What is Inca road system?
[[File:Inca roads-en.svg|thumb|300px|right|Road system of Inca Empire]] The '''Inca road system''' (''El Camino Inca'') of [[Peru]] was the most extensive among the many roads and [[:wikt:trail|trails]] that were constructed in pre-Columbian [[South America]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=Magazine|first=Smithsonian|last2=Symmes|first2=Patrick|title=What It's Like to Travel the Inca Road Today|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/what-its-like-travel-inca-road-today-180955740/|access-date=2024-11-06|website=Smithsonian Magazine|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Milesi-Ferretti|first=Natascha|date=2022-09-21|title=Historic Measures: How Standards and Technology Enabled the Inca Empire to Thrive|url=https://www.nist.gov/blogs/taking-measure/historic-measures-how-standards-and-technology-enabled-inca-empire-thrive|journal=NIST|language=en}}</ref> It went across the [[Andes]] mountains and reached heights of over 5,000 m (16,500 feet) above sea level. The Inca road system covered approximately 22,500 kilometres (14,000 mi) and provided access to over three million [[Square kilometre|km²]] of territory. Because the Incas did not make use of the wheel for transportation, and did not have horses until the arrival of the Spanish in Peru in the 16th century, the trails were used almost exclusively by people walking, sometimes accompanied by pack animals, usually the [[llama]]. The trails were used by the Inca people as a means of relaying messages, carried via knotted-cord [[quipu]] and by memory; and for transporting goods. Messages could be carried by runners covering as much as 240 km (150 mi) per day, working in relay fashion much like the [[Pony Express]] of the [[1860s]] in [[North America]]. There were approximately 2,000 inns, or ''tambos'', placed at even intervals along the trails. The inns provided food, shelter and military supplies to the tens of thousands who traveled the roads. == Main routes == The most important Inca road was the ''Camino Real'', as it is known in Spanish, with a length