The Discovery of Machu Picchu
Hiram Bingham was born in 1875 to American missionary parents in Hawaii. As a child, he wanted to follow in his parents’ footsteps. However, as he grew up, it became clear that he was not cut out for the cloth or to spread the Word. Hiram liked to play football and engage in outdoors activities far more than he liked to read the Bible. He ended up going to Yale, then studied for a PhD in Harvard. He hit the jackpot when he met, wooed, and married, the heiress to the Tiffany Jewelry fortune – to her parents’ dismay. His wife’s money afforded him the opportunity to indulge his passion for travel and exploration, and he took full advantage of that.
Bingham was fascinated by the history of the Inca Empire, and in 1911, he led an archaeological expedition in Peru. He wanted to find the lost city of Vilcabamba, the last refuge of Inca Manco Capac, who resisted the Spaniards into the 1530s. As he explored ruins near Cuzco, Bingham ran into a local farmer who told him there were more ruins atop a nearby mountain. He and his team walked and rode mules to the top of the mountain. There, they discovered Machu Picchu, which had remained largely untouched during Peru’s Spanish colonial period. Today, it is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world. So popular, that a limit had to be put on the number of tourists allowed to visit.