Why was Machu Picchu built on that high ridge? And why abandoned so soon after?

Machu Picchu was inhabited for only about a century. While scholars debate when exactly in the 1400s it was completed, they generally agree that by the mid 1500s it was abandoned.

We can easily appreciate that it must've taken a gargantuan effort to build the settlement on such a high ridge. The feat becomes even more impressive when you learn that the Incas didn't have steel or iron tools, and they didn't have the wheel!

Moreover, the craftsmanship on display in the religious buildings of Machu Picchu reveals that here we have have some of the finest work of anywhere in the Inca Empire.

Machu Picchu sits on a saddle ridge between the peaks of Machu Picchu and Huayna Picchu

So why did the Incas go to such exceptional effort at this particular site?

The Incas didn't have a written language, which is why we don't have a clear record of why Machu Picchu was built, and when.

That said, they did have a method of numeric record-keeping, which involved tying knots into pieces of differently coloured string (quipus). And they were diligent about taking regular censuses of the empire.

Machu Picchu had homes of differing size and quality

Historians estimate that only around 800 to 1,000 people lived at Machu Picchu at any one time. It was, therefore, a small settlement by Inca standards. So what was its purpose?

Various theories have been put forward as to why Machu Picchu was created:

One of the truly fascinating aspects about Machu Picchu – one that feeds into the romance of the site – is that we don't know why exactly it was abandoned. Yes, the Spanish were trying to demolish the Inca Empire, but the former didn't know about the existence of Machu Picchu!

By contrast, we have detailed records (thanks to the written records of the Spanish conquistadores) of what led to the demise of other nearby Inca sites – like those of the Sacred Valley further up the Urubamba River. And we know that these attacks, along with Old World diseases introduced into the Americas, led to the Inca Empire's eventual destruction.

The Spanish conquered the Inca Empire, and took over their capital city of Cusco

Yet the Spanish never laid eyes on Machu Picchu. As far as we know, they weren't actually aware it existed.

The retreating Inca didn't, however, seek refuge at Machu Picchu, but instead fled into the jungle further to the north. Here they established the city of Vilcabamba as their new capital.

Was Machu Picchu deemed too small to serve as a refuge? Too close to the invading army? With no written record, it's unlikely we'll ever know.

So we mentioned the city of Vilcabamba. This was the last capital the Incas built in the remote jungle to hide from from the invading Spaniards.

Well, it was only a few while before Vilcabamba was also abandoned – in 1572.

With the passage of time, the location of Vilcabamba became obscured and the city was eventually given the moniker the 'Lost City of the Incas'. (Stick with us, this does indeed relate to Machu Picchu ...)

In the early twentieth century, the young historian Hiram Bingham III and others from Yale University were using local Quechua guides to help them find this so-called Lost City of the Incas. But instead of arriving at Vilcabamba, on the morning of 24 July 1911 Bingham's guide led him up a gruelling path to the ruins of Machu Picchu.

Hiram Bingham the year after he found Machu Picchu

Bingham is often spoken of as the man who rediscovered Machu Picchu. Yet this is plainly untrue. There's no indication it was ever forgotten by locals.

In fact, at the time Bingham first visited Machu Picchu, two locals were using some of the terraces to farm maize and other crops.

Locals continued to farm on the ruins' terraces even while the site was unknown to the wider world

Furthermore, we have every reason to believe (through testimony and graffiti) that a handful of other outsiders had already stumbled across the ruins earlier that century.

The important thing that Bingham did, however, was to reintroduce the ruins of Machu Picchu to the world at large.

So if you're a gobsmacked Hiram Bingham staring at the marvellous ruins poking through the dense vegetation, how do you alert everyone else to what it is you've uncovered? Can you be sure you'll be believed, or able to adequately convey the importance of the discovery?

Fortunately for Bingham, he'd already struck up a relationship with the cofounder of Kodak, and the latter had given him the equipment necessary to take panoramic photographs. Interestingly, such technology wasn't to be made available to the public for another decade!

This gift from Kodak meant Bingham was able to take photographs of the jungle-clad ruins to help others believe – and appreciate – the magnitude of what he'd uncovered.

And the rest of the story is history, so to speak. Because we all know that Bingham bringing Machu Picchu to the world's attention has had a profound impact on both scholarship into the Incas as well as tourism into the Cusco region.

For better or worse, there's no turning back – Machu Picchu has settled itself into the global consciousness!

Nowadays the ruins of Machu Picchu receive roughly a million visitors a year.

Visitors exploring the ruins

The beautifully carved granite buildings and the glorious view down to the river and across to snowy peaks continue to capture hearts and imaginations just the same as it must've done with visitors in the fifteenth century.

Yet most who visit Machu Picchu do so via a pretty train ride to Machu Picchu Town after which they catch a bus ride or hike up to the ruins. If, however, you'd like to approach the ruins in the same way that the Incas did, you need to trek the Inca Trail.

The Inca Trail is an up-and-down foot highway that takes you along the route carved and used by the Incas to reach Machu Picchu.

Importantly, it gifts you with the same first sight of the citadel that everyone visiting it hundreds of years ago would've also enjoyed: a glorious view down over the entire complex from Inti Punku (the 'Gateway to the Sun').

Your first view of Machu Picchu on the Inca Trail from Inti Punku

Viewing Machu Picchu for the first time after all of the hard legwork required to climb up and down through the Andes for the better part of a week is an incomparable experience. We invite you to join us on one of our group Inca Trail treks and witness the splendour of the setting and the historic ruins for yourself!