The Qhapaq Ñan is one of the most important human creations in the Andean world. The formalization of this complex trail system aimed at taking advantage of the Andean landscape and its resources allowed not only to link people from different regions, but also generated an interactive dynamic of social, economic, cultural, technological, and ideological values.

From its conception, it functioned as a backbone that articulated the peoples of Tawantinsuyu, the resources of the various regions, and the provincial administrative sites that were monitored from Cusco. Five centuries later, the Qhapaq Ñan is still relevant for many peoples who continue to use it to communicate and safeguard their ancestral knowledge through transmission between generations.

For this reason, Peru, through the Ministry of Culture and the Qhapaq Ñan Project – National Headquarters, works to study, rescue, value, and keep alive the common history of this Andean heritage. On this occasion, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Peru joins this effort allowing this story to be disseminated internationally.

The Qhapaq Ñan, or Inca Trail, is a special architectural space, thanks to which the great historical, cultural, human, and geographical diversity of our territory is linked temporally and spatially. This path, which from the time of the Incas to the present day has facilitated the mobilization of settlers, has become the means of communication and ritual exchange that integrates the peoples of the Andean world par excellence.

More than 500 years after its construction, some sections of the road continue to be traveled by inhabitants of surrounding towns to move from one place to another and thus be able to carry out activities linked to the production of resources, commerce, arrive at their place of study and work, as well as participate in patron activities and festivities; thus, maintaining a living tradition along the way.

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