The Lost City of the Incas Machu Picchu

!The lost city of the Incas Machu Picchu! Is this citadel the true lost citadel that the Spanish conquerors were looking for in the 16th century?

In almost all history and archeology books Machu Picchu is called the lost city of the Incas, let’s discover today if it really was and why most people call it this way.

Huayna Picchu

A little bit of history

The Spanish took possession of Cusco, the great capital of the Inca empire on November 15, 1533. A part of the Inca royalty commanded by Manco Inka in 1536 began a rebellion, besieging the Spaniards settled in the old Inca capital, breaking the established pact. up to that point, which had created an uncomfortable co-government.

Manco Inca, along with his army, lost consecutive battles in Cusco, Chinchero and Ollantaytambo and decided to flee to Vilcabamba.

Vilcabamba is located in the Amazon foothills, in an area that, it is now known, had an important symbolic, economic and strategic value.

The situation of resistance in Vilcabamba lasted until 1572, when Viceroy Francisco de Toledo unleashed the definitive campaign aimed at capturing the then last Inka, Tupac Amaru, who was later executed by beheading in the city of Cuzco. Four Inkas managed to govern in Vilcabamba: Manco Inka, Sayri Thupaq, Titu Kusi Yupanqui and Thupaq Amaru.

So why does the lost city of the Incas Machu Picchu have this name?

After 1572 Vilcabamba began to be gradually depopulated. This is how the great Inca capital after the arrival of the Spanish is at the mercy of nature. Thus, Vilcabamba has been covered by dense Amazonian vegetation for more than 300 years.

In the 19th and 20th centuries, many internationally renowned explorers, including Hiram Bingham, began expeditions to reach and rediscover the great Vilcabamba, home of the last 4 Inca kings.

In 1911, the Peruvian Yale Expedition began, with one of its objectives being to find the lost city of the Incas, Vilcabamba. However, when Bingham saw Machu Picchu and its beautiful urban pattern and quality of masonry, he mistakenly thought that Machu Picchu must be the mythical Vilcabamba, which is why he called it «The Lost City of the Incas Machu Picchu».

It is worth mentioning that Bingham did arrive at Vilcabamba, however, as it was covered by the overwhelming Amazon forest, so he could not see the real magnitude of this Inca capital.

Vilcabamba

The mythical Vilcabamba

The famous lost city of the Incas is an area of around 12 hectares where archaeologists have found temples, canals, platforms, buildings and terraces. Vilcabamba was connected to other places through roads.

Some of these constructions are made with granite stone, although there is a great difference with the walls worked in Coricancha or Machu Picchu. Due to the technique used here, some researchers conclude that it is very likely that Vilcabamba was built by a culture before the Incas.

In Vilcabamba you can find several houses, which were built on platforms. This was done, possibly, with the aim of protecting everyone from the floods that occurred at the time.

The lost city of the Incas Machu Picchu