Inca Road System

Hello. I am a very special path. I am super, super long. My name is Qhapaq Ñan. Can you say that with me. Qhapaq Ñan. I live way up high in the big Andes Mountains, where the clouds float by. I am a road that was built a very long, long time ago. I was made to help people. I helped them walk from town to town. I connected friends and families across the big, tall mountains. I am a path that brought everyone together. It was a very important job.

The clever Inca people built me. They were very smart builders. They started making me in the 1400s, which was a long, long time ago. They laid big, strong stones to make me last forever. On the tall mountains, they built stone steps for people to climb, step, step, step. Over the wiggly rivers, they built amazing bridges so no one would get their feet wet. My most exciting visitors were the speedy messengers. They were called chaskis. The chaskis would run, run, run on my stone path. They carried important messages from one place to another, like a big relay race. Zoom. They were so fast.

My job was to connect the whole Inca Empire. That was a big land with many towns and villages. Because of me, people could share yummy food like corn and potatoes. They could visit their grandmas and grandpas who lived far away. Even today, you can still see parts of me. I am very old, but I am still here. I show everyone how amazing the Inca builders were. I am a special path that helps you see the past, and I am still here for you to see today. I connect yesterday with tomorrow.