Machu Picchu was a Inca town in Peru in South America.
The Incas built Machu Picchu on a mountain ridge, 2340m above sea level. They lived there between 1200 and 1450 AD. Other people lived there before around 650 AD.
The Incas built houses, fields and temples by cutting the rock on the mountain so it was flat. They built an observatory to look at the stars.
When the Spanish invaded Peru, the Incas left Machu Picchu. Nobody knows why they did that, but some think it was because they were scared of the Spanish.
Today, Machu Picchu is very difficult to get to because it is so high in the mountains. It has only one way in and a stone wall to protect it. Nobody knew it was there until a man called Hiram Bingham found it in 1911.
Today, there is a new road so that tourists can visit. People can also walk along the Inca Trail, or take a train from Cusco.
