Clouds around Huayna Picchu in Peru

© Enrique Castro-Mendivil/Reuter

In Peru for World’s Indigenous Peoples Day

Today is International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, an observance intended to draw attention to the value that indigenous cultures provide our global story. Here at Huayna Picchu in Peru, we can see remnants of an Inca temple atop the mountain. When Spanish conquistadors invaded the Inca Empire in the 16th century, Incas who survived the colonisation were assimilated into Spanish culture, and most of their infrastructure was demolished. Through a modern view, we recognise how much was lost by the conquest, not just in lives of those who died, but in the culture and knowledge that is now lost to time.