The Andean peoples have left us a great cultural and heritage legacy that has endured for centuries to this day. Among this rich legacy, the so-called Qhapaq Ñan, an entire road network that unified much of Latin America, stands out and remains very much alive. Due to its importance, it was declared by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site for Humanity in 2014, being one of the most complex cultural assets ever treated by the Committee.
What is the Qhapaq Ñan?
The Qhapaq Ñan is a road system that traverses the Andean mountain range in six South American countries. It was built by the Incas over an existing network of pre-Inca roads, with the Wari and Chimú during the Middle Horizon period. In the context of the 15th and 16th centuries, known as the Late Period, the Incas unified the various conquered territories and extended this road network across all the territories of their empire to integrate them. Thus, the Qhapaq Ñan became a key tool for their political, military, ideological, and administrative project known as Tawantinsuyu —the Inca Empire, the four parts united— (Gómez, 2012: 138).
The Tawantinsuyu comprised four large districts or regions «suyus» (Image 1) whose boundaries converged in Cusco, the capital: Antisuyu, Chinchaysuyu, Cuntisuyu and Qollasuyu. Each suyu was subdivided into provinces or wamanis. From the current Plaza de Armas of Cuzco, four roads led to each region (Emil, 2020: 41).
Two major roads were distinguished, a transverse and a longitudinal one. The latter was located in the sierra and was the mentioned Qhapaq Ñan, the Inca Royal Road. It extended from Quito (Ecuador) to Santiago (Chile). On the other hand, the Longitudinal Coastal Road stretched along the entire coast and shoreline from southern Ecuador to northern Chile. A series of transverse roads branched off from the Qhapaq Ñan, crossed the mountains and canyons of the western Andes towards the coast, and connected with the Longitudinal Coastal Road. The penetration routes into the jungle branched off from the Sierra Longitudinal Road and descended into the eastern region of the Andes (López, 2013: 17, 46-49).
Construction and Architectural Components
The state was responsible for financing these roads, causing the movement of a large number of human and material resources. The construction of this road network went through the following phases: surveying, laying foundations, paving, drainage (through ditches and channels), and maintenance.
Regarding the techniques employed in its construction, these were adapted to the geographical location and type of surface soil, that is, whether it was sand, rock, agricultural land, puna steppe or flood-prone terrain. The Qhapaq Ñan traverses a great diversity of landscapes including coast, sierra, desert, altiplano, and Amazonian rainforest. Natural slopes and other environmental factors such as steep terrain, high altitudes, erosion from rainfall, and streams were taken into account (López, 2013: 24-28; and Gónzalez, Aguilar and Garrido, 2015: 31).
Throughout the Qhapaq Ñan, we can identify various constructions that demonstrate adaptation to the environment. In the sierra, one finds walls (lateral or retaining), ramps, and stairs (Image 2), while in the desert and on the coast, roads built over sand or soil and delimited with wooden posts, stone borders, and walls of stone and mud, adobe, or tapia (López, 2013: 24 and 25).
Other architectural components of the Inca Road were bridges (beam bridges made of wood or stone, and suspension bridges made with vegetable fibers), stone alignments and tunnels (the gallery tunnel, false tunnel, and natural tunnel) (López, 2013: 38-43). To mark the roads, they used rock paintings (Image 3) created on rock panels in cliffs and petroglyphs carved into rocks located along the road (López, 2013: 51).
Along the entire Inca Road, a series of establishments were set up that offered services to travelers, very well located. These included: tambos (Image 4), built to house and supply travelers; provincial administrative centers for governing the populations living in these areas; colcas (Image 5), which were granaries and warehouses used by armies and officials on official missions; chasquiwasis, or «houses of chasquis», people responsible for carrying messages to other locations; and the apachetas (Image 6), which were conical accumulations of small stones left as offerings to Pachacamac, Pachamama, the Sun, among other deities (López, 2013: 53).
During Spanish Rule
Many chroniclers described how these roads were and the various archaeological sites located around them. Among these, Miguel de Estete, Pedro Pizarro, and Pedro Cieza de León stand out. The Qhapaq Ñan continued to be used but suffered deterioration due to an increase in travelers and the passage of carriages and horses caused by their horseshoes, as well as a lack of maintenance (González, Aguilar and Garrido, 2015: 64).
In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, famous travelers amazed by the great Inca engineering feat also wrote about it, such as Humboldt (1802), Squier (1974 [1877]), Raimondi (1874 – 1879) and Markham (1880). However, John Hyslop was the first to scientifically investigate the Inca road system (López, 2013: 21).
Currently
The Qhapaq Ñan is a living heritage, meaning that entire populations continue to traverse it. It cannot be spoken of as «ruins», but rather as a living entity that continues in our days. Through the various «Qhapaq Ñan Projects» developed by governmental entities from Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador and Peru, its knowledge is increasing (Copa and Herrera, 2020: 54).
Conclusions
The Inca Road Network was and still is the product of the need to connect incorporated groups and territories and symbolically display power. These roads were built following the geographical conditions of the Andes, from altiplanos and peaks over 6,000 m above sea level (Gónzalez, Aguilar and Garrido, 2015: 30; and Ayelén, 2020: 16). It is an example of high social and technological development by Andean peoples that reached its peak with the Incas, as well as their interculturality and a communal worldview (Gómez, 2012: 146; and López, 2013: 21).
Bibliography
Gómez Salazar, D. (2012): The Qhapaq Ñan: a living road. Interculturalism: an approach from research. Anita Krainer and Martha Guerra, eds. Quito: FLACSO.
López Vargas, S. (2013): Guide for Identification and Registration of the Qhapaq Ñan. Guido Casaverde Ríos, ed. Ministry of Culture.
Gónzalez Díaz, S., Aguilar Hidalgo, J. and Garrido Escobar, F. (2015): Qhapaq Ñan. The Andean Road System and the Incas in Northern Chile. Tomás Sepúlveda Schwember, ed. National Monuments Council.
Ayelén Sosa, V. (2020): The Ancestral Path Qhapaq Ñan Project: an introduction. Ancestral Path Qhapaq Ñan A Route of Integration in the Andes of Argentina. Ministry of Culture.
Emil Nielsen, A. (2020): The Tawantinsuyu: cosmology, economy and political organization. Ancestral Path Qhapaq Ñan A Route of Integration in the Andes of Argentina. Ministry of Culture.
Copa, M. and Herrera Salinas, C. L. (2020): The Qhapaq Ñan as ancestral memory of Andean peoples. Ancestral Path Qhapaq Ñan A Route of Integration in the Andes of Argentina. Ministry of Culture.
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