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This is a view you see as you go past the main gate towards the Machu Picchu Citadel. The spot where the man is standing on is the agricultural terraces of the Incas. The terraces were cut on the side of the hill. This particular terrace level has been paved and made as a passageway for tourist to get across the agricultural section towards the old city proper of Machu Picchu.

Machu Picchu, or "Old Mountain") is a pre-Columbian Inca site located 2,400 meters (7,875 ft) above sea level. It is situated on a mountain ridge above the Urubamba Valley in Peru, which is 80 km (50 mi) northwest of Cusco. Often referred to as "The Lost City of the Incas", Machu Picchu is probably the most familiar symbol of the Inca Empire.

It was built around the year 1450, but abandoned a hundred years later, at the time of the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire. Forgotten for centuries, the site was brought to worldwide attention in 1911 by Hiram Bingham, an American historian. Since then, Machu Picchu has become an important tourist attraction. It has recently come to light that the site may have been discovered and raided several years previously, in 1867 by a German businessman, Augusto Berns. It was declared a Peruvian Historical Sanctuary in 1981 and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983. It is also one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.

Information taken from Wikipedia.

Nikon D200
2008/07/04 07:29:45.1
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