Which empire built the road network centered on Cuzco and Machu Picchu?

The Inca Empire built the road network centered on Cuzco and Machu Picchu.

The Inca Empire, also called Tawantinsuyu, controlled a vast territory along the Andes before the Spanish conquest. Its capital was Cuzco, in modern Peru. The empire’s roads connected high mountains, valleys, deserts, and Pacific coastal regions, allowing officials, armies, messengers, and goods to move across difficult terrain.

The road system included bridges, stairs, tunnels, retaining walls, and stations where runners could rest and exchange messages. The famous Qhapaq Ñan, or Inca road system, extended for tens of thousands of kilometers. It was not designed primarily for wheeled vehicles, because the Inca used human porters and llamas rather than carts.

Machu Picchu was a fifteenth-century Inca site built on a mountain ridge above the Urubamba Valley. Its precise purpose is debated, but it was probably associated with the ruler Pachacuti. The empire fell rapidly after Spanish forces captured Atahualpa in 1532, although resistance continued for decades afterward.