Machu Picchu [Matshu Piktshu] lies at the heart of a landscape of imposing peaks covered with luxuriant vegetation. It was built sometime in the last third of the 15th century by the Incas, whose culture marked the final phase of six thousand years of Peruvian civilization. In common with other similar monuments of the period, it was located in relative proximity to Cuzco, in the Vilcabamba [Wilkapanpa] territory a región of rugged slopes and cloud forest typical of the Amazonian Andes.