Editing Inca road system (section)

=== The four routes ===
[[File:Cusco plaque with the directions of 4 suyus DSC 4834.jpg|thumb|Cusco, Peru - plaque indicating the 4 directions of the 4 regions (suyus) of the Inca Empire]]
During the Inca Empire, the roads officially stemmed from [[Cusco]] into the 4 cardinal directions towards the 4 ''suyus'' (provinces) into which the Tawantinsuyu was divided. Cusco was the center of Peru: the Inca-Spanish chronicler [[Inca Garcilaso de la Vega]] states<ref name="garcilaso">Garcilaso Inca de la Vega – "Primera parte de los comentarios reales de los incas, escrita por Garcilaso Inca de la Vega y publicada en 1609, en Lisboa" --- http://museogarcilaso.pe/mediaelement/pdf/3-ComentariosReales.pdf</ref> that "Cozco in the language of the Incas means navel that is the Earth's navel". 
The four regions were named ''Chinchaysuyu'' towards the North, ''Collasuysu'' towards the South, ''Antisuyu'' towards the East and the lower valleys of the Amazon region and ''Contisuyu'' towards the West and the lower valleys along the Pacific coast.

The route towards the North was the most important in the Inca Empire, as shown by its constructive characteristics: a width ranging between 3 and 16 m<ref name="hyslop"/>{{rp|108}} and the size of the archaeological vestiges that mark the way both in its vicinity and in its area of influence. It is not coincidental that this path goes through and organizes the most important administrative centers of the Tawantinsuyu outside Cusco, such as [[Vilcashuamán]], [[Jauja|Xauxa]], [[Tarmatambo]], Pumpu, Huánuco Pampa, [[Cajamarca]] and [[Huancabamba]], in current territories of Peru; and [[Ingapirca]], [[Tomebamba]] or [[Riobamba]] in Ecuador. This was regarded by the Incas as "the" Qhapaq Ñan, main road or royal road, starting from Cusco and arriving in Quito. From Quito northwards, the Inca presence is perceived in defensive settlements that mark the advance of the Empire by the Ecuadorian provinces of [[Carchi Province|Carchi]] and [[Imbabura Province|Imbabura]] and the current [[Nariño Department]] in Colombia, which in the 16th century was in process of being incorporated into the Inca Empire.<ref name="lumbreras">[[Lumbreras, Luis Guillermo]] (2004).Presentación. Proyecto Qhapaq Ñan Informe de Campaña 2002-2003. Instituto Nacional de Cultura, Lima,</ref>

The route of Qollasuyu leaves Cusco and points towards the South, splitting into two branches to skirt [[Lake Titicaca]] (one on the east and one the west coast) that join again to cross the territory of the Bolivian [[Altiplano]]. From there the roads were unfolding to advance towards the southernmost boundaries of the Tawantinsuyu. One branch headed towards the current Mendoza region of Argentina, while the other penetrated the ancient territories of the [[Diaguita]] and [[Atacama people]] in Chilean lands, who had already developed basic road networks. From there, crossing the driest desert in the world, the Atacama Desert, the Qollasuyu route reached the Maipo river, currently in the [[Santiago]] metropolitan region. From there no vestiges of the Inca advance have been found.<ref name="lumbreras"/>

Contisuyu roads allowed to connect Cusco to coastal territories, in what corresponds to the current regions of [[Arequipa]], [[Moquegua]] and [[Tacna]], in the extreme Peruvian south. These roads are transversal routes that guaranteed the complementarity of natural resources, since they cross very varied ecological floors, in the varied altitude of the descent from the heights of the cordillera to the coastal spaces.<ref name="martinez"/>

The roads of the Antisuyu are the least known and a lesser number of vestiges were registered. They penetrated into the territories of the ''Ceja de Jungla'' or Amazonian Andes leading to the [[Amazon rainforest]], where conditions are more difficult for the conservation of archaeological evidences. The true physical extension of the Inca Empire for this region is not very clear.<ref name="martinez"/>