INCA TRAIL HISTORY
After doing significant clearing work at the site of Machu Picchu between the years 1913 and 1915, the American Yale University academic who brought Machu Picchu international recognition realized there was a trail arriving at Machu Picchu from somewhere else. His team members, together with locals laborers hired for work, did a few more clearing works on it, and that was when they found the Inca trail which decades later became also an internationally known hiking trail. Nowadays, it is already one of the bests offered as the Inca trail to Machu Picchu.
From the beginning, the Spanish explorers were astounded by what they found in the new world. While heading to Cusco, the capital of all Inca territory, mounted on horseback, they could witness the great Inca trails right under their feet. Never-ending trail, carefully built and well planned that still today is being used. There are accounts of Chroniclers of the sixteen century describing how great this road system was, particularly in the Andes mountains, traversing high mountain passes and sheer cliff faces. Pedro Pizarro, a team member of the Spanish explorers noted on his chronicles while on his excursions through the Inca lands of Ancient Peru. “The path in of the mountains is something to see because it is built in very difficult terrain. In the Christian world, we have not seen such beautiful roads. All of the crossings have bridges of stone or wood”
Modern-day scholars like Richard Burger liken it to the long-gone Roman road systems, and like the Romans, the Incas needed to move their skillful army quickly over long distances. It is proven that there is literally a backbone trail spawning north-south from Quito to Northern Argentina, and there are sub roads that link west to east. But according to history, the road system was developed by pre-Incan cultures that the Inca took, united, and improved greatly. That is why in 2014 the Inca trail was granted world heritage status by UNESCO under the following quotation “An engineering wonder that must be restored and preserved”.
From approximately 25 thousand mile length Inca trail linking South American Countries such as Bolivia, Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru; there is one particular stretch of Inca trail in the region of Cusco Peru, which is known as the Inca trail route to Machu Picchu, a 26-mile trail that has been rediscovered at the turn of the 20th centuries as part of Machu Picchu Inca Inca City clearing works.
Learn more about the stories of The Inca trail and the Inca messengers, the stay homes along the way and food transportations only using llama animals, and more by traveling with us in our Inca Trail to Machu Picchu 4 day hike.