From 100 Facts For 100 Years of Machu Picchu - #62

By Catharine Hamm | Los Angeles Times Travel Editor

62. Hiram Bingham III brought back more than 5,000 artifacts from Peru on an expedition funded by National Geographic and Yale University.

It was originally thought Hiram Bingham took 4,000 artifacts Machu Picchu. However when the country of Peru sued Yale to return the pieces it was discovered there were some 40,000 pieces.

From 100 Facts for 100 Years of Machu Picchu - #59

By Catharine Hamm | Los Angeles Times Travel Editor'

59. Spain was, arguably, the wealthiest and most powerful country in the world at one time. Its coffers surely benefited from the infusion of riches from Peru.

During the colonization of the Americas Spain established two viceroyalties in the Americas.  The first New Spain which included the United States west of the Mississippi, Mexico and Central America with the exception of Panama and the Floridas as well as the Spanish East Indes (Philippine Islands, Mariana Islands, Caroline Islands,Taiwan, and parts of the Moluccas) and the Spanish West Indies(Cuba, Hispaniola, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Jamaica,Cayman Islands, Trinidad, and the Bay Islands).

The other was the Viceroyalty of Peru which oversaw much of current South America including modern day Ecuador, Peru, Bolvia, Chile, Argentina, Panama, Colombia, Boliva, Uruguay and Paraguay.

From 100 Facts for 100 Years of Machu Picchu - #58

By Catharine Hamm | Los Angeles Times Travel Editor

58. Spain called its conquered lands the "Viceroyalty of Peru," ruling for 300 years.

Under the Viceroyalty of Peru most of South America was under the control of Lima.  All ships traveling between South America and Europe and / or Asia were required to pass through the port of Callao (just outside of Lima).

From 100 Facts for 100 Years of Machu Picchu - #60

By Catharine Hamm | Los Angeles Times Travel Editor

60. Some say that, like the Spanish, Hiram Bingham took what wasn't his on his trips to Peru.

The Hiram Bingham collection included some 40,000 pieces including mummies, ceramics and bones taken when Hiram Bingham "discovered" Machu Picchu in 1911.

100 Facts for 100 Years of Machu Picchu - #48

The Capture of Diego de Almagro

By Catharine Hamm | Los Angeles Times Travel Editor
48. Francisco Pizaro was killed by the son and supporters of his partner, Diego de Almagro, who had been executed by Pizarro's brother, Hernando.

The execution of Almagro there was much infighting within the Spanish Court.  Hernando returned to Spain to gain aid for the Pizzaro side.  He was imprisoned for 20 years for his part of the tretchery in the new world.  Upon his release he married Francisca Pizarro Yupanqui the daughter of Francisco Pizarro and his Inca mistress Ines Yupanqui.

From 100 Facts for 100 Years of Machu Picchu - #47

By Catharine Hamm | Los Angeles Times Travel Editor
47. Francisco Pizaro earily took over the city of Cuzco. Two years later, he founded Lima, where he died in 1541.

After killing Atahuallpa, Pizzaro took two of his sisters as mistresses Inés Yupanqui with whom he had Francisca Pizarro Yupanqui and Gonzalo Pizarro and Cuxirimay Ocllo Yupanqui with who he had two sons Francisco and Juan.

From 100 Facts for 100 Years of Machu Picchu - #46

By Catharine Hamm | Los Angeles Times Travel Editor

46. In 1533, Atahuallpa was executed, and explorer Francisco Pizaro began his march to Cuzco.

From the history of Cusco ...

With the empire sharply divided and without a leader to take on the Spanish. On July 26, 1533 Pizaro executed Atahulpa, the last of the great Incas in Cajamarca.

From 100 Facts for 100 Years of Machu Picchu - #37

By Catharine Hamm | Los Angeles Times Travel Editor


37. Hiram Bingham continued,  "Surprise followed surprise until we came upon the realization that we were in the midst of as wonderful ruins as any ever found in Peru."

Yet it was not until after Bingham's death in 1956 that it was discovered that Machu Picchu was not the lost city of the Incas and much of what he thought about Machu Picchu was incorrect.

From 100 Facts for 100 Years of Machu Picchu - #36

By Catharine Hamm | Los Angeles Times Travel Editor

36. And what, really, could be? Here's what Hiram Bingham wrote in Harper's Monthly in 1913 about coming upon Machu Picchu.  "...Suddenly we found ourselves in the midst of a jungle-covered maze of small and large walls, the ruins of buildings made of blocks of white granite, most carefully cut and beautifully fitted together without cement."

Bingham would go on to write several articles and the books Inca Lands and The Lost City of the Incas regarding his adventures in Peru.

From 100 Facts for 100 Years of Machu Picchu - #35

By Catharine Hamm | Los Angeles Times Travel Editor

35. Hiram Bingham found Vicabamba, but he dismissed it because it wasn't as grand as Machu Picchu.

Due to its remote jungle location once the Inca empire fell to the Spanish, the location of Vilcabamba was quickly forgotten and much of the city would be encompassed by the surrounding forest.

From 100 Facts for 100 Years of Machu Picchu - #34

By Catharine Hamm | Los Angeles Times Travel Editor

34. Today, historians think the real Vicabamba is close to Vitcos, an archaeological site, in the eastern Andes.  Another swashbuckling explorer, Gene Savoy, came upon it in 1964 at a place called Espiritu Pampa.

Like many Incan sites archaeologists have found that the city of Espititu Pampa was built on the site of a previous Huari city.  Just as many of the ruins near Cusco including Sacsayhuman were originally built by previous cultures and modified by the Incas.

From 100 Facts for 100 Years of Machu Picchu - #33

By Catharine Hamm | Los Angeles Times Travel Editor

33. Hiram Bingham thought he had found Vicabamba, the true  "Lost City of the  Incas"" which was said to be where the Incas took refuge from the Spaniards.

After Cusco fell to the Spanish, Manco Inca Yupanqui was named king of the Incas.  He cooperated with the Spanish for a while.  Then while the Spanish began feuding between each other he took advantage by recapturing Cusco in 1536.   The Spanish regained control of the city and Manco Inca retreated to Vilcabamba where he and his successors ruled for another 36 years leading revolts against the Spanish.

From 100 Facts for 100 Years of Machu Picchu - #32

By Catharine Hamm | Los Angeles Times Travel Editor

32. Christopher Columbus, of course, though he discovered Asia; Hiram Bingham thought he discovered the "Lost City of the Incas."  Both were wrong.

Though Bingham was looking for the city where the Incas took refuge from the Spanish, Vicabamba - Machu Picchu is now generally referred to as "The Lost City of the Incas"

From 100 Facts for 100 Years of Machu Picchu - #31

By Catharine Hamm | Los Angeles Times Travel Editor

31. Here's something Hiram Bingham and Christopher Columbus have in common: Both thought they had discovered some other place.

Christopher Columbus discovery of the New World brought the Spanish to South America which would eventually lead to the conquest of Peru and the destruction of their empire including their capital city of Cusco.  It would not be until Hiram Bingham's discovery that the world began to appreciate the treasures of the Incas.

From 100 Facts for 100 Years of Machu Picchu - #30

By Catharine Hamm | Los Angeles Times Travel Editor

#30 Like many explorers, Hiram Bingham didn't know exactly what he found.

"His strategy for analyzing the site was way ahead of his time," says Richard Burger of the Peabody Museum of Natural History and an expert on Peruvian anthropology and archeology. "Unfortunately, when it came to interpreting what he found, Bingham got most of it seriously wrong."

From 100 Facts for 100 Years of Machu Picchu - #29

By Catharine Hamm | Los Angeles Times Travel Editor

29. Hiram Bingham said in his Harper's Monthly story, published in 1913, that a "local muleteer" may have been in Machu Picchu in 1902, based on scrawls he found on a wall.  It seemed clear that even if the Spanish didn't know it existed, others certainly did.

From Wikipedia...

A muleteer (in Spanish language arriero and in Catalan language traginer) is a person who works full or part-time transporting merchandise or luggage with the help of pack animals. In South America, arriero signifies people who, in the absence of good roads that could permit the use of wheeled vehicles, transported all sort of items, such as coffee, maize, cork or wheat, through the paisa region (Antioquia and the Colombian Coffee-Growers Axis) with their mules from the eighteenth century to the present time.

From 100 Facts for 100 Years of Machu Picchu - #28

By Catharine Hamm | Los Angeles Times Travel Editor

#28 Hiram Bingham may not have not been the first European to find Machu Picchu.  Some say it was a German named Augusto Berrns who came upon it in 1867.

It is highly contested that Hiram Bingham "discovered" Machu Picchu the general consensus is that he is credited for bringing Machu Picchu to the attention of the world.

From 100 Facts for 100 Years of Machu Picchu - #27

By Catharine Hamm | Los Angeles Times Travel Editor

#27 Hiram Bingham didn't really discover Machu Picchu, the residents knew it was there, a local Quechua-speaking guide, Melchor Artega, is said to have led him there.

In addition to Machu Picchu, Hiram Bingham is credited for the discovery of vitcos and Espiritu Pampa.

From 100 Facts for 100 Years of Machu Piccchu - #26

By Catharine Hamm | Los Angeles Times Travel Editor

#26 Machu Picchu was, not surprisingly, declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1983.

If you are visiting the Galapagos and Machu Picchu you will visit a number of World Heritage Sites including the city of Quito, The Galapagos Islands, the city of Cusco, the ruins of Sacsayhuman as well as Machu Picchu.

From 100 Facts for 100 Years of Machu Picchu - #25

By Catharine Hamm | Los Angeles Times Travel Editor

#25.  When you enter Machu Picchu, you'll see why it's been designated one of the best preserved pre-Columbian ruins in the world.

 Machu Picchu is often compared in its archarchaeological importance to the pyramids of Egypt.