Though long known to local Quechua communities, which 15th-century Inca estate was brought to international attention in 1911 by American historian Hiram Bingham?
- Chichen Itza
- Tikal
- Machu Picchu
- Chan Chan
Why C? And why not the others?
Correct answer: C. Machu Picchu
Perched at roughly 2,430 metres on a ridge in the Peruvian Andes, this royal estate was likely built around 1450 CE for the emperor Pachacuti and abandoned within about a century, probably around the time of the Spanish conquest. It was never truly 'lost' to the people living nearby, but it was unknown outside Peru until Bingham's expedition publicized it through National Geographic, turning it into one of the most recognizable archaeological sites on Earth. Chichen Itza and Tikal are both major Maya cities, one in Mexico's Yucatan and one in Guatemala's rainforest, built by an entirely different civilization following a completely separate timeline. Chan Chan is genuinely Peruvian and pre-Columbian, but it was the sprawling adobe capital of the Chimu kingdom on the coast, a different culture with a different building material and layout entirely.
Source: Britannica: Machu Picchu; National Geographic Society (Hiram Bingham, 1911 expedition)