Vitcos: The Last Inca Capital (1912)

Hiram Bingham, formally Hiram Bingham III, (1875 – 1956) was an academic, explorer and politician from the United States. He made public the existence of the Quechua citadel of Machu Picchu in 1911 with the guidance of local indigenous farmers.

In his 1911 expedition Hiram Bingham III was searching for Vilcabamba. Following descriptions left by various conquistadors, he came upon a site called "Rosaspata" by local villagers. Through the same descriptions that had led him there, he was able to determine that he was in fact at the palace of Vitcos and Oracle of Chuquipalta. After cursory mapping of both sites he continued on in search of the last city of the Inca. Knowing roughly where in relation to Vitcos he might find Vilcabamba, he continued on what he believed was, and actually was, the road to his goal. However, at this point it can be said that this expedition was ill-fated in that while he did in fact find Vilcabamba he believed it to be far less extensive than it actually was, and after describing one small sector and naming it "Eromboni Pampa" he abandoned efforts and continued his search based on rumors of another site that was far more extensive and spectacular. This rumored site was Machu Picchu, and while it lay entirely in the wrong direction from Vitcos, he announced it as being Vilcabamba. His later expeditions all returned to Machu Picchu, and left Vicabamba and Vitcos neglected and forgotten.

This book published in 1912 has been reformatted for the Kindle and may contain an occasional defect from the original publication or from the reformatting.