When Francisco Pizarro and his comrades arrived in Peru in 1532, they entered a country criss- crossed by a complex communications network that enabled them to travel from one region to another on well aligned and well served roads. Furthermore, news and supplies travelled quickly, safely and efficiently on this network. Consequently, seafood was promptly available to people in the highlands, whilst the coastal valleys were supplied with fine timber and polychrome feathers from the Amazon rain forests. Thanks to this network, the Incas in Cuzco were able to manage the work and production of large areas thousands of miles away from the city. Natives of the southern highlands of Ecuador («Cañares») and of the Amazon («Chachas») were therefore able to live in the valleys of Cuzco and the mild valleys of other Inca provinces without losing access to their native goods nor contact with their relatives. In fact, after the Spanish conquest, the different people doing community service for Tawantinsuyo in very different parts of the Empire were able to return to their native lands without delay. Likewise, the Spaniards were able to travel from Cajamarca to Cuzco within a few days, enjoying the food, shelter and hospitality generously provided by the inns on the way. When the Republic of Peru was established three centuries later and mechanical means of transport were introduced early in the XX century as a result of the great Industrial Revolution that invaded the world in the XIX century, an overland communication policy was established, based on the use of cars. Slowly but steadily, footpaths or pack trails were abandoned. The building of proper roads rather than footpaths was a highly expensive alternative for mountainous countries, since flat and preferably horizontal surfaces were required. Consequently, the development of a highway policy if Peru was a difficult and long delayed process that involved cutting across the An-des mountain range, with very uneven routes and steep slopes. Once the new transport technologies were combined with an economic export alternative, communication strategies openly moved towards the coast, connecting with the ports, where there were large horizontal stretches of desert land on the seashore that could be cut through. These alternative roads displaced the old Andean road network which had developed over several centuries, forming an integrated overland commu-nication project in the XV century, as the main means of organization of «Tawantinsuyo», a political integration project identified as the Inca Empire, with the city of Cuzco as its centre. The Andes mountain range was the pivotal point of this network. The only technological alternative at the time was to build firm and well aligned footpaths and pack trails to provide easy access for people with their entourage and caravans, often accompanied by packs of llamas. The trails ran alongside the mountain range, with steps to circumvent slopes, bridges to cross over gorges and either tunnels or large sections of paths providing passageways through the mountains. The «Qhapaq Ñan» was the main trail, which branched out into a number of side tracks that connected the main road with each and every settlement established on the mountaintops, on the slopes or in the valleys of the mountain range. There was access to a network from every point, either radial or lineal, depending on the territory. Consequently, farm products could be transported from one end of the country to the other, in accordance with the demand and project needs. Above all, neighbours near and far could keep in touch efficiently, exchanging goods and services whenever necessary under an effective mutual aid system. This road system had well plotted routes, with road signs clearly establishing the boun-daries. Furthermore, it was the policy to have a generous stock of food and clothing available on the way, therefore stores known as «qollqas» were established on the side of the roads, where surplus stocks were kept to cover unforeseen demands. In addition, roadside hostelries known as «tambos» gave trekkers the opportunity to rest and recover their energy. Travellers therefore knew that they could travel over more than 5,000 kilometres of routes without leaving the trails, under the certainty that the necessary goods and services required on a long journey would be available on the way. The road enabled the Inca’s messengers –known as «chasquis»– to transmit news all over the empire within a short time, making it easier for the State to intervene in all the adminis-trative actions it was committed to. Likewise, the Inca in Cuzco was able to receive the benefits of payments in kind –such as fish fresh from the sea– or itinerant work forces. Moreover, the Inca’s armies travelled on this road to establish the conditions imposed by the State in areas subjected to Cuzco. Understandably, the Spaniards were amazed when they discovered the Inca Trail, which was fully operative when they arrived. The stretches of flagged pavement, many of them protected by walls that accompanied the entourages on long journeys, as well as the width of the routes with clearly visible borders in the majority of stretches, not only made the road serviceable, but it was an incredible spectacle as well. Indeed, it was a spectacle of harmony and safety, combined with the polychrome diversity of the natural Andean landscape. The Andes mountain range is more than 7,000 kilometres long, of which 5,000 were covered by the Qhapaq Ñan. Those 5,000 kilometres cover the most outstanding variety of landscapes on the planet, ranging from the freezing snowcapped mountains surrounded by cold moors and barren plains, to deep gorges with rain forests or dry woodland, depending on the latitude, the savannahs and neighbouring hot or warm valleys and then the multicoloured sandy and rocky ground of dry highland areas. Green forests, yellow plains and rocky ground with a spread of cacti are all part of the scenery that a traveller can see on a single day on the Qhapaq Ñan, before gong to rest in a roadside inn in the valley or final destination, to gaze at the mountains in which the «apus» provide protection.* Needless to say, this network was not created overnight, nor did it respond to the will of just one Inca. Probably 1000, or at least 500 years before the Inca empire, during the period known as Wari, a network of Andean footpaths had already been set up, just as neatly as the Qhapaq Ñan. Starting in Ayacucho, it exten-ded as far as Lake Titicaca in the south and near Chachapoyas and Piura in the north. The Tawantinsuyo went beyond these limits, taking the Qhapaq Ñan to Pastos, beyond Ibarra and Qui-to in the north as far the Guaytara river bed in southern Colombia, to the boundaries between Picunches and Mapu-ches, near the current city of Concepcion in the south-central part of Chile and to the land of the Huarpes in Argentina. Several million people of various lifestyles, languages and customs were thus connected with the city of Cuzco in the centre. From Cuzco, the Qhapaq Ñan branched out in four different directions: Chinchaysuyu in the north, occupied by Quechuas and Yungas, Qollasuyu in the south, occupied by Quechuas and Arus, Contisuyu in the west, occupied by Pukinas and Aymaras and Antisuyu in the east, occupied by Chunchos. Fertile land in the north, dry land in the south, deserts in the west and jungle in the east. People really were well connected, as they still are, maintaining strong signs of unity with the typical components of their own diversity. However, they have lost the pivotal point of an operative road network to meet the need for integration that they are all claiming. This was a communication network that consisted of nearly 40,000 kilometres, in which archaeologists have recorded more than 23,000 kilometres of paths. In archaeological heritage terms, this is undoubtedly the greatest monument in the American continent, shared by five Andean countries. Communities of farmers, shepherds, miners and fishermen live on this route today. The handcrafts of some areas are well known overseas, given the richness of their shapes and contents, whereas other craftsmen are unable to promote theirs. This route is no longer functioning, saturated by promises of restoration. (Luis Guillermo Lumbreras) * «Apus» are the gods or natural forces that protect life and provide security.