General Information Machu Picchu and the Inca Trail
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Machupicchu
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Machupicchu
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Machupicchu view
Clear Facts About Machu Picchu
- Translation of
the Quechuan words ‘Machu Picchu':
The Old Peak; Machu Picchu represents the face of the Inca looking up to the sky. - Altitude: Main ground: 2430 meter / 7970 feet
- All parts of the sanctuary: Range from 1800 to 3800 meters / 5906 to 12467 feet
- Location: Left bank of the Vilcanota river, between
its tributaries the Kusichaca and Aobamba rivers, in
the department of Cuzco, 70 km / 44 miles from the city Cusco, Urubamba
Province, District of
Macchu Picchu S13 7 W72 35
(source: Unesco)
- Year of construction: Around 1450 A.D.
- Climate: On low altitudes: annual average temperature of 16°C
annual rainfall between 1500 and 3000 mm
At about 2500 meters / 8202 feet:
annual average temperature of 10°C
annual rainfall about 2200 mm
Dry season from May to November
Wet season from December to April
- Flora: Over 90 species of orchids.
In higher areas: different species of high-Andean grains.
In low areas: trees like:
- "aliso" Alnus jorullensis;
- "nogal" Juglans neotropica;
- "intimpa" Podocarpus glomeratus; and
- "Kisuar" Buddleja incana
- Animal Life:
- Birds such as the "condor" (Vultur gryphus)
- Diverse species of hummingbirds
- Mammals such as pumas (Felis concolor)
- The "Tigrillo" (Felis pardalis)
- A few species of monkeys and ophidians of the Bothrops species
- There are species in danger of extinction in Machu Picchu:
- The "rock hen" ("gallito de las rocas")
- The "spectacled bear" ("oso de anteojos")
- The otter
- The mountain cat.
Questions about Machu Picchu and the Inca Trail
Making a tour or trekking to Machu Picchu means you probably have been told or have read something about it. The same goes for the Inca Trails. In spite of this we assume there are still some obscurities you have about the sanctuary and the Trails. The questions we often hear from Machu Picchu and want to answer here are:
What was the function of Machu Picchu and the different parts of it?
Machu Picchu is build around the year 1450 A.D. A lot of theories have been developed about the sanctuary, but based on research and scholars most archeologists now believe that Machu Picchu was an estate of the Inca ruler Pachacuti. It would be a retreat place for the Inca rulers. Pachacuti was the 9th Inca emperor, the one who started the expansion of the Inca Empire. It is mostly seen as a religious place for the Incas, not as an administrative, military or commercial place.
Approximately 1200 people would have lived in Machu Picchu, but also the number of just 750 people is mentioned in many sources. The city is divided in three parts: the agricultural, urban and religious part. The partitioning is also visible in the architecture. The houses, in which the rulers would have lived, are much more precisely build than the houses of the ‘normal people'.
Following you can read about the several parts of Machu Picchu as we call them right now. Most of the names are given by Hiram Bingham, the discoverer of Machu Picchu, who was an explorer, not an archeologist. For this reason the several parts of the sanctuary can have had other functions than the name would make us think.
Wayna Picchu
This is the high mountain visible on the postcard picture. There are some buildings on the top and it is open for a limited amount of 400 visitors. The walk up is approximately 45 minutes, pretty steep and to be walked at an easy pace. It was probably a place for observing the city.
Caretakers Hut
Hiram Bingham suggested this house was the place where travelers in the Inca time arrived to the city of Machu Picchu.
Temple of the Sun
It most probably was the place to observe the sun, something that was really important in the Inca time.
Royal Tomb
Here, Hiram Bingham would have found the remains of some important people.
District of the Sun
Here is to be found an ancient system of water channels and a ritual bathing place. Water was worshipped in the Inca time.
Quarry)
This is the place where the constructors got their building materials from. It looks like a big, unorganized mess of stones, which makes historians think the Incas were not yet ready when they left the city. On one stone is nicely showed how they used to split the granite stones.
Royal Sector
Because of its location which is between the Temple of the Sun and the baths and near the main square; and because of the larger rooms than the other houses, it is thought that this section of the sanctuary was the royal sector.
Sacred Plaza
This was probably the most important place. The important ceremonies and rituals would have taken place here.
Principal Temple
This was most likely the place for displaying religious items.
Sacristy
Most probably priests prepared here for the messes.
Intihuatana
The translation for this word is ‘hitching post of the sun'. Most likely it was a astronomical calendar.
Sacred Rock
This rock is said to have the same shape as the mountains behind it. It is said to have energy that people can take by putting their hand against the rock.
Temple of the Condor
This temple has the shape of a condor. Here probably the heavenly world was worshipped
The Inca Bridge
This is a drawbridge that functioned as a defense on one of the few entrances of the city. It is about half an hour walking away from Machu Picchu
Intipuncu
The Inti Punku is an important archeological site that was originally a fortress of the sacred city, reached through the still-accessible "inti ñan" or "royal path". It is the place to have the best view over Machu Picchu, or so according to most people.
Why is Machu Picchu build on its particular place?
Some sources base the place of Machu Picchu as really chosen on purpose. In the mountains behind and in the city itself are to been seen the shapes of the face of a man looking up in the sky and the face of the puma to be seen in the steep front of Wayna Picchu. Right next to this face is to be seen a young bird that pulls up its wings and from the postcard picture perspective the right part of the city shows a cayman lying on the ground.
The mentioned animals were very important in the ideology of the Incas. The condor represented the upper world and the puma represented the humanly world. The cayman is thought to been seen as the oldest animal in the world.
Of course also the difficulty of reaching the high grounds must have been very important for choosing the specific place.
- We have heard something about the Incas leaving the city?
The Incas left the city less than 100 years after constructing it. The most common description is that the inhabitants of Machu Picchu left fleeing for the Spanish conquistadores. The additional part of the story is that it is most likely that the Incas deliberately decided to ‘forget' the city. For this reason it is assumed that the Spanish invaders never found Machu Picchu and therefore didn't destroy it, for the Spanish destroyed all Inca buildings they encountered.
- Why was Machu Picchu just discovered in 1911? The Peruvians/locals must have known about it.
All sources tell that only a few people living near Machu Picchu knew about it's existence. The sanctuary is even now difficult to spot from the valleys around it and in 1911 it was still covered with a lot of vegetation. Here you can see a small picture of Machu Picchu as it was photographed in 1912 by National Geographic. Just click on it to get a larger image.
Link:
http://lava.nationalgeographic.com/pod/pictures/sm_wallpaper/NGM1913_04p514.jpg
- The Discovery of Machu Picchu in 1911 by Hiram Bingham.
Hiram Bingham (35) was actually already searching for quite a while for Vitcos and Vilcabamba. These places where seen as the last hiding places of the Incas after the Spanish invasion. On July the 23rd of 1911 he was again in the Andes for a new attempt to find the mentioned places, this time with some cryptical indications of Inca Manco Capac II, one of the last rebels against the Spaniards. The weather was really bad but Bingham was triggered by a local farmer, called Melchor Arteaga, who told him some things about the sanctuary.
The next morning Bingham started his final search together with the landlord and a representative of the Peruvian government (Sergeant Carrasco). After dangerously crossing the Vilcanota river Bingham was the only one who did not want to wait longer to go up. The further guidance was done by a 10-year old boy called Pablito Alvarez. Very soon now he got to the lowest terraces and after that at the old gate of Machu Picchu.
In his book "The discovery of Machu Picchu" Bingham later wrote: "Suddenly I was standing in front of the walls of a ruin and houses from the best quality of Inca building art. The walls were difficult to see because the trees and moss ranked partly the stones during centuries. But in the shade of bamboo bushes and climbing plants were the walls visible of white granite blocks chopped in the highest precision. I found brilliant temples, royal houses, a big square and tens of houses. It looked like a dream."
- What is the story behind the limit of 500 people per day?
Machu Picchu is an UNESCO world heritage site since 1983. In the 1990s more and more tourists were discovering the sanctuary and plans were made to build a cable car to it and a luxury hotel besides the sanctuary. There were big protests against these plans from scientists, academics and the Peruvian people of which half is indigenous. The new facilities would both destroy the area but also open it for more tourists.
Also read about Machu Picchu on the Unesco website:
http://whc.unesco.org/pg.cfm?cid=31&id_site=274
Since January 1st 2001 the government has set the limit of 500 people per day to walk the Inca Trails. This only goes for the Inca Trails, not for Machu Picchu. The maximum amount of people per day to enter Machu Picchu is 2500. For this reason a lot of alternative trails have been developed and also visiting Machu Picchu by train for one day is possible.
The available spaces for the Inca Trail are to be seen by clicking on the following link:
http://www.inc-cusco.gob.pe/frame/index_consultas.php
- What is the story and what are the facts about the ‘Inca Trail'?
The Inca Trail as we sell it is just a very small part of the ‘Inca Road System' as the Incas used it hundreds of years ago, before the Spanish invasion. This system reached from what are now Quito (Ecuadorian capital) and Santiago de Chile (Chilean capital). It covered about 22,500 km (14,000 m) and ensured access to 3 million square kilometer of the eastern part of South America.
The roads were mostly used by people on foot, for the Incas did yet use the wheel or the horse. The people were sometimes accompanied by the llama for packing. The trails were used to send on messages and goods transportation. On the trail were lots of Tambo's, resting places for the traveling people. They provided food, shelter and military supplies. There were also stables for the llamas.
Many of the roads came together in Cusco, the capital of the empire. This was the reason why the Spanish found the city of Cusco and all other places in the empire very easy.
Sources
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machu_Picchu
- http://www.machu-picchu.info/general_info.htm
- http://www.infoperu.com/nl/view.php?lang=nl&p=81
