19th November, 1875 was born Hiram Bingham

Hiram Bingham - American archaeologist and politician who immortalized himself by opening "lost city of the Incas," Machu Picchu.

Hiram Bingham was born in Honolulu. His father and grandfather were missionaries for the conversion to Christianity of Hawaii residents. From his father, Hiram learned mountaineering skills that allow him to travel to the most remote mountain areas. So, in 1906, he repeated the path of Bolivar from Venezuela to Colombia, and two years later crossed the Andes on the way from Buenos Aires to Limu.

In 1911, Bingham led an expedition equipped by Yale University to find the lost city of the Incas, which Spanish conquistadors could not find. From written sources it derived that the city of Inca civilization was situated near of Cusco, in the edge of towering mountain peaks.

Risking their lives, Bingham visited several archaeological sites of the Inca civilization, and on July 24, 1911 found the fortress of Machu Picchu, and in August came across a dilapidated palace Vitcos where the Inca ruler Manco Yupanqui hid from the conquistadors. His discoveries, he described in best-selling books "The Land of the Incas" (1922), "Machu Picchu" (1930) and "The Lost City of the Incas" (1948).