Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu is a 15th-century Inca citadel located in the Eastern Cordillera of southern Peru on a 2,430-meter mountain ridge. Often referred to as the "Lost City of the Incas", it is the most familiar icon of the Inca Empire. It is located in the Machupicchu District within Urubamba Province above the Sacred Valley, which is 80 kilometers northwest of Cusco. The Urubamba River flows past it, cutting through the Cordillera and creating a canyon with a tropical mountain climate. In reference to the site's name, for most English or Spanish speakers, the first 'c' in Picchu is silent. In English, the name is pronounced MAH-choo PEE-choo or MATCH-oo PEAK-choo, in Spanish as or, and in Quechua as.

The Inca civilization had no written language and following the first encounter by the Spanish soldier Baltasar Ocampo, no Europeans are recorded to have visited the site from the late 16th century until the 19th century.