Hiram Bingham
He was born in Honolulu on November 19th in
1875. He was a North American naturalist and
archeologist who concluded his instruction at Yale
and Harvard Universities in 1898 and 1908. When
he arrived to South America, he went to Colombia
and Venezuela. After that he came to Peru, where
he realized his great discovery in 1911. He
discovered Machu Picchu and the constructions on
the Huayna Pichu mountain. The next year he made
another expedition with the help of Yale University
and the National Geographic Society in order to
clean up all the Machu Picchu city. Another reason
for this expedition was to construct a bridge across
the Urubamba river. Later he continued exploring all
the zone around Machu Picchu in order to collect
plants that were unknown in that time. For his last
expedition he received help from Alfonso Giesecke,
the Universidad San Antonio de Abad del Cusco
and the natives of the zone. Hiram Bingham was not
a great historian but his importance appears
because he had a ability to manage or control his
large group of explorers and he demonstrated great
sagacity in general terms. In 1917 he entered the
Air Force and he stayed there until 1919. In 1922 he
started realizing political activities. He was elected
First Governor, then Senator of Connecticut and
finally Senator of the USA until 1933. In 1948 the
President of Peru, Jose Luis Bustamante y Rivero,
invited him to a ceremony in his honor.
Unfortunately, he died in Washington on June 6th in
1956. The texts that served as basis for this
investigation, show that Hiram was the discoverer,
but the real fact is that Hiram didn't discover
Machu Picchu; he only showed Machu Picchu to
world. The real discoverers were the natives that
were living there and who helped him to "discover"
the city. They led him to it. This doesn't mean that
we don't give credit Hiram for what he did. We
only want to show you the real facts.
By Roberto Okeda
Santa Maria Marianistas School, Lima, Peru
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