Which empire built Machu Picchu in the Andes?

The Inca Empire built Machu Picchu in the Andes. The site is a fifteenth-century Inca citadel in southern Peru, positioned on a mountain ridge above the Urubamba Valley at roughly 2,430 metres elevation.

Most archaeologists connect Machu Picchu with the reign of Pachacuti, the Inca ruler who transformed the kingdom of Cusco into a major empire during the fifteenth century. The complex includes terraces, plazas, residences, ceremonial structures, and carefully fitted stonework. Its exact purpose remains debated; it may have served as a royal estate, religious centre, or retreat linked to the Inca elite.

The site was not necessarily unknown to local people after Spanish conquest, but it was brought to broad international attention in 1911 by Hiram Bingham, who was searching for Vilcabamba. Machu Picchu was never a major Spanish colonial settlement, which helped preserve its architecture. It is often confused with Cusco, the Inca capital, but Machu Picchu is a separate mountain site about 70 kilometres northwest of Cusco in a straight-line approximation.