Lost for centuries, found by chance: The untold story of Machu Picchu’s rediscovery

Perched high in the Andes Mountains northwest of Cuzco is one of the most spectacular cities ever built, Machu Picchu. While it was known to locals, it had been lost from the collective memory of the rest of the world until Hiram Bingham set eyes on it on 24 July 1911.

He was actually searching for the Lost City of the Incas, the last capitals that the Inca rulers fled to in order to escape the invading Spaniards. While Bingham’s discovery could be thought to have been a fluke, he put himself in a position where it was almost inevitable that he would.

How Machu Picchu was rediscovered

Hiram Bingham III, a history lecturer at Yale University, traveled to Peru in 1911 intent of finding Vitcos and Vilcabamba, the last capitals of the Inca Empire. Explorers had been searching for these lost cities believing that they would be filled with gold.

What made Bingham different was that he extensively collected oral testimony from the people in the region, explained Christopher Heaney, author of Cradle of Gold: The Story of Hiram Bingham, a Real-Life Indiana Jones, and the Search for Machu Picchu, to National Geographic.

Armed with that knowledge, Spanish chronicles and maps from previous Peruvian geographers he set off for the Sacred Valley. Bingham also had it on good word that he would find the ruins of Inca cities where he was going from his colleague at Harvard, Curtis Farabee, who had explored the area previously.

“I have it on good authority from Prof. Farabee that there are lost cities above the Urubamba,” he told a newspaper before setting off on his adventure.

While travelling down the Urubamba, Bingham met a local farmer who told him that there were ruins on top of the mountain above. When he got close to Machu Picchu he and his entourage met a family living near the site.

They had their young son lead the group to the ruins of the stunning city that had once been the summer retreat for Inca leaders. However, it was so spectacular that Bingham thought that he had found Vitcos.

Bingham goes on to discover the lost cities he had set out to find

Bingham later found Vitcos, the White Palace of king Manco Inca. He had fled there in 1537 on the run from the Spanish conquistadors, who had slaughtered most of the Inca leadership at the Battle of Cajamarca five years earlier.

The intrepid explorer would also find the lost city of Vilcabamba, where the last Inca king Tupac Amaru was captured by the Spaniards in 1572. Bingham would later try to paint Machu Picchu as the ruins of Vilcabamba despite the evidence clearly showing otherwise.

Thanks to the fact that he always carried a camera, the photos of what he discovered at Machu Picchu excited the imagination. On two later expeditions he brought along the National Geographic Society and the group’s magazine devoted a whole edition to the monumental city in 1913.

Today, over 300,000 people make the trek to visit this marvel of Inca construction and engineering built among the clouds.

Get your game on! Whether you’re into NFL touchdowns, NBA buzzer-beaters, world-class soccer goals, or MLB home runs, our app has it all.

Dive into live coverage, expert insights, breaking news, exclusive videos, and more – plus, stay updated on the latest in current affairs and entertainment. Download now for all-access coverage, right at your fingertips – anytime, anywhere.