The site was most
likely built during the reign of the Inca king Pachacuti Inca
Yupanqui and is considered to be the last bastion of resistance and
refuge of the Sons of the Sun who fled from the city of Cusco when
it was under siege in 1535. Led by Manco Inca Yupanqui they took
refuge in Choquequirao.
Presumably it was
used as a check point for access to the Vilcabamba Area and as a
cultural and religious center for the region. The city also played
an important role as a link between the Amazon Jungle and the city
of Cusco.
According to
Ethan Todras-Whitehill of the New York Times, Choquequirao's first
non-Incan visitor was the explorer Juan Arias Díaz in 1710.
The first written
reference to the site dates to 1768 and was made by Cosme Bueno, but
was ignored for the time being.
In 1834 Eugene de
Santiges rediscovered the site.
In 1837 Leonce
Agrand mapped the site for the first time, but his maps were soon
forgotten. When Hiram Bingham, the discoverer of Machu Picchu,
visited Choquequirao in 1909 the site gained more attention.
The first
excavations started some decades later in the 1970s.
