Ancient Pre-Columbian Road Could Become UNESCO World Heritage Site
A long road winds through the Andes and the Amazon rainforest from Argentina and Chile as far north as Colombia. Known as Qhapaq Ñan, the road has been used for transport for millennia.
Its name translates to "The Great Road" from the Quechua spoken by the Inca. Archeologists estimate it was originally around 20,000 miles long and began as trails used by early Andean people as far back as 1000 B.C.E. The Inca eventually adapted and expanded the road, which helped them form a network that would link all of their territories and facilitate communication between regions.
When the conquistadors arrived, they used the engineering marvel to defeat the Inca. Over time, urbanization, farms and road construction have destroyed much of it, but the six countries through which it runs have banded together to save it.
Though over the past two centuries these nations have fought and argued over borders and resources, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Colombia, Chile and Argentina have now agreed to cooperate to save what remains of the Great Road.
For 12 years, they have been writing a proposal that asks the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to name the road a World Heritage Site. The nations argue that without the help of UNESCO and the title, the road may be lost forever, and they have included a large amount of information to help their case.
"It's the most expansive piece of infrastructure relating to transportation in the New World," said Gary Urton, professor of pre-Columbian studies and chairman of the anthropology department at Harvard University.
According to the New York Times, evaluating the road is extremely complicated because of its span and the structures on its path. Evaluated in 137 sections, the application names 273 components, including temples, fortresses and other buildings. The evaluation covers only 435 miles, and those are the miles that would be designated a World Heritage Site.
UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova visited Callamarca, Bolivia, and spoke to the Aymara indigenous there. She told the group she hopes the road will be named a World Heritage Site in a week.
"I hope that within the week, the Qhapac Ñan, this great project, will be listed as a World Patrimony. Once it is listed, it means that it will belong to the whole world and notjust you, brothers and sisters, it'll be all of humanity's," Bokova told the crowd.
UNESCO will be considering the application along with others at its meeting in Doha. The meeting ends June 25, and people hope by then the road will have joined the Pyramids of Giza as a World Heritage Site.
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