Vilcabamba, Peru
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Vilcabamba was a city founded by Manco Inca in 1539 and was the last refuge of the Inca Empire until it fell to the Spaniards in 1572, signalling the end of Inca resistance to Spanish rule. The city was burned and the area swiftly became a remote backwater of Peru. The location of Vilcabamba was forgotten.
The ruins of the city were rediscovered by Hiram Bingham in 1911 in a remote forest site 130 km west of Cuzco called Espíritu Pampa, but he failed to realize its significance, preferring to believe that Machu Picchu, which he also rediscovered, was the fabled "Lost City of the Incas". It wasn't until the explorations and discoveries of Antonio Santander and Gene Savoy in the 1960s. However, they could not prove their theory.
In 1976 Prof. Edmundo Guillen and Polish explorers Tony Halik and Elżbieta Dzikowska again found the ruins. However, before the expedition in a museum in Seville Guillen discovered letters from Spaniards, in which they were describing the progress of the invasion and what they found in Vilcabamba. The comparison of the contented of the letters and the ruins was then the first proof of the location of Vilcabamba.
Later archeological work by Vincent Lee and research by John Hemming gave further confirmation that Espíritu Pampa was generally accepted as the historical Vilcabamba.
On 16 June 2006 in a museum in Cusco a plaque has been unveiled, which commemorates thirtieth anniversary of Vilcabamba discovery. Among others there are the names of the "first proof expedition": Guillen, Halik and Dzikowska.
The lost city of Vilcabamba features in the educational computer game series the Amazon Trail, the Tomb Raider computer game and also the book 'Evil Star' by Anthony Horowitz. Vilcabamba is also a playable level in the Playstation 2 Role-playing game "Shadow Hearts: From the New World".
[edit] Gallery
 Tree over structure. |
 Vilcabamba view. |
 Vilcabamba Inca water fall view. |
 Vilcabamba Inca water fall view. |
