The Inca citadel of Machu Picchu is located in:

Machu Picchu is a 15th-century Inca citadel located high in the Andes Mountains of southern Peru, above the Urubamba river valley, about 80 km north-west of Cusco.

About Machu Picchu:

• It stands on a mountain ridge at a height of about 2,430 metres.
• It is believed to have been built around 1450 as an estate (royal retreat) for the Inca emperor Pachacuti.
• It was abandoned about a century later, around the time of the Spanish conquest, but the Spanish never found it, so it was not destroyed.
• It was brought to international attention in 1911 by the American explorer Hiram Bingham, of Yale University, although local farmers already knew about it.
• It is built in the classical Inca style, with polished dry-stone walls (stones fitted together without mortar).
• Important structures include the "Intihuatana" (a ritual stone), the "Temple of the Sun" and the "Room of the Three Windows".
• The name means "Old Mountain" in the Quechua language.
• It was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983 (as the "Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu", a mixed cultural and natural site).
• In 2007, it was voted one of the "New Seven Wonders of the World".
• Visitors usually reach it by train from Cusco to Aguas Calientes, or by walking the "Inca Trail".

About the Inca Empire:

• It was the largest empire in the Americas before the arrival of Columbus.
• Its capital was Cusco (in present-day Peru).
• It extended along the Andes from present-day Ecuador to Chile.
• The Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro conquered it in the 1530s, capturing the emperor Atahualpa in 1532.
• The Incas had no writing system but used "quipu" (knotted cords) to keep records.

About Peru:

• Its capital is Lima.
• Its currency is the Sol.
• Lake Titicaca, on the border with Bolivia, is the highest navigable lake in the world.
• The Nazca Lines, giant designs drawn on the desert floor, are also in Peru.

Other ancient American civilisations:

• Maya: southern Mexico and Central America (Chichen Itza, Tikal).
• Aztec: central Mexico; capital Tenochtitlan (present-day Mexico City).

Why not the other options?

• ✗Mexico has Maya and Aztec ruins, such as Chichen Itza.
• ✗Bolivia shares Lake Titicaca with Peru.
• ✗Chile was part of the Inca Empire's southern frontier.