Peru - From The Andes To The Amazon HD

 

The Incas built Machu Picchu around 1450, but abandoned it a century later at the time of the Spanish Conquest. Although known locally, it was unknown to the outside world before being brought to international attention in 1911 by the American historian Hiram Bingham. Since then, Machu Picchu has become an important tourist attraction. The Peruvian Amazon, the fourth largest expanse of tropical rainforest in the world, occupies 60% of the country and is one of the most biologically diverse areas on earth. But the destruction of habitat over the last 20 years has taken its toll. Deforestation due to gold mining, oil extraction, logging and expansion of palm oil plantations has had a devastating effect on the wildlife and on the indigenous people.