What is Machu Picchu?
{{Infobox ancient site |name = Machu Picchu |native_name = |image = 80 - Machu Picchu - Juin 2009 - edit.2.jpg |image_size = 300px |alt = |caption = Machu Picchu in June 2009 |map_type = Peru |relief = yes |map_alt = Map showing location of Machu Picchu in Peru |coordinates = {{coord|13|09|48|S|72|32|44|W|display=inline,title}} |location = {{PER}}<br />[[Cusco Region]] |region = |type = |part_of = |length = |width = |area = |height = {{convert|2430|m}} |builder = |material = |built = c. 1450 |abandoned = 1572 |epochs = |cultures = [[Inca civilization]] |dependency_of = |occupants = |event = |excavations = |archaeologists = [[Hiram Bingham III|Hiram Bingham]] |condition = |ownership = |management = |public_access = |website = <!-- {{URL|example.com}} --> |notes = | designation1 = WHS | designation1_offname = Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu | designation1_date = 1983 <small>(7th [[World Heritage Committee|session]])</small> | designation1_number = [http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/274 274] | designation1_criteria = i, iii, vii, ix | designation1_type = Mixed | designation1_free1name = State Party | designation1_free1value = {{PER}} | designation1_free2name = Region | designation1_free2value = [[List of World Heritage Sites in the Americas|Latin America and the Caribbean]] }} '''Machu Picchu''' is a [[pre-Columbian]] 15th-century [[Inca]] site in [[Peru]], in [[South America]]. The Incas built the city on an Andes mountain ridge, 2430m above [[sea level]]. They lived there between 1200 and 1450 AD. Other people lived there before about 650 AD. The Incas built houses, fields and temples by cutting the rock on the mountain so it was flat. They built some [[observatory|observatories]] to look at the stars. When the Spanish invaded Peru, the Incas left Machu Picchu. Nobody knows for sure why they did that, but some think it was because of diseases from Europe (such as [[smallpox]]). The city was left unfinished, most likely due to the Spanish invasion and/or a civil wa