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The Inca road system was the most extensive and advanced transportation system in pre-Columbian South America. It was about long. The construction of the roads required a large expenditure of time and effort, and the quality of that construction is borne out by the fact that it is still in quite good condition after over 400 years of use. The network was based on two north-south roads with numerous branches. The best known portion of the road system is the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. Part of the road network was built by cultures that precede the Inca Empire, notably the Wari culture. During the Spanish colonial era, parts of the road system were given the status of ''Camino Real''. In 2014 the road system became a UNESCO World Heritage Site. ==Main routes== The eastern route ran high in the puna grasslands and mountain valleys from Quito, Ecuador to Mendoza, Argentina. The western route followed the coastal plain not including in coastal deserts where it hugged the foothills. More than twenty routes ran over the western mountains, while others traversed the eastern cordillera in the mountains and lowlands. Some of these roads reach heights of over above sea level.〔 The trails connected the regions of the Inca empire from the northern provincial capital in Quito, Ecuador past the modern city of Santiago, Chile in the south. The Inca road system linked together about of roadway〔 and provided access to over of territory. Situated between above sea level, this monumental road, which could reach in width, connected populated areas, administrative centres, agricultural and mining zones as well as ceremonial centres and sacred spaces. Although the Inca roads varied greatly in scale, construction, and appearance, for the most part they varied between about in width. Much of the system was the result of the Incas claiming exclusive right over numerous traditional routes, some of which had been constructed centuries earlier mostly by the Wari Empire. Many new sections were built or upgraded substantially: through Chile's Atacama desert, and along the western margin of Lake Titicaca, serve as two examples.〔 The Incas developed techniques to overcome the difficult territory of the Andes. On steep slopes they built stone steps resembling giant flights of stairs. In desert areas near the coast they built low walls to keep the sand from drifting over the road. The Qhapaq Ñan (English: ''Great Inca Road'', or ''Main Andean Road'', and meaning "the beautiful road") constituted the principal north-south highway of the Inca Empire traveling along the spine of the Andes. The Qhapaq Ñan unified this immense and heterogeneous empire through a well-organized political system of power. It allowed the Inca to control his Empire and to send troops as needed from the capital, Cusco.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 url=http://whc.unesco.org/en/activities/65 )〕 The most important Inca road was the ''Camino Real'' (Royal Road), as it is known in Spanish, with a length of . It began in Quito, Ecuador, passed through Cusco, and ended in what is now Tucumán, Argentina. The ''Camino Real'' traversed the mountain ranges of the Andes, with peak altitudes of more than . ''El Camino de la Costa'', the coastal trail, with a length of , ran parallel to the sea and was linked with the ''Camino Real'' by many smaller routes. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Inca road system」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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