📊 World Heritage Sites
Exploring UNESCO sites in our region.
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Culture 🏰
The historical port and fortresses of Cartagena, Colombia. The Galápagos Islands off the coast of Ecuador. Machu Picchu in Peru.
What do all of these places have in common? Well, go to Paris and ask the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
Since the late 1970s, UNESCO has established roughly 1.2K World Heritage Sites around the globe in a bid to preserve natural beauty, culture, and history for future generations. World Heritage Sites span everything from gorgeous natural sights to world-renowned architecture and other human accomplishments.
While countries like Italy, China, and France get the most attention, don’t think Latin America isn’t holding its own. Led by Mexico and its 35 sites, the region holds some of the world’s most cherished natural and cultural sights.
Each of these are definitely to be seen in your lifetime. Think of the pre-Hispanic cities of Chichen Itza and Teotihuacan in Mexico—or in fact, the entire city of Rio de Janeiro, crowned a World Heritage Site in 2012 owing to its unique landscape between the mountains and the sea.
Finally, we’d like to look to some of the interesting sites which straddle borders in Latin America. Both sides of the Iguazu Falls have been recognized by UNESCO, while the entire Inca road system across the Andes mountains has earned 6 neighboring countries – Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru – global admiration.
While we’re still blown away by the underrepresentation of Latin America compared to some (much) smaller countries, we can stay proud that the region’s intellectual history and natural beauty remains recognized the world over.
Want to visit all the sites? So do we. Check out the full list of sites.
Comment of the Week 🗣️
Julián speaks of the “silliness” of the international conflict between Mexico and Ecuador. From our chart about migrants in Ecuador on Twitter. Do you agree?
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