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As the Spanish pressed their military campaign in the interior of the country against rebels, the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu was abandoned in the middle of the 16th century.
Machu Picchu
ERNESTO BENAVIDES/AFP/Getty Images
The ancient Inca citadel, built in the 15th-century, is perched around 2,500 meters above sea level is the most visited site in South America
Man Sitting at Ruins
Harry Ward Foote/Yale University
Photograph by Harry Ward Foote, who accompanied Hiram Bingham on his expedition to Machu Picchu in Peru in 1911
2,430 Meters Above Sea Level
Unesco
Machu Picchu was built in the middle of a tropical mountain forest. The natural setting, on the eastern slopes of the Andes, encompasses the upper Amazon basin with its rich diversity of flora and fauna.
F. Bandarin
Another View
AFP PHOTO/AFP/Getty Images)
View from the train heading to the Machu Picchu archaeological site.
View from Huayna Picchu
Steve Bennett /Wikimedia
Partially Restored Inca building
Martin St-Amant/Wikipedia
Terraced Fields of Machu Picchu
Christophe Meneboeuf/Wikipedia
View of the Residential Section of Machu Picchu
Christophe Meneboeuf
The site faded into memory for the next four centuries until July 24, 1911 when it was visited by Hiram Bingham
Inca Trail to Machu Pichu
Wikipedia
Machu Picchu Sunrise
Wikipedia
View of the Citadel
EITAN ABRAMOVICH/AFP/Getty Images
The Incas built the temples and palaces of Machu Picchu in the fifteenth century high - 8000 feet, to be accurate - above sea level.
EITAN ABRAMOVICH/AFP/Getty Images
Machu Picchu was named on July 7th, 2007, as one of the new Seven Wonders of the World. A private Swiss foundation launched the contest in January 2007, allowing Internet and telephone voters to choose between 21 sites short-listed from 77 selected by a jury.
AFP PHOTO/Eitan ABRAMOVICH (Photo credit should read EITAN ABRAMOVICH/AFP/Getty Images)
General View of the Inca Citadel
EITAN ABRAMOVICH/AFP/Getty Images
Machu Picchu was built on a ridge above the Urubamba Valley in Peru in the middle of the 15th century
AFP PHOTO/Eitan ABRAMOVICH (Photo credit should read EITAN ABRAMOVICH/AFP/Getty Images)