In 1911, American explorer Hiram Bingham III discovered an ancient Peruvian site that would later be named one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. Located high up in the Andes Mountains, the site is Machu Picchu.
Built in the mid-1400s as a royal retreat, Machu Picchu has some impressive features. Stone stairs, for instance, connect the various levels of its huge terraces. Equally remarkable are its buildings, such as the Temple of the Sun with its "Solstice Window" aligned perfectly with the rising sun of the summer solstice. In total, Machu Picchu has around 200 buildings, many of which were built using rocks weighing several tons. Since it would have been a difficult task to get the rocks up the mountain, it's believed that some of the rocks were cut directly from the mountain itself. For others, hundreds of men would have been needed to push the heavy rocks up the steep mountainside.
In the 16th century, the Spanish appeared in South America, a development that signaled the beginning of the end for the Inca Empire. The collapse of the once-mighty empire from several factors (e.g., disease and war) led to Machu Picchu being abandoned for centuries. |
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