Pachacuti is generally credited with ordering the construction of Machu Picchu.
Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui transformed the Inca state into a major Andean empire during the fifteenth century. Archaeological evidence suggests that Machu Picchu was built during his reign, probably in the mid-fifteenth century, as a royal estate or retreat rather than as a conventional city.
The site occupies a ridge high above Peru’s Urubamba Valley. Its terraces supported farming, while carefully fitted stone buildings, ritual spaces, residences, and water channels adapted to steep mountain terrain. The Incas used ashlar masonry in important structures, shaping stones so precisely that mortar was often unnecessary.
Machu Picchu was not destroyed by the Spanish conquest, although it was abandoned sometime in the sixteenth century and became little known outside the region. Hiram Bingham brought it to broad international attention in 1911, guided by local residents. The site’s original name remains uncertain, and the modern name is now far more famous than any securely documented Inca name.