In 1532, Tawantinsuyu – as the Inca Empire was known – represented the single largest pre-industrial state established in the Americas. It stretched across most of western South America and encompassed a territory that was extraordinarily geographically diverse and inhabited by a range of nations that were also culturally and linguistically diverse. Throughout this massive territory, the Inca built a network of roads, called the Capaq Ñan, as a means of uniting the multitude of regions and groups that had been brought under Inca control. When the Spanish first saw this road network, they called it ‘the longest and grandest in the world’. Pedro Cieza de León, a young soldier who arrived in what is now Peru in 1547, became one of the first Spaniards to write about the Inca roads, and stated:
In the memory of people, I doubt there is record of another highway comparable to this, running through deep valleys and over high mountains, through piles of snow, quagmires, living rock, along turbulent rivers; […] Oh! Can anything comparable be said of Alexander, or of any of the mighty kings who ruled the world, that they built such a road, or provided the supplies to be found on this one!
With its snow-capped mountains, rugged terrain, deep canyons, and swift rivers, the Andean region is regarded as one of the most difficult and demanding landscapes in the world. Without the ingenious imagination of its indigenous inhabitants, this formidable landscape would effectively isolate not only communities, but also entire regions. Therefore, the establishment of the longest and grandest road network in the world was a significant achievement.
Penn Museum: a museum for the coming decades