Machu Picchu is one of the few places left unscathed by the
conquering Spaniards. Searching for more gold, Pizarro marched his men up
the Urubamba River and around the horseshoe bend at the base of the mountain.
Serenely perched 1500 feet above the thundering waters, Machu Picchu
escaped the fate of most of the Inca empire.
At some point, for reasons that elude us, life in the city ended and
the forest took dominion. It was rediscovered in 1911 by a young American
named Hiram Bingham.
It is now generally thought that at the time of the conquest, knowledge
of Machu Picchu had been lost by the Incas themselves. This hasn't stopped
modern historians from somehow attributing its construction to Pachacutec,
the 9th Inca who reigned in the mid 15th century, and gets credit for much
of the achievements of that civilization.