When was Machu Picchu built?

Machu Picchu sits at about 2,430 metres on a ridge above the Urubamba River in Peru. Traditional histories date its construction to around 1450 under the Inca emperor Pachacuti, though radiocarbon research published in 2021 suggests people were living there by about 1420. The site was abandoned roughly a century later, around the time of the Spanish conquest, and the Spanish never found it. It became world-famous after American explorer Hiram Bingham publicised it in 1911, although local farmers already knew it well. It was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983 and one of the New Seven Wonders of the World in 2007.