Inca road system

The Inca road system was built by the Incas based on the work of the Inca cultures, mainly the Huari and Chimu culture. It was the most advanced and most extensive transportation system of the pre-Columbian South America. Along with many connecting roads, main and side roads it was a road network of more than 30,000 kilometers, which the Inca empire gold plated like a spider web. It connected the town of Quito ( Ecuador) in the north and Santiago (Chile ) and Mendoza ( Argentina) in the south and allowed the Inca leader of the political and economic control of his empire. Urgent messages or instructions could be delivered by express courier ( Chaski ) in a short time. Likewise, taxes, trade goods and supplies by carrier and Lama were distributed to the farthest corners of the empire. On these paths but also reached a small group of Spanish conquerors in the mighty kingdom.

Along the entire road network to stockpile, accommodation, llama enclosure, housing estates and military posts in different sizes and designs, all at equal intervals were from each other. A large part of the road system was located above 3500 meters, and joined inhabited regions, administrative centers, agricultural areas and mining areas, as well as ceremonial centers. The up to twenty meters wide, stone-paved road led over steps up to altitudes over 4,500 meters and with bars and suspension bridges over water and raging rivers. The quality of the building can already be estimated by the fact that it is today, more than 400 years after its creation, still in use in many places.

The most important part of the system formed the Andean main road in north-south direction: Qhapaq Ñan. Stretching over more than 6,000 kilometers and is comparable to the Silk Road in Asia. A second north- south route ran along the coast and is now the same track with the Panamericana.

Inca Trail

The well-known Peruvian Inca trail is the part of the Inca road that connected the Sacred Valley of Cusco and Machu Picchu and thus only a small part of this network.

The Ecuadorian Inca Trail, the Achupallas and Ingapirca association is another part.

Conservation

This valuable archaeological heritage is still present, although it is on the verge of disappearance.

UNESCO, IUCN and Conservation International have, the particular urgency of protection along with the six countries through which the Great Inca road leads turned out.

Along the King's Road in the Andes there are numerous archaeological sites, some of which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites. These include Ingapirca in Ecuador, Cusco and the Sacred Valley in Peru, Tiwanaku in Bolivia and Quilmes in Argentina, as well as smaller localities like Huanuco Pampa in Peru that are in need of protection.

The road connects 15 of the 100 ecosystems of South America, of which the Peruvian Yungas, the Marañon dry forest, the Chilean Mattoral and the Chilean winter rain forest are endangered. She also runs through some of the last remaining refuges of the Andean spectacled bear, Andean condors and vicuña. In addition, the road over the Andes, a watershed between the valleys and the coast.

The Qhapaq Ñan happened a number of indigenous areas with anchored in the past cultures. The Inka Naani project in Peru led to a revival of traditions and oral traditions.

The common goal of UNESCO with the countries through which the Qhapaq Ñan leads, is preparing a bid for the inclusion of the Qhapaq Ñan on the list of world cultural heritage.