Among the many roads and trails constructed in western South America, the Inca road systems in Peru are the most extensive yet constructed on the South American continent. Traversing the Andes mountains and reaching heights of over 5 km (16,500 feet) above sea level, the trails connected the regions of the Inca empire from the northern provincial capital in Quito, Ecuador past the modern city of Santiago, Chile in the south. The Inca road system covered approximately 22,530 km (14,000 mi) and provided access to over three million km² of territory.

These trails were used by the Inca people as a means of relaying messages and transporting goods. The messages were carried via quipu, books, and oral methods. Messages could be carried by chasqui runners at a speed of 242 km (150 miles) per day. These would work in relay fashion much like the Pony Express of the 1860's, in North America.

There were approximately 2,000 inns, or tambos, placed at even intervals along the 30,000 kilometers (18,640 miles) of Inca trails. The inns provided food, shelter and military supplies to the 300,000 bureaucrats who traveled the roads in this organized and civilized empire. There were corrals for llamas and stored provisions such as corn, lima beans, dried potatoes, and llama jerky. Along the roads, local villagers would plant fruit trees that were watered by irrigation ditches. This enabled chasqui runners and other travelers to be refreshed while on their journeys. Inca rope bridges provided effective access across valleys with intricate steps carved up and down to the bridges.

Many of the trails converge on the center of the empire, the Inca capital city of Cusco. It was therefore easy for the Spanish conquistadors to locate the city. However, the Incas did not make use of the wheel as many western civilizations had. It was also not until the arrival of the Spanish in Peru in the 16th century that horses were used for transportation. Traversing the trails on horseback proved to be difficult and treacherous for the Spanish in their attempts to conquer the Inca Empire. Unaccustomed to the high altitude, weakened by the cold, and frequently ambushed by their enemies, many conquistadors lost their lives on the Inca trails.

Main routes

The Inca constructed roads that integrated their entire empire. The most important of these was the Camino Real, with a length of 5,200 kilometers (3,230 mi), which began in Quito, Ecuador, passed through Cusco, and ended in what is now Tucumán, Argentina. The Camino Real traversed the mountain ranges of the Andes, with peak altitudes of more than 5,000 meters. El Camino de la Costa, the coastal trail, at a length of 4,000 kilometers (2,420 mi), ran parallel to the sea and was united with the Camino Real by many smaller routes.

Inca trail to Machu Picchu

By far the most popular of the Inca trails for trekking is the Capaq Nan trail that leads from the city of Cusco to Machu Picchu, the "Lost City of the Incas." There are many well-preserved ruins along the way, and hundreds of thousands of tourists from around the world make the three-day trek each year.

Further reading

• Inca: Lords of Gold and Glory. Virginia: Time-Life Books, 1992.
• Andean World: Indigenous History: Culture and Consciousness by Kenneth Adrien.