Inca road system

Long ago, the Incas lived in the Andes, the long mountains of South America.

They built roads that went up mountains, across deserts and down to the sea. Today, parts of these roads are in six countries!

The road system's name is Qhapaq Ñan. UNESCO says the whole network covers more than 30,000 kilometers. It runs through the Andes in what are now Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.

The roads linked snowy mountain peaks more than 6,000 meters high to the coast. They passed through hot rainforests, green valleys and very dry deserts.

UNESCO describes Qhapaq Ñan as an extensive Inca communication, trade and defense network of roads and associated structures covering more than 30,000 kilometers. It runs through one of the world's most extreme terrains, from snow-capped Andean ranges above 6,000 meters to the coast, through hot rainforests, fertile valleys and absolute deserts.

The World Heritage Site, inscribed in 2014, is a series of the best-preserved road segments and associated sites in six countries; the States Parties signed a shared management strategy on 29 November 2012.

Along the roads were rest houses. Travelers could stop there to rest.

There were also buildings for keeping food.

At set distances along the roads, the Incas built places to store food and other goods, and shelters where traders and travelers could rest. These wayside inns are called tambos.

Caravans, travelers and messengers used the roads. They carried goods such as metals, food, feathers, wood, cloth and spondylus shells from where they were made to Inca towns and to the capital.

ICOMOS describes structures built at specific intervals for storing food and other articles and for the refuge of traders and travelers; the largest and best-supplied tambos (wayside inns) stood in the great centers along the road, and the roadside infrastructure included storehouses called qolqas.

UNESCO lists goods moved along the network, among them precious metals, muyu (spondylus shell), foodstuffs, feathers, wood and textiles, and says the roads were used over several centuries by caravans, travelers, messengers and whole groups of people numbering up to 40,000.

In this photo, an old stone road climbs a green hill in Peru.

People who live nearby still help take care of the old roads.

This photo, taken in 2018, shows a stretch of the Inca road climbing a green hillside near Lake Mosollaqta in Peru. A low stone wall runs along its side.

UNESCO says that many local communities still look after parts of the road, repairing them with traditional methods and materials. Some places are hard to reach, and their remoteness has kept them in very good condition.

The photograph (2018, by the Commons photographer Aga Khan) shows, in the photographer's words, the Inka road climbing a hillside at the Mosollaqta lake, Peru: a stony roadway held by a low retaining wall, with bushes and farmland around it.

UNESCO notes that repairs are mainly carried out by local people, who still know traditional road-management techniques and are key partners in maintaining the roadbed. It also warns that some parts lie in areas prone to earthquakes and need risk-protection plans.