Travel Guide: The Top Manmade Wonders of Latin America

Latin America is home to some of the most incredible man made wonders in the world. Aztec and Mayan ruins dot the jungles, structures from unknown civilizations rise up, and incredibly designed architectural wonders can be found throughout South and Central America.

An updated seven wonders of the world list, put together by New Open World Corporation (NOWC), includes three sites in Latin America. Recognition on the new list is a huge deal, not only because Latin American locations have been hugely ignored on past lists, but because the sites were chosen and voted on by people all over the world.

Here is a guide to the top manmade wonders of Latin America, including the three that made it onto the NOWC list.

Moai on Easter Island, Chile
Easter Island is an isolated island off the coast of Chile where hundreds of statues known as moai were carved and erected. Designated as a World Heritage site, Easter Island is almost entirely protected as a reserve because of its disappearing natural ecosystem.

But it isn't the natural landscape, or lack of it, that earns Easter Island a spot on the manmade wonders list, it is the moai. They don't stretch into the sky, or connect two pieces of dry ground, but you won't find anywhere else where huge statues have been carved and dragged across an island for display quite like these.

Machu Picchu, Peru
If you have seen an image of the breathtaking site, known as Machu Picchu, tucked into the mountains of Peru you can understand why it is on this list. When you look at the actual architecture of the Lost City of the Incas, as it is often referred to, you can better understand the work that went into building this town in the sky.

Believed to be built around 1450, researchers are still split on the reason Machu Picchu was built. Whatever its purpose, this is definitely a manmade wonder worth climbing a mountain to see.