The city of Machu Picchu, built in the foothills of the Peruvian Andes by the Inca Pachacuted around 1440, was called Patallaqta, according to Spanish historian Mari Carmen Martín Rubio.
The name of Patallaqta derives from the words que-chúas pata (echelon) and llaqta (town), and would come from the system of sown terraces used by the Incas to gain ground in the mountains. Martín Rubio is based on his theory in chapter XXXII of the chronicle of Juan de Betanzos Suma and narration of the Incas, where it is mentioned that the Inca Pachacuti wanted to be buried in «his houses of Patallaqta», administrative center of a very fertile territory although of steep mountains.
Patallaqta’s name theory is not new, but according to the historian this document confirms it. Peruvian archaeologist Federico Kaufmann Doig also considers it feasible that Patallaqta was the original name of Machu Picchu.
