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1450c. 1450–1532 · Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu and the height of the Inca Empire

Panoramic view of the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu on its mountain ridge
Photo: Mcclausky. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Under the emperor Pachacuti and his successors, the Incas expanded from Cusco into the largest empire in the Americas, linked by some 40,000 km of roads. Machu Picchu was built around 1450 as a royal estate on a ridge above the Urubamba. The Spanish never found it; it was abandoned and brought to world attention by Hiram Bingham in 1911.

Sites

  1. Site 1: Machu PicchuRoyal estate with the Temple of the Sun and farming terraces.Map ↗
  2. Site 2: Qorikancha, CuscoInca sun temple walls beneath the Santo Domingo convent.Map ↗
  3. Site 3: OllantaytamboTemple-fortress terraces above an Inca town still lived in.Map ↗

Guides who take you there

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Read more: reference. Summary written by History-Tours.com.