Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu, machu meaning old, and picchu, mountain is a former Inca 15th century City, which is perched on a rocky promontory between the mountains and Machu Picchu Huayna Picchu on the eastern slopes the central Andes.

According to documents from the sixteenth century, Machu Picchu was the residence of the Pachacutec or Inca Yupanqui people. Some of the biggest buildings have what appears to be a ceremonial character and lie on the main access road through the city, which confirms that the place was used as a place of religious sanctuary. Both uses are not necessarily mutually exclusive necessarily; experts have rejected the idea of a military structure even taking into account its dominating location.

The sacred city of Machu Picchu, lay forgotten for centuries until 1911, it is considered a masterpiece of ancient architecture. It was unveiled to the world by American archaeologist Hiram Bingham of Yale University, who wrote a best-seller on the city. Its architectural features and the veil of mystery that literature has developed on the site have made it one of the world’s most popular tourist destinations.

Since 1983, the city is on the list of UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites, and on July 7, 2007, it was named as one of the new Seven Wonders of the World. Finally, the site is part of a cultural and ecological region known as the Historical Sanctuary of Machu Picchu.

The site is east of the Andes, on the edge of the rainforest. It is located in Peru in the province of Urubamba, 130kms from Cuzco. The ruins are at an elevation, 2 438 m above sea level. One is the Huayna Picchu, meaning Young Mountain. It is this mountain which overlooks the site, and accounts for most images of the city.

From some angles, it is possible to detect the shape of a human face looking skyward, the summit of Huayna Picchu is said to be the nose. The other mountain is Machu Picchu, meaning Old Mountain. This mountain, as opposed to the Huayna Picchu, which gave its name to the archaeological site. Around the Huayna Picchu and on both sides of the city flows the Vilcanota River Urubamba which descends in a wide arc down a cliff 600 meters high.

The 172 buildings spread over approximately 530 meters long by 200 meters wide. They are part of a territory of the Sistema Nacional De Areas Naturales Protegidas (SINANPE) known as the Historical Sanctuary of Machu Picchu, which extends over 32,592 hectares.

Visiting the site is usually hot and humid during the day, but the nights are cool. The temperature varies between 12 and 24 degrees centigrade. The rains are abundant (about 1,955 mm per year), especially between November and March: the often heavy rainfall alternates with very cloudy conditions.

History

The region of Picchu, located midway between the Andes and the Amazon rainforest region was colonized by people from mountain regions of Vilcabamba and the Sacred Valley (Cusco. These groups were certainly looking for new farmland.

Archaeologists indicate that agriculture was already practised in the region in the 8th century BC. In the first 900 years after Christ, there was a population explosion of groups linked to ethnicity Tampu del Urubamba. It is possible that these people have been part of the federation Ayarmaca, rivals to the, former Inca Cusco. However, the specific location of the city shows no trace of construction before the fifteenth century.