade had resisted Humala's call that he resign.

In Apr., 2012, the government said a remnant Shining Path group operating in central Peru had been defeated; other remnants, in SE Peru, were more successful in resisting government forces. Sections in this article: Machu Picchu Machu Picchu Ruins of Machu Picchu ( Enlarge ) The ruins of Machu Picchu, rediscovered in 1911 by Yale archaeologist Hiram Bingham, are one of the most beautiful and enigmatic ancient sites in the world. While the Inca people certainly used the Andean mountain top (7972 feet elevation), erecting many hundreds of stone structures from the early 1400's, legends and myths indicate that Machu Picchu (meaning 'Old Peak' in the Quechua language) was revered as a sacred place from a far earlier time. Whatever its origins, the Inca turned the site into a small (5 square miles) but extraordinary city. Invisible from below and completely self-contained, surrounded by agricultural terraces sufficient to feed the population, and watered by natural springs, Machu Picchu seems to have been utilized by the Inca as a secret ceremonial city.

Two thousand feet above the rumbling Urubamba river, the cloud shrouded ruins have palaces, baths, temples, storage rooms and some 150 houses, all in a remarkable state of preservation. These structures, carved from the gray granite of the mountain top are wonders of both architectural and aesthetic genius. Many of the building blocks weigh 50 tons or more yet are so precisely sculpted and fitted together with such exactitude that the mortarless joints will not permit the insertion of even a thin knife blade. Little is known of the social or religious use of the site during Inca times. The skeletal remains of ten females to one male had led to the casual assumption that the site may have been a sanctuary for the training of priestesses and /or brides for the Inca nobility. However, subsequent osteological examination of the bones revealed an equal number of male bones, thereby indicating that Machu Picchu was not exclusively a temple or dwelling place of women. One of Machu Picchu's primary functions was that of astronomical observatory. The Intihuatana stone (meaning 'Hitching Post of the Sun') has been shown to be a precise indicator of the date of the two equinoxes and other significant celestial periods.

The Intihuatana (also called the Saywa or Sukhanka stone) is designed to hitch the sun at the two equinoxes, not at the solstice (as is stated in some tourist literature and new-age books). At midday on March 21st and September 21st, the sun stands almost directly above the pillar, creating no shadow at all. At this precise moment the sun "sits with all his might upon the pillar" and is for a moment "tied" to the rock. At these periods, the Incas held ceremonies at the stone in which they "tied the sun" to halt its northward movement in the sky. There is also an Intihuatana alignment with the December solstice (the summer solstice of the southern hemisphere), when at sunset the sun sinks behind Pumasillo (the Puma's claw), the most sacred mountain of the western Vilcabamba range, but the shrine itself is primarily equinoctial. The Intihuatana stone, Machu Picchu Shamanic legends tell that when a sensitive person touches their forehead to the Intihuatana stone it opens their vision to the spirit world.

Intihuatana stones were the supremely sacred objects of the Inca people and were systematically searched for and destroyed by the Spaniards. When the Intihuatana stone was broken at an Inca shrine, the Inca believed that the deities of the place died or departed. The Spaniards never found Machu Picchu, even though they suspected its existence, thus the Intihuatana stone and its resident spirits remain in their original position. The mountain top sanctuary fell into disuse and was abandoned some forty years after the Spanish took Cuzco in 1533. Supply lines linking the many Inca social centers were disrupted and the great empire came to an end. The photograph shows the ruins of Machu Picchu in the foreground with the sacred peak of Wayna Picchu towering behind. Partway down the northern side of Wayna Picchu is the so-called "Temple of the Moon" inside a cavern. As with the ruins of Machu Picchu, there is no archaeological or iconographical evidence to substantiate the "new-age" assumption that this cave was a goddess site.

Although Hiram Bingham was the first person to bring word of the ruins to the outside world in 1911, other outsiders were said to have seen Machu Picchu before him. The site may have been discovered in 1867 by a German businessman, Augusto Berns, and there is some evidence that another German, J. M. von Hassel, arrived even earlier. Maps found by historians show references to Machu Picchu as early as 1874. In 1904, an engineer named Franklin supposedly spotted the ruins from a distant mountain. Ruins of Machu Picchu, Peru Ruins of Machu Picchu, Peru Road from Aguas Calientes up to Machu Picchu, Peru Detail of stone work at Machu Picchu The INCA and their History At the time of Columbus’ landfall on the New World, the greatest empire on earth was that of the Inca. Called Tawantinsuyu or ‘Land of the Four Quarters,’ it spanned more than 4300 miles along the mountains and coastal deserts of central South America.

The vast empire stretched from central Chile to present Ecuador-Colombia border and included most of Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, northern Chile and northwestern Argentina (this is a land area equal to the entire portion of the United States from Maine to Florida east of the Appalachians). It exceeded in size any medieval or contemporary European nation and equaled the longitudinal expanse of the Roman Empire. Yet for all its greatness, Tawantinsuyu existed for barely a century. The origins of the Inca are shrouded in mystery and mythology. According to their own mythology, the Inca began when Manco Capac and his sister, Mama Occlo, rose out of Lake Titicaca, having been created by the Sun and the Moon as divine founders of a chosen people. Manco Capac and his sister then went off with a golden rod to find a suitable location to found a great city. Through a series of adventures, geomantic resonances, and astronomical correspondences, the site of Cuzco was chosen. Archaeological research, on the other hand, indicates that the pre-imperial Inca were simply one of a number of petty tribes in the south central region of Peru.

From roughly 1200 AD to the early 1400’s, the Inca engaged in numerous battles with local rivals, but never achieved supremacy over any of them. Around 1438, however, the Inca emperor Viracocha and his son, Pachakuti, defeated a powerful rival, the Chankas. From this time the empire building era of the Inca began. Other rival tribes around the Cuzco area were soon united and campaigns were launched into the Titicaca basin and beyond. During the ensuing reigns of the emperors Pachakuti, and Topa Inca the Inca armies expanded the frontiers of Tawantinsuyu from southern Columbia to central Chile. In the few short years before their overthrow by the Spanish in 1532, the Inca developed one of the largest and most sophisticated empires in the entire pre-industrial world.

(In discussing Inca achievements, however, it is important to state that they were not the singular invention of a few inspired emperors but rather the ultimate elaboration of numerous pan-Andean institutions.) The Inca accomplished their phenomenal growth through a mixture of diplomacy and warfare, and a sociopolitical management system based on highly effective taxation and the dependable provision of goods and services to the peoples of their realm. As the Inca began to expand their territories, the first step was to seek alliances with tribes upon the frontiers. Copious gifts of textiles, exotic products from distant regions, and wives to add blood ties to the alliances were offered to the chiefs of these tribes. Quite frequently these gifts were readily accepted (certainly the intimidating specter of the powerful Inca armies assisted in this process), but if certain tribes proved recalcitrant, the Inca simply overwhelmed them with superior military power. In either case, the tribes were then incorporated into larger administrative units and political provinces. This strategy left Tawantinsuyu with more than 80 political provinces, each with different ethnic and linguistic characteristics.

To address these regional differences the Inca imposed there own tongue, Quechua, as the language of the realm and the medium of governmental communication. Additionally, the Inca frequently moved entire populations around their realm, putting loyal groups into troublesome areas, and transferring recalcitrant tribes to loyal areas. These wholesale transfers of people were also used to introduce weavers and farmers, stone workers and artisans into areas where these skills were needed. Inca statecraft, a system of truly extraordinary efficiency, was founded upon the ancient, pan-Andean concept of reciprocity. Goods and services moved from the local area to regional and state warehouses and were then redistributed back to the populace in several important ways. The state economy was based, not on currency systems, but on extracting taxes in the form of labor. There were three primary forms to this taxation: agricultural levies on local community-managed lands; a labor service required of able-bodied males that provided for monumental construction projects and military campaigns; and the textile production required of women, children and older men. The goods and services gathered in these ways were then divided into three shares. The first third went to support Inti (the Sun god), other gods in the state pantheon, and a wide variety of ceremonial activities.

The second portion went to support the Inca emperor and the construction and military projects he initiated. The third portion was redistributed to the common people in the form of food, textiles, lavish festivals, and military protection. The most visible, and remaining, examples of Inca genius are to be found in their monumental construction projects: in the form of roads, agricultural terraces, and administrative and ceremonial structures. The vast empire was united by an extensive and superbly efficient highway system. Two parallel highways, one along the coast and the other in the high mountains, ran north-south from one end of the empire to the other. Between these two major highways ran dozens of east-west roads linking the coasts, mountains, and jungles. Altogether there were more than 30,000 kilometers of these roads, the majority of which were beautifully paved, well drained, and equipped with storage houses, travelers’ lodges, and military posts. The produce of the empire moved efficiently along these roads, transported by hardy llamas strung together in caravans of a thousand or more animals.

Furthermore, along the roads sped the most rapid communication system ever developed in the pre-industrial world; in the form of a constant movement of fleet-footed runners. To feed the people in their swiftly growing empire, the Inca terraced great areas of mountain land, transported rich soils to the terraces, employed highly sophisticated irrigation systems, and experimented with a variety of crops. These monumental landscaping projects, called andenes in the Quechua language, so impressed the colonial Spanish that they named the Andes mountains after them (recent satellite photography has shown that these Inca terraces covered more land than is currently cultivated in the central Andean nations). In their administrative and even more so, their ceremonial centers, the Inca most clearly displayed their brilliance with design and construction. Great surviving centers such as Pisac, Ollantaytambo, Machu Picchu, and Cuzco, the Inca capital, are well known examples. In these places the Inca fashioned monumental architecture equal in beauty to any culture of the old world.

Massive, multi-sided blocks were precisely fitted together in interlocking patterns in order to withstand the disastrous effects of earth quakes (in an earthquake, the stones on Inca terrace walls lock together, allowing the entire wall to simultaneously flex and cohere). Both secular and sacred architecture had spacious windows, niches for idols, and other purely artistic sculptural elaborations. Splashing fountains abounded and masterpieces of hydraulic engineering brought fresh water into buildings, while other channels removed wastes. The Incas never used the wheel in any practical manner. Its use in toys demonstrates that the principle was well-known to them, although it was not applied in their engineering. The lack of strong draft animals, as well as steep terrain and dense vegetation issues, may have rendered the wheel impractical. How they moved and placed the enormous blocks of stones remains a mystery, although the general belief is that they used hundreds of men to push the stones up inclined planes. A few of the stones still have knobs on them that could have been used to lever them into position.

It must be noted, however, that the places mentioned above, Pisac, Ollantaytambo and Machu Picchu in particular, are known to have been ceremonial sites many centuries and even millennia before the Inca developed and, furthermore, already had existing structures that were used for astronomical observations and ceremonial functions. Many contemporary people writing and speaking about the Inca are not well enough educated to know this matter yet, none the less, it is archaeological fact. The name of the archaeological site Machu Picchu is sometimes misspelled as machu pichu, macchu picchu, machu piccu, machupicchu, macu picchu, macho picchu, machu piccho, machu picch, macha picchu, machu piccuh, mach picchu. The correct spelling is Machu Picchu. Don't Say Ruin - Cusco, Peru & Machu Picchu Don’t Say Ruin – Inca Culture is Alive (Cusco, Peru & Machu Picchu) June 21, 2015 By Patrick Twomey It has been a year since I returned from living in Peru and I still miss the Andes.

I did travel through the northern Andes in Colombia earlier this year but am excited about the two tours I plan to lead back to the land of the Inca’s in November with Travelsphere (principally British travellers) and March 25 with Spices Tours (based in Western Canada). As I think often about my friends back in the Andes, I thought I would update a blog I wrote after experiencing so much Inca / Quechua culture. Enjoy! The so-called Lost City of the Inca’s, Machu Picchu (MP) is so indisputably Peru’s most iconic attraction that suggesting anything to the contrary is simply argumentative. I have actually sat in meetings discussing tourism legislation (which remarkably, does not really exist in Cusco) where ‘de-Machu Picchuisation’ was actually discussed as a way of furthering tourism in the region. Of course the discussion was really about integrating tourism services, developing new products and proper a regional brand, however removing Machu Picchu as Peru’s icon will be about as successful as re-branding France without Paris.

My friend, David Quispe, the Quechua-speaking mayor of Ccorca (near Cusco) standing at 4300 meters, on Mama Simona – a mountain visable from Cusco! MP is economically extremely important and draws around 4 million tourists to Peru each year. And it is worth the effort. The archeological site is at least as impressive as the ubiquitous photos we have all seen and the lush, mountainous setting is spectacular. The humid, high jungle is often cloudy, but that just adds to the mystic feel of the place – certainly more than the new-age types sitting around meditating! For those who walk the famous Inca Trail the site’s lower elevation offers a much appreciated oxygen boost for the weary trekker. MP may be the number 1 bucket-list destination in this bucket-list generation and some visitors travel to Peru for as little as four days – Lima-Cusco-MP-home. In fact over 50% of visitors to the Cusco region come on pre-packaged tours, making the MP circuit one of the most formal tourism markets in the world. MP is so integrated into our collective imagination that I hope everyone has the opportunity to visit one day.

Despite the rip-off town of Aguas Calientes down in the valley (by the way, when restaurants put ‘tax’ on your bill, it doesn’t actually exist – this is stealing), the sanctuary is well maintained and managed. I also want to resist ranting about the hassle of securing tickets to MP and the over-priced (but good) Peru Rail train ‘service’. Even surviving the mismanagement and shamefully inflated prices of Lima’s airport – probably the single most significant beneficiary of MP’s renown – can be tolerated and even preferred over the 20 hour bus ride up into the highlands. (WIFI is only available in a couple of cafes and prices triple in the international departures area – so eat before). On top of Huayna Picchu , looking back to Machu Picchu My first visit to Cusco and MP was over 12 years ago and since then I have become almost compulsive about finding ancient and still-used mountain terraces and trails.

Upon arriving in Peru for my 2013-2014 contract, I was given some excellent advice; “Be careful not to call historic or archeological sites ruins.” This made some sense to me as the Inca’s are still the absolute majority in the Andes, but upon further refection it is because the lush and diverse land remains remarkably productive and cultivation continues to use the terracing established long, long before Europeans arrived. Some sites, such as Machu Picchu may be abandoned, but the Andean people live in and around so many dramatic archeological sites that suggesting ruination of their existence is simply false. Travelling throughout the southern highlands of Peru, the mountains are terraced to preserve soil and manage water. With distinct wet and dry seasons (although now changing) pre-Incan peoples learned to manage water so successfully as to make the Dutch jealous. As a walking – or running – society, trails of the Inca sort, connected huge distances across mountainous terrain. All roads lead to Cusco! The famous four-day trek to MP is impressive, but that was simply a side road to an exclusive settlement.

The real Inca Trails went out in all directions and one struggles to understand how the modern Peruvian road system can so entirely fail the needs of a people who built roads for two millennia! Mountain terracing near Pisac in The Sacred Valley During my all too limited travels through the region, I gaze in awe at paths and roads winding their way up, down and through impossible valleys. In many more remote regions, people still walk to market and even at the highest of elevations there is cultivation, or grazing. Playing with statistics and factoring out child mortality, highland life expectancy rivals that of the richer world and I dare say quality of life may even be higher. Even within the boundaries of Cusco province (what we roughly call a county) are communities of Quechua-speaking people, who walk to market and are reestablishing high-altitude cultivation on terraces established hundreds of years ago. Less than ten kilometres from the centre of Cusco you can actually walk on the real Inca Trail, a sort of pre-Colombian Pan-American Highway that connected Cusco to the coast. Although magnificent, almost no foreign tourists have walked on this trail – I feel deeply honoured to have walked on these roads.

The municipality of Ccorca – a valley consisting of 5300 people spread between seven small communities – is living proof Inca (Quechua) culture is alive and well. And I want you to visit the area, spend money, enjoy the sites and learn Quechua! BUT, the road is terrible with no signs, there are no services and the route takes visitors past (and through) Cusco´s particularly unmanaged and disgusting garbage tip. With great pleasure I had the opportunity to offer a little consulting to the mayor and municipal government of Ccorca, particularly with regard to tourism development and at every turn I encountered incredible views, progressive land management and delicious guinea pigs (cuy). In fact, my experience in Ccorca lead to my article and continued research about Quechua women and pre-Hispanic gender relations. In fact since beginning to explore gender issues, I have learned of the continued practice of servanacuy – a trial period for a new couple to live together to see if it works out. Take that Catholic gender morality! The little information available about the municipality paints a dire picture of poverty and misery, but that is not what I experienced in Ccorca.

Ccorca is poor, but much of Peru is poor. These are Quechua people, living Quechua lives in a beautiful environment. They use the terraces of their forbearers and respect the memories of their history, without thinking of their world as ruined. With some more planning and a little effective government (something I discovered in Ccorca, but less-so in Cusco) you may soon be able to add a day in Ccorca before heading off to MP … … but for now I will tempt you with a few photos… Deep, high altitude valleys define Peru’s eastern slope which leads into the Amazon basin Mountain trails and stone construction define this walking culture! Stone carvings along a trail (3600 meters above sea level) On top of Huayna Picchu , looking back to Machu Picchu A marker for a pre-European route in a virtually unvisited region of Peru Porters on the Inca trail (this costs extra 😉 Camping along the Salkantay route Zip-lining near Machu Picchu What Was Machu Picchu For? Top Five Theories Explained What Was Machu Picchu For? Top Five Theories Explained Popular ideas include a royal retreat and sacred memorial.

View Images Machu Picchu is encircled by the Urubamba River (pictured), considered sacred by the Inca. Photograph by Michael and Jennifer Lewis, National Geographic Nestled atop a mountain ridge in Peru , the 15th-century Inca city of Machu Picchu had sat largely forgotten for centuries—until archaeologist Hiram Bingham began excavations of the ruins a hundred years ago this week. Related Content Elie Wiesel Taught the World How to Confront Atrocities Now one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world, Machu Picchu's original purpose is still unknown—though many archaeologists think they are closer to finding an answer. (Take a Machu Picchu quiz .) Here are some of the top theories about Machu Picchu proposed—and in some cases disproven—in the century since its "rediscovery." 1) Machu Picchu Was the Last Inca City During his lifetime, Bingham, of Yale University, had two theories regarding the purpose of Machu Picchu. The first—that it was the birthplace of Inca society—came about when he was led to the site by local farmers in 1911.

(Read about the 1911 rediscovery of Machu Picchu .) Bingham later modified that theory and suggested the site was also the legendary "lost city" of Vilcabamba la Vieja, where the last of the independent Inca rulers waged a lengthy battle against Spanish conquistadors in the 16th century. Bingham was wrong on both counts, however. Archaeologists now know the actual "last refuge" was located in Espíritu Pampa, a jungle site about 80 miles (130 kilometers) west of the Inca capital city of Cusco (see map) . Ironically, Bingham visited Espíritu Pampa in 1911, but he decided the site was too small and not grand enough to be the legendary city. Later excavations in the 1960s and extensive mapping in the 1980s by Vincent Lee , a Colorado-based architect and Andean explorer, revealed Espíritu Pampa to be far bigger than Bingham thought. "It turns out there were 400 to 500 buildings at the site ... but Bingham had only seen about 20," Lee said.

The indigenous peoples Bingham encountered at Espíritu Pampa had an alternative name for the site: Vilcabamba Grande. This should have been a clue to Bingham that the site was much bigger and more important than what he was seeing, Lee suggested. Bingham "had found the Inca's last refuge he was looking for, but it just wasn't as fancy as he expected it to be." 2) Machu Picchu Was a Holy Nunnery Bingham also speculated that Machu Picchu might have been a temple devoted to the Virgins of the Sun, a holy order of chosen women dedicated to the Inca sun god, Inti. This theory was largely based on dozens of skeletons Bingham's team found buried at the site. U.S. osteologist George Eaton said in the early 20th century that the remains were nearly all females. "I think Bingham's idea of Vilcabamba [the last Inca city] came first, because that's what he was actively looking for," said John Verano , an anthropologist at Tulane University in New Orleans.

"The Virgins idea probably came later, when he saw Eaton's results." This theory was also debunked in 2000, when Verano, then at Yale, examined the remains and found that the skeletons were about half males and half females. Verano's analysis was based on skeletal differences between the genders that were not known during Eaton's time. Verano thinks Eaton may have been misled by the relatively diminutive size of the Andean people, who are typically shorter and less robust than the European and African skeletons with which Eaton would have been more familiar. "He probably saw the small bones and assumed they must be female," he said. Interestingly, Eaton correctly noted that some of the Machu Picchu skeletons belonged to infants and children. But rather than viewing them as evidence contradicting Bingham's theory, he attributed the child remains to "indiscretions" by some of the holy virgins, Verano said. Archaeologists now generally agree that the skeletons at Machu Picchu were not those of Inca priestesses, but rather helpers who were brought in from all over the Inca Empire to serve at the site .

"If you thought of Machu Picchu as a royal hotel or a time-share condo for the Inca emperor and his guests, then these were the staff who cooked the food, grew the crops, and cleaned the place," Verano said. 3) Machu Picchu Was a Royal Retreat Verano's interpretation of the Machu Picchu skeletons is consistent with one of the most popular theories about the site: that it was the royal retreat of the 15th-century Inca Emperor Pachacuti. According to this idea, Machu Picchu was a place for Pachacuti and his royal court, or panaca, to relax, hunt, and entertain guests. "The members of Pachacuti's panaca may have lived there during the year for a few days, weeks, or months," said Guillermo Cock, a Lima-based archaeologist who has also received funding from the National Geographic Society's Committee for Research and Exploration . (The Society owns National Geographic News.) The "royal estate" theory, first proposed in the 1980s, is largely based on a 16th-century Spanish document that referred to a royal estate called Picchu, which was built in the same general area as Machu Picchu.

4) Machu Picchu Was a Re-creation of the Inca Creation Myth Other scholars have speculated that the Inca had a more spiritual purpose in mind when they built Machu Picchu. A 2009 study by Giulio Magli, an astrophysicist at the Polytechnic Institute in Milan, Italy, postulated that the site was a scaled-down version of a mythic landscape from the Inca religion . According to Magli, Machu Picchu was a pilgrimage site where worshipers could symbolically relive a harrowing journey purportedly taken by their ancestors. That trek began in Bolivia' s Lake Titicaca and continued beneath the earth before emerging at a place close to Cusco. 5) Machu Picchu Was Built to Honor a Sacred Landscape According to another theory, proposed by archaeologist and anthropologist Johan Reinhard in his 1991 book Machu Picchu: Exploring an Ancient Sacred Center , Machu Picchu occupied a special place in the "sacred landscape" of the Inca.

For example, Machu Picchu is built atop a mountain that is almost completely encircled by the Urubamba River, which the Inca named the Vilcamayo, or Sacred River. Reinhard also pointed out that the rising and setting of the sun, when viewed from specific locations within Machu Picchu, aligns neatly with religiously significant mountains during the solstices and equinoxes. The Inca believed the sun to be their divine ancestor. "It's an example of cosmology intertwining with sacred landscape that is virtually unique in the Andes ... [and] that takes on a degree of sacrality because it combines the Earth and the sky, which are also combined in Incan thought," said Reinhard, who is also a National Geographic explorer-in-residence.

Question: Machu Picchu is a famous ruin in which South American county?
Answer: Peru