Introduction Historical context Traditional history History according to archaeology History of Pachakutec Chronology The natural setting About the disoccupation when discovered Description of Machu Picchu Wayna Picchu and the temple of the moon Reconstructing the past The productive activities Historical context Traditional history The legend tells that that kingdom had been founded in times immemorial by a hero called Manco Khapaq and his wife Mama Oqllu, whose origins are mixed up with the apus and tutelary gods of mythology and are full of magic and sacred events that speak of the installation of agricultural tasks, crafts, the founding of cities, and the establishment of order. Manco Khapaq was succeeded by several sinchis ("lords") or governors linked to traditional wars with their neighbors and a progressive growth of power and capacity for conquest. Finally, when Inca Wiraqocha governed, the neighbors to the west, the Chancas, intensified their acts of war and laid siege to Cuzco, until the Incas were liberated by a new hero from then on called Pachakutec Inca Yupanki ("the Inca who rules everything and who returns the land"). Thus began the formation of the empire of the Incas and soon their Yupanqui governors left the local sphere of their dominions in order to take charge of the political and economic administration of a territory which they enlarged on the basis of military conquests and alliances. Their Tampu neighbors and the inhabitants of Vilcabamba were some of those initially conquered. It is in those circumstances that Machu Picchu was built.