The Inca Empire was established in the Cusco valley around the year 1200 AD, with mythical origins told in the legends of Manco Cápac and Mama Ocllo, as well as the Ayar Brothers. However, its political and architectural peak arrived under the rule of the Inca Pachacútec, who expanded the territory to cover nearly 2 million km². It was precisely during this period of imperial transformation when Machu Picchu was built, designed as a strategic urban, religious and administrative complex in the jungle brow.
After the arrival of the Spanish conquerors and the fall of the Tahuantinsuyo, the citadel was progressively abandoned before being finished, remaining hidden under a thick layer of vegetation for centuries. Although local farmers knew its location, it was only in 1911 when Hiram Bingham's expedition, with the support of Yale University and National Geographic, introduced it to the international community. This event is key to answering What is Machu Picchu and who found it?, as it marked the beginning of scientific excavations that, between 1912 and 1915, unearthed the enclosures and terraces that we admire today.
Nowadays, the sanctuary holds the titles of World Cultural Heritage by UNESCO and is one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World. The History of Machu Picchu represents the greatest material legacy of the Andean civilization, being an unaltered testimony of the high engineering and worldview that dominated this continent before European influence.
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Before Machu Picchu was built, this area was inhabited by nearby towns such as Vilcabamba and the Sacred Valley, which sought to expand. But after the expansion of Inca power, they became part of the growing Tahuantinsuyo Empire.
The studies agree that Machu Picchu history starts in the middle of the 15th century, it was built under the government of Emperor Pachacútec, the main responsible for the Inca expansion and its transformation from a simple manor to the magnificent empire that we now know it was.
According to Machu Picchu history, during the mandate of Wiracocha, the lordship of the Incas, was constantly threatened, by its western neighbors, the Chancas; faced with the possibility of an invasion, Wiracocha, along with his heir Inca Urco, fled the city abandoning his village at the mercy of the invaders, Cusi Yupanqui, also son Wiracocha, decided to fight against the Chancas, making alliances with the local ethnic groups, in this way I could defeat them, thus saving the Inca Empire.
The victory against the Chancas made the Inca Wiracocha recognize him as successor to the throne. This is how Cusi Yupanqui took the reins of what would soon become an empire of approximately 2 million m2. He went on to change his name to Pachacútec Yupanqui Cápac Intichuri, which translated into Spanish means Son of the Sun, which changes the course of the earth. With Pachacútec in command, the Inca domain ceased to be a manor to expand rapidly and become the great empire of which we have record. This time of prosperity, allowed the construction of magnificent works, being the most important the Machu Picchu Incas citadel.
We can conclude that the interest of Pachacútec to build a city like this, in a place like this, responds to what was admired by the place, a lush environment surrounded by natural beauty and apus (sacred mountains), which could serve as a checkpoint and colonization of an Empire that grew incredibly fast, acting as an entrance to the Antisuyo, from the heart of the empire; In addition, the area gave access to important products that could only be obtained in the jungle; like coca.
Perhaps the most important reason was that Pachacútec fell in love with the place, and this continues to happen with millions of people who visit Inca Machu Picchu citadel.
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Throughout the last century, theories about the original function of the citadel have evolved significantly. Initially listed as a military fortress due to its strategic location or as a "Royal Estate" of the Inca Pachacutec, modern research has refined these views.
Thorough archaeological studies suggest that Machu Picchu served a dual role: it was an administrative center and, fundamentally, a religious sanctuary. One of the most common speculations, based on the first findings of Hiram Bingham, proposed that the site functioned as a monastery for the "Virgins of the Sun" (Acllas), supported by the fact that, of 135 bodies initially studied, 109 were classified as female. Although this theory is debated today, it confirms the sacred character of the site.
Regarding its demography, it is estimated that during its peak the city housed a fluctuating population of between 300 and 1,000 inhabitants. Historical evidence indicates that this workforce was mostly made up of mitimaes, family groups moved from various regions of the empir, who were in charge of agriculture, maintenance, and direct service to the elite and religious worship.
Although this is attributed to the American Hiram Bingham, other sources indicate that Agustín Lizárraga, tenant of Cusco origin, would have arrived in the city nine years before his official discoverer. It is said that, Lizárraga left an inscription on one of the walls of the Temple of the Three Windows. Said inscription would have been documented by Bingham himself, and later erased.
The history of Lizárraga and his visits to the ancient Inca ruins, caught the attention of Hiram Bingham, who was investigating the last Inca strongholds in the area. Upon hearing these rumors, Bingham would begin the search, in the company of the Cuzco tenant Melchor Arriaga, and a sergeant of the Peruvian Civil Guard arriving in Machu Picchu, in July 1911. In the place there would be two families, the Recharte y los Álvarez, established south of the ruins. Finally a child of the Recharte would be the one who guided Bingham to the city of stone, covered by a thick vegetation.
We assume that Bingham immediately understood the enormous historical value of his find, so I requested support and auspices from Yale University, the National Geographic Society and the Peruvian government, thus the studies of the archaeological site began. Carried out since 1912 for three years. Period in which it was possible to clear the undergrowth that infested the Inca city.
In 1913, National Geographic published in one of the editions of its magazine, an extensive article of Machu Picchu, and the works that were carried out there, thus making known the lost city to the whole world. Over the years, the City of Machu Picchu would grow, acquiring tourism importance nationally and then internationally, which earned it the title of Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO, in the year 1983. And On July 7, 2007, after a vote on the Internet, by millions of people around the world, Machu Picchu was declared one of the seven wonders of the modern world.
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