Machu Pichu

Around 1440, it is believed that the Pachacutec Yupanqui, the founder of the Inca Empire, built the city in the clouds known as Machu Picchu ("old mountain") in what is now Peru. This extraordinary settlement lies 2,350 m above the sea level, deep in the Amazon jungle above the Urubamba River. Forgotten for centuries by the outside world, Machu Picchu attracted international attention when it was discovered again by the American archeologist Hiram Bingham in 1911. There are several different theories, what Machu Picchu was. Some believe it was the luxurious site of Pachacutec, since there are remains of buildings that were covered with gold. Others think that it was a settlement built to both control the economy of the conquered regions and to protect the the top Incan aristocracy in the case of an attack. Another theory is seeing Machu Picchu as a country retreat for Inca nobility. It may also have been used as an observatory and for astrological ceremonies. A maximum of 750 people probably lived in the “Lost City of the Incas” at once. It is said that the image of the mountain behind Machu Picchu represents the face of the Inca looking upward towards the sky, with the largest peak, Huayna Picchu “young mountain” representing his nose. Machu Picchu had a large agricultural area with practical crops, such as corn and and orchids and other decorative plants, as well as what were probably living and religious sections. In the upper urban area, a stone column rising from a stone block the size of a grand piano. This solar clock exactly show the dates of the two equinoxes and other important celestial events. It is thought that, as the winter solstice neared, when the sun seemed to disappear more each day, priests would hold a ceremony to tie the sun to the stone to prevent the sun from disappearing completely. Everything shows that Machu Picchu was quickly abandoned when the Spanish, fighting the rebellious Incas of Vilcabamba, went into Cuzco lands. But deadly smallpox was faster than the conquistadors, and 50 percent of the population had probably been killed by the disease by 1527. The Inca government began to fail, part of the empire seceded and it fell into civil war. So, by the time Pizarro, the Inca’s conqueror, arrived in Cuzco in 1532, Machu Picchu was probably already a ghost town.



Some links:
Machu Picchu at Wikipedia