Hiram Bingham III (1875-1956) was an American explorer, academic, and politician who is best known for his rediscovery of the ancient Inca city of Machu Picchu in Peru. Born in Hawaii to American Protestant missionaries, Bingham grew up in Connecticut and went on to attend Yale University, where he earned a degree in Latin American history.
After graduation, Bingham embarked on a series of expeditions to Central and South America, where he studied the indigenous cultures and archaeology of the region. In 1908, he was appointed as a lecturer at Yale and later became a professor of Latin American history.
In 1911, Bingham organized an expedition to Peru in search of the lost city of Vilcabamba, the last Inca stronghold to fall to the Spanish. While exploring the Urubamba Valley, he was led by local guides to the ruins of Machu Picchu, a vast complex of terraced buildings and temples hidden in the Andean mountains. Bingham’s discovery of the site sparked worldwide interest in Inca civilization and made him a celebrity.
Bingham went on to make several more expeditions to Peru, uncovering numerous other archaeological sites and artifacts. He also served as a delegate to the League of Nations and as a US senator from Connecticut, where he was a strong advocate for international cooperation and the preservation of historical landmarks.
His contributions to the field of Latin American history and archaeology are significant, and his legacy lives on through the ongoing study and preservation of Machu Picchu and other ancient sites in the region.
