Which empire built Machu Picchu in the Andes during the 15th century?

The Inca Empire built Machu Picchu in the Andes during the 15th century.

Machu Picchu is a high-altitude Inca site in present-day Peru, above the Urubamba Valley. Archaeologists generally associate its construction with the reign of Pachacuti, the Inca ruler who transformed the kingdom around Cusco into a powerful Andean empire. The complex includes terraces, plazas, residences, ritual structures, and carefully fitted stone walls.

The site was probably a royal estate or important ceremonial and administrative center rather than a typical city. Its agricultural terraces helped manage steep slopes, while sophisticated drainage reduced damage from heavy mountain rainfall. The Incas built without mortar in many walls, shaping stones so precisely that joints remain remarkably tight.

Machu Picchu was not a Maya or Aztec monument; those civilizations developed in Mesoamerica. Local people knew of the site, but it became internationally famous after Hiram Bingham publicized it in 1911. UNESCO designated it a World Heritage Site in 1983.