Hiram Bingham (1875-1956)was an American explorer who discovered the famous Inca ruins of Machu Picchu and other important Inca sites.

Hiram Bingham was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, on November 19, 1875, the son of retired missionaries from an old Hawaiian family. He graduated from Yale University and then returned to Hawaii for a short time. He decided on an academic career and received his Master of Arts degree from the University of California at Berkeley. He completed his studies at Yale, earning a doctorate in Latin American history.

In 1905, Bingham made his first trip to South America, following the route of Simón Bolivar, from Caracas, Venezuela to Bogotá, Colombia. He wrote about his journey in The Journal of an Expedition Across Venezuela and Colombia. He returned in 1908 and retraced the Spanish trade route from Buenos Aires to Lima. While in Peru, in February, 1909, he visited Choqquequirau...