The Chilean Inca trail (''El Camino del Inca en Chile'') is a local and popular term among local tourism initiatives and Chilean anthropologists and archaeologists for the various branches of the '' Qhapak Ñan'' (the Inca road system) in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

and its associated

Inca The Inca Empire (also known as the Incan Empire and the Inka Empire), called ''Tawantinsuyu'' by its subjects, (Quechua for the "Realm of the Four Parts", "four parts together" ) was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The admin ...

archaeological sites.

History

From the mid to late 15th century, the Incas established forts in northern and central Chile, from the far north to near where the city of

Rancagua Rancagua () is a city and commune in central Chile and part of the Rancagua conurbation. It is the capital of the Cachapoal Province and of the O'Higgins Region, located south of the national capital of Santiago. It was originally named Santa ...

stands today. Under the helm of the Incas, these parts of Chile were in the ''

Qullasuyu Qullasuyu (Quechua language, Quechua and Aymara language, Aymara spelling, ; Hispanicized spellings: ''Collasuyu, Kholla Suyu'') was the southeastern provincial region of the Inca Empire. Qullasuyu is the region of the Qulla and related specifica ...

'' (

Quechua Quechua may refer to: *Quechua people, several indigenous ethnic groups in South America, especially in Peru *Quechuan languages, a Native South American language family spoken primarily in the Andes, derived from a common ancestral language **So ...

for southern region), the south-eastern province of the Inca Empire. ''Qullasuyu'' is also the region of the

Qulla The Qulla (Quechuan languages, Quechuan for ''south'', Hispanicized and mixed spellings: ''Colla, Kolla'') are an indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous people of western Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina living in west of Jujuy Province, Juju ...

, named after a subgroup of the

Aymara Aymara may refer to: Languages and people * Aymaran languages, the second most widespread Andean language ** Aymara language, the main language within that family ** Central Aymara, the other surviving branch of the Aymara(n) family, which today ...

whose kingdom stretched from what is now northern Chile to central

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

before their territory was annexed by the Incas. The ''Qullasuyu'' extended from

Cusco Cusco, often spelled Cuzco (; qu, Qusqu ()), is a city in Southeastern Peru near the Urubamba Valley of the Andes mountain range. It is the capital of the Cusco Region and of the Cusco Province. The city is the list of cities in Peru, seventh m ...

to central Chile, where its advance southwards was halted after the

Battle of the Maule The Battle of the Maule (in Mapudungun: ''Mawlen Weichantun'', in Quechua: ''Mawlli Ch'iraqi'') was fought between a coalition of Mapuche people of Chile and the Inca Empire of Peru. Traditionally this battle is held to have occurred near what is n ...

when the Incas met determined resistance by

Mapuche The Mapuche ( (Mapuche & Spanish: )) are a group of indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina, including parts of Patagonia. The collective term refers to a wide-ranging ethnicity composed of various groups who sha ...

warriors, and the final border was fixed as being this area. The ''Qhapak Ñan'', or Inca road network, ran from southern

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

deep into Chile along the Andes, with an intermittent parallel route along the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

coast and various branches and side roads linking the two or extending into Northwestern

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

and Bolivia. These side roads which linked the main highways followed an east to west orientation in line with the daily route of the sun, which the Incas worshiped as a god. The Spanish later incorporated the local branches of the ''Qhapak Ñan'' into the ''Camino Real a la Frontera'', the highway linking

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

and Concepción.

Extent

The royal Inca road entered Chile from Bolivia through what is now the international border crossing of ''Tambo Quemado'' (

'' tampu'' inn,

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

''quemado'' burnt, "burnt inn") on the Bolivian side and Chungara on the Chilean side, while a twin branch that runs parallel to it follows the coast from Peru and passes mostly through lower lying terrain. However, due to the uneven and difficult terrain and its unsuitability for

llama The llama (; ) (''Lama glama'') is a domesticated South American camelid, widely used as a List of meat animals, meat and pack animal by Inca empire, Andean cultures since the Pre-Columbian era. Llamas are social animals and live with othe ...

caravans heading southwards it is unlikely that this road continued past the Atacama region. Numerous associated sites and branches in the north are found in the regions of Arica & Parinacota, Tarapacá, Antofagasta, Atacama, and Coquimbo. The altitude of the Inca highway in Chile fluctuates from 4,000 meters above sea-level at the Bolivian border, to 2,000 meters at Copiapo, to 500 meters just north of Santiago, and to the sea level in Valparaiso. It passed through fertile valleys with plenty of lakes and mineral reserves, favourable factors which made it the principal route used by the Incas to the southern extremes of the empire. Close to

, the main sites of the Chilean Inca Trail include various branches of the Inca highway in the Valparaiso and Metropolitan Regions which have remained largely unchanged since Inca times, and archaeological ruins in the Metropolitan and O'Higgins Regions. According to renowned local archaeologist Ruben Stehberg, who has spent a great many years studying the branches of the Inca highway in Chile, the Inca road that connected the fertile Maipo river valley to the final border at the Cachapoal River passed by the hill of Chada. Between the Metropolitan and O'Higgins regions, the Chilean Inca Trail includes heritage sites such as

Huaca de Chena Huaca de Chena, also known as the Chena Pukara, is an Inca site on Chena Mountain, in the basin of San Bernardo, at the edge of the Calera de Tango and Maipo Province communes in Chile. Tala Canta Ilabe was the last Inca who celebrated Inti ...

, Chada, and the final frontier of the Incas, Pukara de la Compania,

Pucara del Cerro La Muralla Pucará de Cerro La Muralla (Pucara of Wall's Hill) is an Inca Pucara (fortress) in Chile. It is located on a strategic mountain top, five km to the south of San Vicente de Tagua Tagua, near the dry lagoon ( Laguna de Tagua Tagua). This is believed ...

, as well as parts of The Camino Real a La Frontera.

References

{{reflist Hiking trails in Chile

History

Extent

See also

References