Raiders Of The Lost City
In July 1911 the author’s father climbed a remote ridge in Peru to discover, amid an almost impenetrable jungle, the fabled lost city of Machu Picchu, last capital of the Inca Empire. Or so the story goes.
July/August 1987 | Volume 38, Issue 5
Print
EmailRecent excavation of a number of similar, if smaller, settlements first reported by my father, in the once thickly populated mountain region between the Apurímac and Urubamba rivers, suggests that Machu Picchu’s history was not unique. Later discoveries of manuscripts and historical records confirm the location and chronology of Vitcos as the last lnca capital and Vilcabamba as the major population center of the rump empire, but no reference to Machu Picchu has ever been found, nor any support for its identification as a city of refuge from the Spanish conquerors. It may even have been abandoned for lack of an adequate water supply before Pizarro appeared on the scene.
One persistent myth that my father did his best to discourage was that he made use of others’ discoveries to find lost treasure and that he secretly shipped a hoard of lnca gold out of Peru. That one may be laid to rest only with a lessening of the social tensions of contemporary Peru. But Hiram Bingham is still recognized as the scientific discoverer of Machu Picchu, and his fame as a great explorer should remain for a long time. In any case, the splendor of the fabled lnca citadel will outlast all its myths.
American Heritage is proud to host the
National Portal to
Historic Collections
Recently added:
- American Revolution Center
- National Museum of Civil War Medicine
- National Museum of the U.S. Navy
- Manassas National Battlefield
- Maryland State House
In association with the
American Association for State and Local History
Why do we need a national nonprofit membership society for American history?
-
“Save America’s Treasures” has been totally eliminated—the largest Federal program supporting preservation of such treasures as the original Star Spangled Banner and George Washington’s tent.
-
65% of Americans don’t know what happened at the Constitutional Convention, according to a recent survey by Newsweek.
-
The “Teaching American History” grants—the largest Federal program supporting history education—have been completely eliminated.
-
Visits to the Top 20 Civil War battlefields have dropped in half from 1970 to 2009 according to official National Park Service statistics.
-
40% of Americans can’t identify whom we fought in World War II, according to a recent survey by Newsweek.
-
A quarter of Americans believe Congress shares power over U.S. foreign policy with the United Nations, according to a recent Annenberg survey.
-
“There is little that is more important for an American citizen to know than the history and traditions of his country,” John F. Kennedy wrote in American Heritage.
-
The “We the People Program,” which touched some 30 million students and 90,000 teachers over 25 years, has been completely eliminated.
-
Two-thirds of Americans could not correctly name Yorktown as the last major military action of the American Revolution, according to a recent national Gallup survey.
-
The National Heritage Areas and Scenic Byways program, the only major Federal program encouraging visits to historic places, has been completely eliminated in Congressional committee.
