An American Historian's Experience with Machu Picchu Ruins.

The early decades of the 20th century, and the world was getting more and more curious about the lost cities mystery when one expedition by a historian deep into the Andes would turn the world around regarding the Incan Empire for good. This is the story of how American historian Hiram Bingham, who worked for Yale University, stumbled upon the stunning Machu Picchu ruins, and how his discovery would become the standard in the pages of cultural history and archaeology.

A Journey Begins

Hiram Bingham was a curious historian who was particularly enthralled by the ancient cultures of South America. He was born in Hawaii in 1875, but his parents were so enthusiastic about intellectual pursuits that he envisioned enrolling at Yale University to take a history course. Already a famous historian of Andean civilizations, and above all, Incas, in 1911, Bingham was unaware of Machu Picchu's hidden treasure.

It was in the spring of 1911 that Yale and the National Geographic Society sent money to Bingham deep into the Peruvian Andes. He had heard a very old legend of a lost, ancient city deep into the jungle beyond the reach of modern times. Machu Picchu the locals knew, but foreigners had not traveled very far into it.

Discovery of a Hidden Gem

It was July 24, 1911, that Bingham's life was irrevocably altered. He and his men traveled the winding roads of the Andes when they stumbled upon a vacant lot that long had been concealed by the dense jungle. When the thorns were cleared away, the outline of Machu Picchu was revealed. The location was virgin, its terracing, its temples, and its houses untouched.

Bingham discovered the Lost City of the Incas, a city that would captivate the imagination of the world. The glory and majesty of Machu Picchu became a reality for the first time eyes saw it. Its colossal stone walls, refined architecture, and beautiful view over the surrounding peaks bore witness to men who were cultured. It was a city that appeared to master nature, constructed on the most dangerous terrain on the face of the earth.

Importance of the Discovery

While natives and tourists had acclimatized Machu Picchu for years, Bingham's discovery of Machu Picchu set the Incan research wheel on a new track. Bingham initially realized the importance of ruins as an architect but did not realize even much later in life what is likely the importance of the discovery to the life of the Incas. Bingham brought his find up to date as best he could and began writing and photographing and submitting to Yale and National Geographic Society.

While earlier authors had made certain presumptions about the existence of Machu Picchu, it was the pictorial descriptions given by Bingham that catapulted the destination outside the world. His exhibitions and writings instigated curiosity to know about Inca civilization, along with pre-Columbian cultures of South America. Machu Picchu was therefore one of the best archaeological sites across the world that had been visited by tourists and researchers.

Controversy and Legacy

As Bingham was being toasted all over the world for his "discovery," the "rediscovery" of Machu Picchu has not been free of controversy. Most critics firmly believe that the role played by Bingham during the excavation process was not as black-and-white and straightforward as he had portrayed it to be. Local Peruvian guide and historian Agustín Lizárraga, by some accounts, is said to have led foreigners through the ruins as early as 1902, long before Bingham's "discovery." Even Bingham's own excavation has been faulted for sending these valuable artifacts overseas to Yale University and stacking them on shelves, with increasing pressure to bring them back to Peru.

Aside from this, Bingham's statement that Machu Picchu was the "Lost City of the Incas" is disputed among contemporary scholars. Up to date, it is confirmed that Machu Picchu was probably a palace of a king or a sacred sanctuary and not a figment of imagination lost city. However, Bingham's expedition made other Inca ruins open to discovery, and his efforts cannot be questioned.

Conclusion

At least, the most significant things ever accomplished by the sets of history books of archaeology was the day that, in 1911, Hiram Bingham discovered Machu Picchu. Not only did his climb to the mountains of Peru unveil one of the jewels of the ancient world, but it unveiled a new interest in the Inca Empire's historical treasures as well.

Machu Picchu is a victory to the will and vision of the Incans. The natural indigenous landscape is still untouched, and foreign tourists in the order of tens of millions pass through the region annually. Bingham's achievement is inexplicable and substandard, but the reason that his discovery was a component of a map of what there was in regard to the mode of life of individuals in the past and how they had succeeded in maintaining their mode of life can be employed as fact.

That is to say, Hiram Bingham ensured that the world would remember the mystic loveliness and the everlastingly curious mystery of Machu Picchu, which heretofore had lingered before the gaze of history unnoticed.