Machu Picchu was brought to international attention in 1911, when Yale University professor Hiram Bingham visited the site with local guides and reported it to the wider world.

Quick Scoop

  • The Inca citadel of Machu Picchu was built in the 15th century and later abandoned, remaining largely unknown outside the local area for centuries.
  • Local farmers and explorers in the region, including AgustĂ­n LizĂĄrraga in 1902, visited the ruins before Bingham but did not spark global publicity.
  • Bingham’s 1911 expedition is usually cited as the moment Machu Picchu was “discovered” from a global, scientific, and tourism perspective, even though Andean communities already knew of it.

A Bit More Detail

  • Maps and references from the late 19th and early 20th centuries show the area labeled (often as Huayna Picchu), indicating some outsiders knew of ruins in the region before 1911.
  • Modern discussions often put “discovery” in quotes to emphasize that Indigenous people and local residents had continuous knowledge of the site long before foreign explorers arrived.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.