Without the use of a wheel, animal power, metal tools and even without a written language, the ancient Incas were able to make the most ancient path on Earth, which gave them access to more than 3 million square kilometers of surface. The total length of the path is almost 40,000 kilometers.
The ancient Inca road system, called the Khapak Nyan, is without doubt one of the most impressive achievements of ancient engineering. An incredibly complex network helped the Inca empire to become the largest and most developed culture in the Western Hemisphere.
In addition to the fact that the road covers a very large area, it is executed with unsurpassed craftsmanship, since most of it can still be used today, despite being hundreds of years old. Some even call it the greatest architectural achievement of antiquity.
The road network passes through a series of hard-to-reach places, connecting the snow-capped peaks of the Andes, at an altitude of over 5,000 meters, with the Pacific coast, passing through tropical forests and hot deserts. In the north it reaches Colombia, and in the south it reaches Chile.
The construction of the road in the Andes was not easy or easy. Mountains and high and very steep hills. The ancient road system is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2014.
According to historians, the Inca route was created for two main purposes - for messengers who delivered messages and for transporting various goods and supplies. A permit had to be given to travel on the road, so not everyone could use it.
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The 'couriers' were specially trained to remember and transmit messages. Their posts were at a certain distance, and messages were given from post to post.
Most striking is the fact that the Incas built road networks without the aid of wheels and metal tools. So far, researchers have not found any evidence to indicate the use of any of these.
Interestingly, the ancient road network connects almost all large megalithic objects in this part of the world - Tiwanaku, Puma Punku, Kuzko, Machu Picchu, Olantaytambo and Sacsayhuaman.
This is a testament to the incredibly complex and technologically advanced culture of the ancient peoples in South America.
Some scientists suggest that these objects are thousands of years older than the Inca empire itself, which means that the road may be much older than this ancient people.
According to the stories and legends of local residents, descendants of the Incas, this road was not built by them, but by another, much more developed and unfamiliar ancient civilization.