November 19 - Happy Birthday, Hiram Bingham

  Posted on November 19, 2021

This is an update of my post published on November 19, 2010:

Hiram Bingham is best known for publicizing one of the major tourist attractions of an entire continent: Machu Picchu.

Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, on this day in 1875, Hiram Bingham became a lecturer and a history professor at Yale University. In 1908 he attended the First Pan American Scientific Congress at Santiago, Chile. He went to Peru in order to travel home to America, and there a local prefect took him to visit an old Incan city called Choquequirao. Bingham was fascinated and drawn to the idea of exploring Incan ruins previously unknown to most people.

In 1911 he returned to the Andes Mountains and Peru with a university expedition. A Peruvian farmer Melchor Arteaga knew of some ruins, and Bingham had him lead the expedition up the mountains to the site. 

What did Bingham see in that first visit?

Visitors to Machu Picchu today see the Incan citadel spread out high in the mountains in a breathtaking view, but when Arteaga first led the American expedition to the ruins, the ancient buildings and walls were overgrown by plants. See below the 1911 photo of Bingham and a Peruvian man.

Here is a black and white photo of Machu Picchu before it was cleared up or excavated, contrasting it with the color "now" photo:

More

• For more a map and lots of links about Machu Picchu and the Inca, check out Ducksters.

•  Here is a short video from National Geographic.
   

Also on this date:

Rocky and Bullwinkle Day 

Actress / director Jodie Foster's birthday

Monaco's National Holiday

Gettysburg Address Day

Discovery Day in Puerto Rico

Garifuna Settlement Day in Belize

World Toilet Day

Oman's Sultan's Birthday

Birthday of U.S. President James A. Garfield

Birthday of cell biologist George Emil Palade

Flag Day in Brazil

Anniversary of the second Moon Walk

Plan ahead:

Check out my Pinterest boards for:

• November holidays
• November birthdays
• Historical anniversaries in November

And here are my Pinterest boards for:

• December holidays
• December birthdays
• Historical anniversaries in December
  
  

November 19, 2010

Happy Birthday, Hiram Bingham

Bingham is best known for publicizing one of the major tourist attractions of an entire continent: Machu Picchu.

Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, on this day in 1875, Hiram Bingham became a lecturer and a history professor at Yale University. In 1908 he attended the First Pan American Scientific Congress at Santiago, Chile. He went to Peru in order to travel home to America, and there a local prefect took him to visit an old Incan city called Choquequirao. Bingham was fascinated and drawn to the idea of exploring Incan ruins previously unknown to most people.

In 1911 he returned to the Andes Mountains and Peru with a university expedition. A Peruvian farmer named Melchor Arteaga had discovered some ruins, and Bingham had him lead the expedition up the mountains to the site. What did Bingham see in that first visit?

Visitors to Machu Picchu today see the Incan citadel spread out high in the mountains in a breathtaking view (above), but when Arteaga first led the American expedition to the ruins, the ancient buildings and walls were overgrown by plants. See below the 1911 photo of Bingham and a Peruvian man (Arteaga?).

More

• For more photos and maps of Machu Picchu, check out this travel site.

• Here is a short video from National Geographic. 

• Here is an art activity: making Incan masks. 

• Also, check out this earlier post (scroll down past the horse content).

April 15, 2010

National El Paso Horse Competition – Peru

Today is part of the Paso Horse Festival held in Lima, Peru.

The Peruvian Paso horse is considered an elegant breed that originally came from a cross of the Spanish Andalusian horse and the Arabian stallion. Paso horses have a gait in which their back and front legs act in parallel. Some people think the “jaunty” steps, called “ambling,” almost makes the horses look like they are dancing.

There is video of the gait here.

At the festival, people can compare the craftsmanship of saddlers, carpenters, braiders, engravers, silversmiths and saddle blanket makers, plus the skill of the horse trainers and riders.

Learn how to draw a horse's head.

Did you know that there are YouTube videos on how to draw lots of different things? Here's one about horses! And here is another--this time, it's painted rather than drawn!

Learn about Peru

This country in South America is particularly known for its high mountain range, the Andes, and for its ancient civilization, the Inca. In 1532 the Inca were conquered by Spanish men and Native Americans under the direction of Francisco Pizarro. Peru was a Spanish colony until 1821.

One of the most famous spots in Peru is an Incan site 12,000 feet high in the Andes mountains, called Machu Picchu. This ancient city was suddenly abandoned and allowed to be overgrown until the early 1900s, but its excavation has told us a lot about the pre-Colombian Inca civilization.

Discover more about Peru with the National Geographic photo gallery. You may want to do a Web Quest about Peru. When you're confident you know a thing or two, take a quiz at Time for Kids.

Learn more about the Inca at Mr. Donn's site.
Read about how the Inca used llamas, how the Inca farmed on steep mountains, and how the Inca used knotted ropes for measurement and secret messages (under “Inventions”)--and of course, much, much more!

Check out the Ancient Americas Odyssey, too. Each picture and bit of text is a link to more—including one section that asks, “Why should I look at ancient things?” Be sure to visit the food section, too!

Older students may enjoy Ancient Web's write-up and wonderful photos, including one of an Incan mummy.

Here is a jigsaw puzzle of Machu Picchu.

Do you speak Quechua?

This language is one of the two official languages of Peru. (Can you guess what the other is? Which country colonized Peru for several centuries?)

Here is some vocabulary in Quechua, and here is some ancient Incan poetry (basically, prayers) in English and in Quechua.

More about Peru can be found in this January post, and more about the Inca can be found in this February post.