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Machu Picchu, Peru
Machu Picchu, Peru
On this Day: Hiram Bingham Discovers Lost Incan City of Machu Picchu
July 24, 2008 12:10 AM
by
findingDulcinea Staff
On July 24, 1911, Yale University professor Hiram Bingham discovered the ruins of Machu Picchu, one of the most significant archaeological finds in the history of the Americas.
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On July 24, 1911, Yale professor and explorer Hiram Bingham trekked through the Andes Mountains in search of the lost capital city of Vitcos. Bingham paid a local man the equivalent of 50 cents to lead him to ruins near the city of Cusco. What Bingham found was not Vitcos but the lost city of Machu Picchu.
Bingham believed that he had discovered the cradle of the Inca Empire. Based on a temple with three large windows in the ruins, Bingham developed the theory that three brothers descended from the three windows to conquer and found the Incan Empire.
The theory is impossible to prove, and Machu Picchu remains a mystery today. People believe the city may have been a royal city, an observatory of the heavens, the keeping place for women of the royal family, or a sacred shrine.
Machu Picchu may have been discovered earlier by German businessman Augusto Berns. According to later-uncovered Peruvian government records, Berns didn’t try to share his discovery with the world; instead he looted the city and sold artifacts to wealthy westerners.
Ever since Bingham made his discovery known to the public, Machu Picchu has fascinated people across the globe. Each year more than 300,000 tourists scale the Andes to explore the ancient ruins. As a testament to the city’s grandeur, Machu Picchu was named one of the New 7 Wonders of the World in 2007. The increase in popularity has not gone without repercussions however, as Machu Picchu now faces pollution and the increased threat of a severe landslide.
Bingham believed that he had discovered the cradle of the Inca Empire. Based on a temple with three large windows in the ruins, Bingham developed the theory that three brothers descended from the three windows to conquer and found the Incan Empire.
The theory is impossible to prove, and Machu Picchu remains a mystery today. People believe the city may have been a royal city, an observatory of the heavens, the keeping place for women of the royal family, or a sacred shrine.
Machu Picchu may have been discovered earlier by German businessman Augusto Berns. According to later-uncovered Peruvian government records, Berns didn’t try to share his discovery with the world; instead he looted the city and sold artifacts to wealthy westerners.
Ever since Bingham made his discovery known to the public, Machu Picchu has fascinated people across the globe. Each year more than 300,000 tourists scale the Andes to explore the ancient ruins. As a testament to the city’s grandeur, Machu Picchu was named one of the New 7 Wonders of the World in 2007. The increase in popularity has not gone without repercussions however, as Machu Picchu now faces pollution and the increased threat of a severe landslide.
Headline Link: ‘Lost City in the Clouds Found After Centuries’
Nearly two years after Hiram Bingham discovered the ruins of Machu Picchu, The New York Times published an extensive article detailing the excavation and the significance of the discovery. Bingham was led to the city by locals for the equivalent of 50 cents while he was looking for Vitcos, the last capital of the Incas. Dubbing Machu Picchu “the greatest archaeological discovery of the age,” the article proposes Bingham’s theory that the city was the “cradle” and origin of the Inca Empire.
Source: The New York Times
Background: Machu Picchu ‘found’ before Bingham’s discovery
Although it is commonly accepted that Hiram Bingham was the first westerner to discover the lost city of Machu Picchu, an article published by the BBC in 2008 suggests otherwise. According to the article, Peru’s government has recently discovered records from the 1860s that documented a German man named Augusto Berns as having raided the city’s tombs more than 40 years before Bingham arrived.
Source: The BBC
Historical Context: The Inca Empire, history of Machu Picchu
AllEmpires.com provides a detailed history and description of the Inca Empire, including its technology, traditions, religion and culture.
Source: AllEmpires.com
The Incas first began to flourish in the late 15th century under their leader, Pachacuteq. After his victory against the Chanca tribe, Pachacuteq began to inhabit the area around Cusco, and “it’s possible that Machu Picchu was conceived as a ceremonial and administrative centre.” There was probably a permanent population of around 1,000 in Machu Picchu that harvested maize and other crops. Just before the Spanish invaded in 1532, there was an Incan Civil War that may have decimated the population of Machu Picchu. Smallpox may also have contributed to the isolation of the city, which was forgotten for hundreds of years until Hiram Bingham’s discovery in 1911.
Source: MachuPicchuPeru.info
Opinion & Analysis: Mystery of Machu Picchu
Almost 100 years after it was discovered, the original use of the city of Machu Picchu remains unknown. Proposed theories suggest such varied purposes as a royal estate, a sacred shrine, and a celestial observatory.
Source: Seattle Pi
Key Players: Hiram Bingham
Hiram Bingham was born on November 19, 1875, in Hawaii. Both his father and grandfather were protestant missionaries to the Pacific islands. Bingham spent his youth in Hawaii but went on to study in the American Northeast; he received a bachelor’s degree from Yale in 1898 and his Ph.D. in history and politics from Harvard in 1905. In 1906 he began exploring old Spanish trade routes in South America, and in 1911 would make one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of the 20th century.
Source: Minnesota State University
Later Developments: Machu Picchu endangered by tourism; The New 7 Wonders of the World
Machu Picchu currently faces a number of serious risks. “More than 300,000 people a year make the trek to Machu Picchu to marvel at the 500-year-old structures built from blocks of granite chiseled from the mountainside,” National Geographic reports. Extensive tourism has put the city at risk of a devastating landslide as well as the pollution that comes with that much human traffic.
Source: National Geographic
The New 7 Wonders of the World were announced in Lisbon, Portugal, on July 7, 2007. More than 100 million people voted for what they considered to be the seven most amazing manmade structures in the world. The winners were the pyramid at Chichén Itzá in Mexico; Christ Redeemer, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; the Colosseum in Rome; the Great Wall of China; Machu Picchu, Peru; Petra, Jordan; and the Taj Mahal, Agra, India.
Source: New7Wonders.com
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