Paths Without Maps: Navigation & Infrastructure Before GPS - Part 2: The Qhapaq Ñan: Governing a 25,000-Mile Empire Without the Wheel
Paths Without Maps: Navigation & Infrastructure Before GPS 1 Paths Without Maps: Navigation & Infrastructure Before GPS - Part 1: Polynesian Wayfinding: Reading the Water Without Instruments 2 Paths Without Maps: Navigation & Infrastructure Before GPS - Part 2: The Qhapaq Ñan: Governing a 25,000-Mile Empire Without the Wheel 3 Paths Without Maps: Navigation & Infrastructure Before GPS - Part 3: Inca Suspension Bridges & State Supply Depots 4 Paths Without Maps: Navigation & Infrastructure Before GPS - Part 4: Harnessing Power: How the Stirrup and Collar Revolutionized Medieval Mobility 5 Paths Without Maps: Navigation & Infrastructure Before GPS - Part 5: The Quiet Engine of Commerce: The Wooden Barrel and the Packaging Revolution ← Series Home The Improbable Highways of the Andes In 1528, Spanish conquistadores encountered the Inca Empire, a sprawling domain covering 690,000 square miles (1.79 million km²) across the most mountainous terrain on Earth. Connecting this vast territory, stretching 3,200 miles (5,150 km) from Ecuador to Chile, was the Qhapaq Ñan—the royal highway network. Its estimated total length exceeded 40,000 kilometers (25,000 miles), roughly half the distance of the entire United States interstate system. The central paradox of this infrastructural marvel is that it was built and operated without the benefit of iron tools, sophisticated surveying equipment, or the foundational technology of the wheel. ...