The Inca Empire built Machu Picchu in the fifteenth century in present-day Peru.
Machu Picchu is a high-altitude site in the Andes, above the Urubamba Valley. Archaeological evidence indicates that it was constructed during the reign of the Inca ruler Pachacuti, probably in the mid-fifteenth century. Its terraces, plazas, temples, residences, and carefully fitted stonework show the organizational and engineering capabilities of the Inca state.
The site may have served as a royal estate, ceremonial centre, or retreat connected to Pachacuti and his lineage. Its exact purpose is not known with certainty, and scholars caution against treating one modern label as definitive. The settlement was linked to a wider network of roads and agricultural terraces.
Machu Picchu was not the Inca capital; Cusco was the imperial capital. Spanish forces conquered the Inca Empire in the sixteenth century, but the remote site was not destroyed in the way many major centres were. It became widely known internationally after Hiram Bingham's 1911 expedition, although local residents already knew of the ruins.
UNESCO listed the Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu as a World Heritage Site in 1983. The complex faces conservation pressures from tourism, erosion, earthquakes, and landslides.