Trade route
The Inca state tied its empire together with tens of thousands of kilometres of built roads radiating from Cusco: a highland trunk from Quito to what is now Argentina and Chile and a parallel coastal road. Llama caravans and porters moved goods for state redistribution between storehouses and way stations.
The Inca road system (also spelled Inka road system and in Quechua: Qhapaq Ñan meaning "royal road") was the most extensive and advanced transportation system in pre-Columbian South America. It was about 40,000 kilometres (25,000 mi) long in total. The construction of the roads required a large expenditure of time and effort.
The network was composed of formal roads carefully planned, engineered, built, marked and maintained; paved where necessary, with stairways to gain elevation, bridges and accessory constructions such as retaining walls, and water drainage systems. It was based on two north–south roads: one along the coast and the second and most important inland and up the mountains, both with numerous branches. It can be directly compared with the road network built during the Roman Empire, although the Inca road system was built one thousand years later. The road system allowed for the transfer of information, goods, soldiers and persons, without the use of wheels, within the Tawantinsuyu or Inca Empire throughout a territory covering almost 2,000,000 km2 (770,000 sq mi) and inhabited by about 12 million people.
The roads were bordered, at intervals, with buildings to allow the most effective usage: at short distance there were relay stations for chasquis, the running messengers; at a one-day walking interval tambos allowed support to the road users and flocks of llama pack animals. Administrative centers with warehouses, called qullqas, for re-distribution of goods were found along the roads. Towards the boundaries of the Inca Empire and in newly conquered areas pukaras (fortresses) were found.
Part of the road network was built by cultures that precede the Inca Empire, notably the Wari culture in the northern central Peru and the Tiwanaku culture in Bolivia. Different organizations such as UNESCO and IUCN have been working to protect the network in collaboration with the governments and communities of the six countries (Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina) through which the Great Inca Road passes.
In modern times some remnant of the roads see heavy use from tourism, such as the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, which is well known by trekkers.
A 2021 study found that its effects have lingered for over 500 years, with wages, nutrition and school levels higher in communities living within 20 kilometers of the Inca Road, compared to similar communities farther away.
I believe that, since the memory of people, it has not been read of such a greatness as this road, made through deep valleys and high peaks, snow covered mountains, marshes of water, live rock and beside furious rivers; in some parts it was flat and paved, on the slopes well made, by the mountains cleared, by the rocks excavated, by the rivers with walls, in the snows with steps and resting places; everywhere it was clean, swept, clear of debris, full of dwellings, warehouses for valuable goods, temples of the Sun, relay stations that were on this road.
The Tawantinsuyu, which integrated the current territories of Peru, continued towards the north through present-day Ecuador, reaching the northernmost limits of the Andean mountain range in the region of Los Pastos in Colombia; by the South, it penetrated down to the Mendoza and Atacama lands, in the southernmost reaches of the Empire, corresponding currently with Argentine and Chilean territories. On the Chilean side, the road reached the Maipo river. The Inca Road system connected the northern territories with the capital city Cusco and the southern territories. About 5,000 kilometres (3,100 mi), out of the more than 7,000 kilometres (4,300 mi) that the Andean mountains span, were covered by it.
As indicated by Hyslop, "The main route of the sierra (mountains) that passes through Quito, Tumebamba, Huánuco, Cusco, Chucuito, Paria and Chicona to the Mendoza River, has a length of 5,658 km." (3,516 miles)
The exact extent of the road network is not known: travelers and scholars proposed various lengths, spanning from 23,000 kilometres (14,000 mi) to 40,000 kilometres (25,000 mi) to 60,000 kilometres (37,000 mi). Two main routes were defined: the eastern one, inland, runs high in the puna grassland, a large and undulating surface, which extends above 4,000 metres (13,000 ft); the second one, the western route, that starts from the region of Tumbes in the current Peru–Ecuador border, follows the coastal plains, but does not include the coastal deserts, where it hugs the foothills. This western road outlines the current Pan-American Highway in its South American pacific extension.
Recent investigations carried out under the Proyecto Qhapaq Ñan, sponsored by the Peruvian government and basing also on previous research and surveys, suggest with a high degree of probability that another branch of the road system existed on the east side of the Andean ridge, connecting the administrative centre of Huánuco Pampa with the Amazonian provinces and having a length of about 470 kilometres (290 mi).
More than twenty transversal routes ran over the western mountains, while others traversed the eastern cordillera in the mountains and lowlands, connecting the two main routes and populated areas, administrative centres, agricultural and mining zones, as well as ceremonial centres and sacred spaces in different parts of the vast Inca territory. Some of these roads reach altitudes of over 5,000 metres (16,000 ft) above sea level.
During the Inca Empire, the roads officially stemmed from Cusco into the 4 cardinal directions towards the 4 suyus (provinces) into which the Tawantinsuyu was divided. Cusco was the center of Peru: the Inca-Spanish chronicler Inca Garcilaso de la Vega states that "Cozco in the language of the Incas means navel that is the Earth's navel". The four regions were named Chinchaysuyu towards the North, Collasuysu towards the South, Antisuyu towards the East and the lower valleys of the Amazon region and Contisuyu towards the West and the lower valleys along the Pacific coast.
The route towards the North was the most important in the Inca Empire, as shown by its constructive characteristics: a width ranging between 3 and 16 m and the size of the archaeological vestiges that mark the way both in its vicinity and in its area of influence. It is not coincidental that this path goes through and organizes the most important administrative centers of the Tawantinsuyu outside Cusco, such as Vilcashuamán, Xauxa, Tarmatambo, Pumpu, Huánuco Pampa, Cajamarca and Huancabamba, in current territories of Peru; and Ingapirca, Tomebamba or Riobamba in Ecuador. This was regarded by the Incas as "the" Qhapaq Ñan, main road or royal road, starting from Cusco and arriving in Quito. From Quito northwards, the Inca presence is perceived in defensive settlements that mark the advance of the Empire by the Ecuadorian provinces of Carchi and Imbabura and the current Nariño Department in Colombia, which in the 16th century was in process of being incorporated into the Inca Empire.
The route of Qollasuyu leaves Cusco and points towards the South, splitting into two branches to skirt Lake Titicaca (one on the east and one the west coast) that join again to cross the territory of the Bolivian Altiplano. From there the roads were unfolding to advance towards the southernmost boundaries of the Tawantinsuyu. One branch headed towards the current Mendoza region of Argentina, while the other penetrated the ancient territories of the Diaguita and Atacama people in Chilean lands, who had already developed basic road networks. From there, crossing the driest desert in the world, the Atacama Desert, the Qollasuyu route reached the Maipo river, currently in the Santiago metropolitan region. From there no vestiges of the Inca advance have been found.
Contisuyu roads allowed to connect Cusco to coastal territories, in what corresponds to the current regions of Arequipa, Moquegua and Tacna, in the extreme Peruvian south. These roads are transversal routes that guaranteed the complementarity of natural resources, since they cross very varied ecological floors, in the varied altitude of the descent from the heights of the cordillera to the coastal spaces.
The roads of the Antisuyu are the least known and a lesser number of vestiges were registered. They penetrated into the territories of the Ceja de Jungla or Amazonian Andes leading to the Amazon rainforest, where conditions are more difficult for the conservation of archaeological evidences. The true physical extension of the Inca Empire for this region is not very clear.
The Incas used the road system for a variety of reasons, from transportation for people who were traveling through the Empire to military and religious purposes. The road system allowed for a fast movement of persons from one part of the Empire to the other: both armies and workers used the roads to move and the tambos to rest and be fed. It also allowed for the fast movement of information and valuable small goods which traveled through the chasquis. The Incas gave priority to the straightness of the roads, whenever possible, to shorten the distances.
According to Hyslop the roads were the basis for the expansion of the Inca Empire: the most important settlements were located on the main roads, following a provision prefigured by the existence of older roads. The Incas had a predilection for the use of the Altiplano, or puna areas, for displacement, seeking to avoid contact with the populations settled in the valleys, and project, at the same time, a straight route of rapid communication. Other researchers pointed out additional factors that conditioned the location of Inca settlements and roads, such as the establishment of control zones in an intermediate location with respect to the populations and productive lands of the valleys, the requirement of specific goods, and storage needs, which were favored in the high plains of the Altiplano, characterized by low temperatures and dry climates. As an example, the administrative center of Huánuco Pampa includes 497 collcas, which totaled as much as 37,100 cubic metres (1,310,000 cu ft) and could support a population of between twelve and fifteen thousand people. Cotapachi (nowadays in the Bolivian region of Cochabamba) included a group of 2,400 collcas far away from any significant village. Collcas were long-term storage houses, primarily for the storage of grains and maize, which had an extremely long expiration date and made them ideal for long-term storage for the army in the event of conflicts.
According to Hyslop the use of the Inca road system was reserved to authorities. He states: «soldiers, porters, and llama caravans were prime users, as were the nobility and other individuals on official duty… Other subjects were allowed to walk along the roads only with permission…» Nevertheless, he recognizes that «there was also an undetermined amount of private traffic … about which little is known». Some local structures (called ranchillos) exist alongside the road which may allow to infer that also private trade traffic was present.
The use of the Inca roads, in the colonial period, after the Spanish conquest of Peru was mostly discontinued. The Conquistadors used the Inca roads to approach the capital city of Cusco, but they used horses and ox carts, which were not usable on such a road, and soon most of the roads were abandoned. Only about 25 percent of this network is still visible today, the rest having been destroyed by wars (conquest, uprising, independence or between nations), the change in the economic model which involved abandoning large areas of territory, and finally the construction of modern infrastructure, during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, which led to the superposition of new communication channels in the outline of pre-Hispanic roads.
Transportation was done on foot as in pre-Columbian America; the use of wheels for transportation was not known. The Inca had two main uses of transportation on the roads: the chasqui (runners) for relaying information (through the quipus) and lightweight valuables throughout the empire, and llamas caravans for transporting goods.
Llamas were used as pack animals in large flocks. They are lightweight animals and cannot carry much but are incredibly nimble. To transport large numbers of goods across the empire, it was more efficient for the Incas to use herds of llamas and to have two or three herdsmen. Herdsmen would drive the animals carrying their loads up the steep mountain roads, increasing carrying capacity without risking additional lives. Llamas have soft, padded hoofs, which give them good traction and a negligible impact on the road surface. Llamas of the Q'ara race (short-haired variety), which are used also in contemporary caravans, can carry about 30 kilograms (66 lb) for a distance of 20 kilometres (12 mi) per day, when necessary they can carry up to 45 kilograms (99 lb) for short trips. They forage on natural vegetation.
Roads and bridges were essential to the political cohesion of the Inca state and to the redistribution of goods within it. All resources in the Empire were the property of the ruling elite. Commercial exchanges between manufacturers or producers and buyers were not practiced, as the management of all goods came under the control of the central authority. The redistribution of goods was known as the vertical archipelago: this system formed the basis for trade throughout the Inca Empire. As different sections of the Empire had different resources, the roads were used to distribute goods to other parts of the Empire that were in need of them. Roads reinforced the strength of the Inca Empire, as they allowed for the empire's multitude of resources to be distributed through a set system to ensure all parts of the Empire were satisfied. Nevertheless, scholars have noted that there was a possible barter of goods along the roads between caravanners and villagers: a sort of "secondary exchange" and "daily swapping".
Text from the Wikipedia article “Inca road system”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.