Machu Picchu: The Inca Civilization

lands and sometimes on building projects or in mining.” (World of the Inca). Thus the Inca expected

Machu Picchu is one of the great Wonders of the World and a popular travel destination. The massive 15th century Inca citadel is located in Peru, sitting over 2,000-metres above the sea level. The mysterious structures have tickled our imagination ever since it was brought to the world’s attention in 1911.

Inca city located on a mountain about 2,500 meters above sea level. It is located in the Cusco Region

On July 24, 1911 an antiquity site located in the mountains surrounding Cusco, Peru, was rediscovered by explorer Hiram Bingham almost half a century after it was constructed. Since 1911 Machu Picchu has come into prominence as a tourist site because of its interesting history and its mysterious abandonment. Much of Machu Picchu has been restored since its discovery to give tourists a window into what it would have been like to live there at its prime. Machu Picchu was built by the great Inca civilization in 1450 and it is believed that it was used as an imperial retreat for the Inca Emperor. Historians now believe that the abrupt abandonment of Machu Picchu was a result of the Spanish conquest, but one of the reasons that it is so well

Some people don’t know the great and amazing place called Manchu Picchu, which is an old Inca building that many architects admire. Those people don’t know that thousands of tourists and visitors come to look at it, wonder about its past, and to reflect off of it. In source two, the author states that “A world heritage is a place that is amazing. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization support that Machu Picchu is a world heritage.” This shows the reader how important and stunning Machu Picchu was. In this essay we are going to talk about what was so amazing about Machu Picchu, how it affected the environment and how it inspired architects, and how and who made it.

The most significant physical geographical factor that contributed to the development of the ancient South American society of the Incas was the Andes Mountains. The Inca Empire had villages and cities throughout the Andes Mountains. Some of these settlements were as low as sea level and their capital, Cusco, was at an altitude of 11,200 feet. The Andes are considered some of the longest and highest mountain ranges. In fact it’s tallest peak, Mount Aconcaqua, in Argentina, tops out at 22,841 feet (Zimmermann, 2013). Despite the fact that people were traversing mountains the people flourished creating trails, aqueducts and agricultural practices that still exist today.

1. Before Francisco Pizarro began the Spanish conquest in 1532, the Incan empire dominated the Andes Mountain region. An emperor who demanded strict obedience ruled the land. All business was run by the state, which could draft citizens for its projects. The Inca, terracing the landscape and irrigating the crops, farmed the mountainsides. The Inca were brilliant engineers, whose roadways included bridges. The city of Machu Picchu is an example of their skill with tools like the plumb bob and wooden roller, which they used for in heavy construction. Hundreds of years after their civilization was subdued by the Spanish, the descendants of the once-dominate Incas make up about 50 percent of Peru’s population.

High in the Andean mountain range, nestled on a ridge between two mountains high above the valley floor below sits the amazing city and archaeological site of Machu Picchu. Machu Picchu is about 1400 kilometers south of the Equator on the eastern slope of the Peruvian Andes. The site lies near the head waters of the Amazon River and is on the ridge between two prominent mountain peaks – Machu Picchu and Hauyna Picchu – about 500 meters above the valley bottom (Wright and Kenneth, 2-3). Machu Picchu, believed to be the royal estate of the Inca ruler Pachacuti, is the most well-known of all the Inca archaeological sites. Professor Hiram Bingham discovered the site in July of 1911 and excavated it with the help of National Geographic and

How the conquest of the Spaniards led to an impact on one of the world’s largest empires.

b. Machu Picchu is a mountain city built by the Incas. It was a religious site. In 1911 it was discovered by the Europeans. It is now a tourist site.

Built at the height of the Inca empire, Machu Picchu is not only one of the world’s most stunning man-made wonders, but possibly the most well-known relic of the Americas’ most powerful civilization. At the time the structure was built, the Incas ruled the largest nation in the world ; it covered much of South America's west coast and its borders stretched from present day Colombia, southward to the border of modern day Chile. The empire thrived from the twelfth to the fifteenth century until the Spanish conquest in 1572. Although the empire expanded at a rapid speed and covered abundantly diverse areas, Incan emperors effectively unified their empire and maintained legitimacy both socially and politically, by employing unique organizational

Starting in 1400 CE and continuing even today, Cuzco is the religious and administrative capital of the Incan Empire in Peru (Cartwright). Currently, the Incan Empire is the largest empire ever seen in the Americas and in the world (Cartwright). After conquering the area from the Chanca, the Incas established and named Cuzco accordingly, because the term either originated from qosqo meaning ‘dried-up lake bed’ or cozco for a specific stone marker in the city (Cartwright). Cuzco assures its visitors a wonderful experience, because it has a multitude of extravagant buildings and palaces. The Incans strategically designed their affluent city in the best geographical area possible. For instance, the city is advantageously shaped in the form of a puma, and it is composed of four highways for safe,

Macchu Picchu is a pre-Columbian 15th century Inca site that is located in the Cusco region of Peru in South America and is situated 7,970 ft. above sea level (UNESCO World Heritage Centre, pdf ). The site is located on a mountainous region that towers over the HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urubamba_Valley" o "Urubamba Valley"Urubamba Valley, region of the Utramba River, and is 80 kilometers (or 50 miles) northwest of HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cusco" o "Cusco"Cusco, the capital of Peru. Built in 1400, the Incas abandoned the city at the time of the Spanish conquest one hundred years later. In the early 20th century, Hiram Bingham, an American archeologist, found and introduced the city to the world, and since then many of the buildings have been reconstructed in order to provide tourists with some idea of the original Peru (Nava,

Machu Picchu is a physical symbol of the culture that created it. It is located in the Andes Mountains in Peru, South America, high above the Urubamba River Canyon Cloud Forest. The Incan capital, Cuzco, the closest major city, is forty three miles northwest of this landmark. Machu Picchu is five square miles and eighteen square kilometers in size. This ancient civilization has an altitude of eight thousand feet and is surrounded by towering green mountains. Although covered in dense bush, it had many agricultural terraces that were sufficient enough to feed the population. Due to water from the natural springs as well as the agricultural terraces, it had the ability to be self-contained. Machu Picchu was created by the Inca culture for

The history of Peru is riddled with legends, conquistadors, and a revolution. The fabled beginnings of the Inca empire, which preceded Peru in their lands, state that Manco Capac, a son of the sun god, was sent down and made home in the Vilcanota Valley (“Peru History”). This became their capital, Cuzco. The Incas documented their history through the reigns of the kings. However, it was not until the eighth king, Pachacuti, rise to power