Machu Picchu – The Inca Empire – Peru

Machu Picchu - The Inca Empire - Peru

Machu Picchu was constructed around 1462, at the height of the Inca Empire. It was abandoned less than 100 years later. It is likely that most of its inhabitants were wiped out by smallpox before the Spanish conquistadores arrived in the area, and there is no record of the Spanish having known of the remote city. One theory about the purpose of the citadel, by Hiram Bingham, is that it was the traditional birthplace of the Inca of the “Virgins of the Suns”.

Another theory maintains that Machu Picchu was an Inca “llaqta”, a settlement built to control the economy of these conquered regions. Yet another asserts that it may have been built as a prison for a select few who had committed heinous crimes against Inca society. Research conducted by scholars, such as John Rowe and Richard Burger, has convinced most archaeologists that Machu Picchu was an estate of the Inca emperor, Pachacuti. In addition, Johan Reinhard presented evidence that the site was selected because of its position relative to sacred landscape features such as its mountains, which are purported to be in alignment with key astronomical events that would have been important to the Incas.

        
        

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