Machu Picchu - HISTORY

The breathtaking Inca city of Machu Picchu was built atop the Andes mountains in Peru.

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In a This Day in History video, learn that on July 24, 1911 an American explorer, Hiram Bingham, time-traveled to the lost culture of the fabled Inca empire, which disappeared with the Spanish conquests. Bingham was exploring Peru when a local farmer told him about ruins which he called Machu Picchu, or Old Mountain. The next day, the farmer led Bingham to families growing corn; their corn fields happen to be in the middle of a sprawling lost city. Bingham took the first of millions of photos of the ancient city; abandoned for 400 years, the lost city was revealed.

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The Mayans prospered for more than two thousand years. Today, their greatest city Palenque still stands.

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