Machu Picchu that stands in the mountains of south-central Peru is a deserted city of the Inca people.
It is one of the very few American Indian sites that still remain mostly undamaged. Historical sources indicate that the dwellings at the site were built and occupied probably during the mid-1400s and 1500s. In Quechua, the language of the Incas, Machu Picchu means the ‘old peak’.
The ancient city lies between two sharp peaks in the eastern Andes Mountains at a height of 2350 metres. There were two sections in Machu Picchu, one for farming and the other one, urban. Step-like fields called terraces constituted the farming section. In the urban section, there were houses, temples and a cemetery.
It is believed that Machu Picchu remained hidden from the Spanish when they conquered the Incas in the 1500s. The city was covered by plants and remained known only to a few people living there, for hundreds of years.
In 1911, when a local farmer led US archaeologist Hiram Bingham to the ruins of this ancient city, it started getting global attention.