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Machu Picchu, a 15th-century Inca estate on a ridge high in the Peruvian Andes, stands on hundreds of stone terraces. They hold the steep soil in place, drain away heavy rain and gave the Inca room to grow crops.

Peru, c. 1450

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The story behind the card

It was built around 1450 as a royal estate for the Inca ruler Pachacuti, at about 2,430 metres. Much of its engineering is hidden: studies led by the hydrologist Kenneth Wright suggest that some 60 per cent of the construction lies underground, in foundations and layers of crushed stone that let the frequent heavy rain drain away instead of washing the slopes down. The site was never truly lost. Local Quechua farmers always knew it, and the Peruvian Agustín Lizárraga reached it in 1902. The American explorer Hiram Bingham made it world-famous in 1911. UNESCO listed it as a World Heritage Site in 1983.

Türkçe oku
Machu Picchu, Peru'da And Dağları'nın yükseklerinde bir sırta kurulmuş, 15. yüzyıldan kalma bir İnka yerleşimidir. Yüzlerce taş teras dik yamacın toprağını tutar, sağanak yağmurun suyunu akıtır; İnkalar bu teraslarda ürün de yetiştirirdi.
Peru, 1450 civarı

Machu Picchu, İnka hükümdarı Pachacuti için yaklaşık 1450'de, 2.430 metre yükseklikte bir saray yerleşimi olarak yapıldı. Mühendisliğinin büyük bölümü gözle görülmez: Hidrolog Kenneth Wright'ın yönettiği araştırmalara göre yapıların yaklaşık yüzde 60'ı toprağın altındadır. Temeller ve kırma taş katmanları, sık yağan sağanakların suyunu yamacı sürüklemeden akıtır. Burası aslında hiç “kaybolmamıştı”: Bölgedeki Keçua köylüleri yerini hep biliyordu, Perulu Agustín Lizárraga da 1902'de oraya ulaşmıştı. Machu Picchu'yu 1911'de dünyaya tanıtan, Amerikalı kâşif Hiram Bingham oldu. UNESCO alanı 1983'te Dünya Mirası Listesi'ne aldı.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Machu Picchu
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