{{Unreferenced, date=May 2010 80 - Machu Picchu - Juin 2009 - edit

A hill town is any

citadel A citadel is the core fortified area of a town or city. It may be a castle, fortress, or fortified center. The term is a diminutive of "city", meaning "little city", because it is a smaller part of the city of which it is the defensive core. In ...

town built upon hills to make invasion difficult. Often protected by

defensive wall A defensive wall is a fortification usually used to protect a city, town or other settlement from potential aggressors. The walls can range from simple palisades or earthworks to extensive military fortifications with towers, bastions and gates ...

s, steep embankments, or cliffs, such hilltop settlements provided natural defenses for their inhabitants. In Europe, especially in Italy, Spain, Portugal and southern France, such towns were common. The Spanish even brought the traditional European hill town to the Americas, a notable example being the 16th century Mexican hill town of

Guanajuato Guanajuato (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Guanajuato ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Guanajuato), is one of the 32 states that make up the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 46 municipalities and its capital city i ...

. However, fortified hill towns were by no means solely a European creation. For instance, Incan fortified hill towns predated the arrival of the Spanish by many centuries and rival those of Europe.

Machu Picchu Machu Picchu is a 15th-century Inca citadel located in the Eastern Cordillera of southern Peru on a mountain range.UNESCO World Heritage Centre. It is located in the Machupicchu District within Urubamba Province above the Sacred Valley, which ...

, an Incan hill town completed in the mid-15th century in Peru, although now in ruins, is considered perhaps the most beautiful hill town ever constructed. Construction of fortified hill towns was common in many civilizations. Ancient examples can also be found in Africa and Asia. Around the world, the most famous examples are the hilltowns of

Darjeeling Darjeeling (, , ) is a town and municipality in the northernmost region of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located in the Eastern Himalayas, it has an average elevation of . To the west of Darjeeling lies the easternmost province of Nepal, ...

and Simla. In recent years, Bill Buchanan, Douglas Duany, Lucien Steil and others have studied hill towns with an interest in reviving interest in the enduring form. Buchanan has argued that the form gives comfort regardless of current threat, as we've evolved to like our back protected while able to view all who approach. It makes our space inhabited large, he contends.

See also