Hiram Bingham painted by Mary Foote, sister of Harry Ward Foote,
the Yale chemistry professor who was Bingham's companion on his trips to Peru
Hiram Bingham III | |
|---|---|
| United States Senator from Connecticut | |
| In office December 17, 1924 – March 4, 1933 | |
| Preceded by | Frank Bosworth Brandegee |
| Succeeded by | Augustine Lonergan |
| 69th Governor of Connecticut | |
| In office January 7 – January 8, 1925 | |
| Lieutenant | John H. Trumbull |
| Preceded by | Charles A. Templeton |
| Succeeded by | John H. Trumbull |
| 58th Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut | |
| In office 1923–1925 | |
| Governor | Charles A. Templeton |
| Preceded by | Charles A. Templeton |
| Succeeded by | John H. Trumbull |
| Personal details | |
| Born | November 19, 1875 Honolulu, Hawaii |
| Died | June 6, 1956 (aged 80) Washington, D.C. |
| Nationality | American U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse(s) | 1) Alfreda Mitchell (div.)
2) Suzanne Carroll Hill
|
| Children | Jonathan Brewster Bingham Hiram Bingham IV Charles Tiffany Bingham Brewster Bingham Mitchell Bingham Woodbridge Bingham Alfred Mitchell Bingham |
| Alma mater | Yale University University of California-Berkeley Harvard University |
| Religion | Protestant Christian |
| Military service | |
| Service/branch | United States National Guard United States Army Signal Corps Aviation Section United States Army Air Service |
| Rank | Captain Lieutenant Colonel |
Hiram Bingham, formally Hiram Bingham III, (November 19, 1875 – June 6, 1956) was an academic, explorer and politician from the United States. He made public the existence of the Quechua citadel of Machu Picchu in 1911 with the guidance of local indigenous farmers. Later, Bingham served as a member of the United States Senate.
Early life
Bingham was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, to Hiram Bingham II (1831–1908), an early Protestant missionary to the Kingdom of Hawai'i, the grandson of Hiram Bingham I (1789–1869), another missionary. He attended O'ahu College, now known as Punahou School in Hawai'i from 1882 to 1892. He went to the United States in his teens in order to complete his education, entering Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, from which he graduated in 1894.
He obtained a B.A. degree from Yale University in 1898, a degree from the University of California, Berkeley in 1900, and a Ph. D. degree from Harvard University in 1905. While at Yale, Bingham was a member of Acacia Fraternity. He taught history and politics at Harvard and then served as preceptor under Woodrow Wilson at Princeton University. In 1907, Yale University appointed Bingham as a lecturer in South American history.
Bingham (upper right) with a local guide on a jungle bridge at Espiritu Pampa in Peru, hand-colored glass slide, 1911
Bingham was not a trained archaeologist. Yet, it was during Bingham's time as a lecturer – later professor – in South American history at Yale that he discovered the largely forgotten Inca city of Machu Picchu. In 1908, he had served as delegate to the First Pan American Scientific Congress at Santiago, Chile. On his way home via Peru, a local prefect convinced him to visit the pre-Columbian city of Choquequirao.
Bingham published an account of this trip inAcross South America; an account of a journey from Buenos Aires to Lima by way of Potosí, with notes on Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, and Peru (1911).
Bingham was thrilled by the prospect of unexplored Inca cities, and organized the 1911 Yale Peruvian Expedition with one of its objectives to search for the lost city of Vitcos, the last capital of the Incas. On July 24, 1911, Melchor Arteaga led Bingham to Machu Picchu, which had been largely forgotten by everybody except the small number of people living in the immediate valley (possibly including two local missionaries named Thomas Payne and Stuart McNairn whose descendants claim that they had already climbed to the ruins in 1906).
Also the Cusco explorers Enrique Palma, Gabino Sanchez and Agustín Lizarraga are said to have arrived at the site in 1901.
Bingham returned to Peru in 1912, 1914 and 1915 with the support of Yale and the National Geographic Society.
Machu Picchu has become one of the major tourist attractions in South America, and Bingham is recognized as the man who brought the site to world attention, although many others helped to bring this site into the public eye. The switchback-filled road that carries tourist buses to the site from the Urubamba River is called the Hiram Bingham Highway.
Bingham has been cited as one possible basis for the "Indiana Jones" character. His book Lost City of the Incas became a bestseller upon its publication in 1948.
Peru has long sought the return of the estimated 40,000 artifacts, including mummies, ceramics and bones, that Bingham had excavated and exported from the Machu Picchu site.
On September 14, 2007, an agreement was made between Yale University and the Peruvian government for the return of the objects. On April 12, 2008, the Peruvian government stated that it had revised previous estimates of 4,000 pieces up to 40,000.
Prior discoverers
of Machu Picchu
Soon after Bingham announced the existence of Machu Picchu others came forward claiming to have seen the city first, such as the British missionary Thomas Payne and a German engineer named J. M. von Hassel. Recent discoveries have put forth a new claimant, a German named Augusto Berns who bought land opposite the Machu Picchu mountain in the 1860s and then tried to raise money from investors to plunder nearby Incan ruins. An 1874 map shows the site of Machu Picchu.
