Fun Facts for Kids from Around the World
Spencer Says:
…..Guatamala, Bolivia then Argentina, and Ecuador, Chile and Brazil!!
Are you a lover of Animaniacs? Because I am! I learned all the countries of the world from one of their videos called “The Nations of The World”. It’s pretty cool since we are travelling the world as a family and have been in a number of those countries and learning new things.
One of those countries is PERU where we visited Machu Picchu.
Did you know that Machu Picchu is the home of the Incas and known to be the sacred place of the sun?
The Incas were the “sons of the sun”. Get it? Lol.
They were a culture a long time ago in the 1400’s who were very smart and made really cool buildings. The incas were a conquering tribe, whose empire stretched across modern day Peru, Columbia, Bolivia, Chile and Ecuador.
According to the Inca’s, the sun gave life. When they built their city it was based on the sun’s positioning against the mountains to determine the seasons, the orientation to ensure maximum sunlight, the moon and the stars.
The Inca’s were super good at farming and agriculture. The levels you see at Machu Picchu are called terraces they used for gardening. Coca leaves, peanuts, potatoes, chilli peppers, sweet potato, passion fruit, avocados, apples, tomatoes and other foods were all grown there.
There was a time when the Spaniards (who were called Conquistadores) came to take over the land but because Machu Picchu is high up in the mountains, they never found them. However, the Inca’s and their culture still got destroyed during that time and that was the end of the road for them.
The city of Maccu Picchu was lost for 460 years, discovered in 1911 by a professor from Yale, named Hiram Bingham. Can you believe there was only one piece of gold found after its discovery? Someone had gotten there first!
Did you know that Hiram Bingham was sponsored by National Geographic on the expedition to Machu Picchu which is SO NEAT because we are National Geographic Kids Ambassadors!!! I really love researching stuff with them and especially like facts about Blue Whales, Airplanes and cool places to go.
Today, Maccu Picchu welcomes over 3 million visitors every year, and must work to make sure that the site is taken care of and not effected by too many people. We don’t want the ruins to get ruined!
