Archive for the ‘South American Travel’ Category

• Celebrating The Discovery Of Machu Picchu 100 Years On

  Posted on: October 25th, 2011 | steph No Comments

  Built at the height of the Inca Empire around 1450, Machu Picchu was abandoned a little over 100 years later in 1572 as a result of the Spanish Conquest. On July 24^th 1911, Hiram Bingham, an American historian and lecturer at Yale University, announced the discovery of Machu Picchu. Bingham had been in search of the city of Vilcabamba, a place known to be the last Inca refuge during the Spanish Conquest, but instead Pablito Alvarez, a local 11 year old boy, led Bingham to Machu Picchu. Bingham went on to call Machu Picchu “The Lost City of the Incas”, a name subsequently given as the title of his first book. (more…)