Hiram Bingham III

Hiram Bingham III was an American explorer, archaeologist, and politician whose 1911 expedition brought Machu Picchu to international attention.

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Machu Picchu: An Inca citadel in the Peruvian Andes, built in the fifteenth century and abandoned during Spanish rule. Bingham’s 1911 expedition publicized this site internationally.
Yale University: A private research university in New Haven, Connecticut, founded in 1701. Bingham studied and later taught at Yale, which sponsored his Peruvian expeditions.
Yale University–Peru repatriation dispute: A dispute over returning archaeological objects excavated at Machu Picchu by Yale-sponsored expeditions. The collections Bingham took to Yale became the center of a long-running repatriation conflict.
Melchor Arteaga: A Peruvian farmer and guide who helped Hiram Bingham reach Machu Picchu in 1911. Arteaga directed Bingham’s party to the ruins through the local landscape.
Augusto Berns: A German-born engineer associated with a nineteenth-century venture near Machu Picchu. Reports about Berns complicate claims that Bingham was the first outsider to know of the site.
Vilcabamba: A region of Peru that served as the last refuge of the Inca state during Spanish conquest. Bingham wrongly identified Machu Picchu as the lost Inca capital in this region.
Harvard University: A private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, founded in 1636. Bingham earned a doctorate in history at Harvard before pursuing exploration.
Machu Picchu tourism: Travel to Machu Picchu, now one of South America’s most visited archaeological sites. Bingham’s publicity helped transform the site into an international destination.
Pablo Recharte: A local resident whose family lived near Machu Picchu when Bingham arrived in 1911. Recharte and other residents helped Bingham locate the overgrown ruins.
Agustín Lizárraga: A Peruvian landholder who left a dated inscription at Machu Picchu in 1902. Lizárraga’s earlier visit challenges simplified accounts of Bingham’s discovery.