The Inca civilization built Machu Picchu in the fifteenth century.
Machu Picchu is a fifteenth-century Inca citadel in the Andes of southern Peru, about 2,430 meters above sea level. Most researchers connect its construction with the reign of Pachacuti, the Inca ruler who greatly expanded the empire during the fifteenth century.
The site contains terraces, plazas, residences, ceremonial structures, and carefully fitted stonework. Its builders adapted the settlement to a steep mountain ridge, using drainage systems and agricultural terraces to manage heavy rainfall and difficult terrain.
Machu Picchu was probably abandoned during the Spanish conquest, although it was not known to the Spanish conquerors in the way major Inca centers were. Hiram Bingham publicized the site internationally after his 1911 expedition, but local residents already knew of it. UNESCO designated Machu Picchu a World Heritage Site in 1983.