The Great Inka Road: How Can a Road System Be an Example of Innovation?
The Great Inka Road: How Can a Road System Be an Example of Innovation?
How Can a Road System Be an Example of Innovation?
This online lesson provides teachers and students with activities, interactive tools, maps, photos, illustrations, quotes, and other resources to explore how the Inka developed engineering innovations and forged an empire that thrived in South America in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. These innovations allowed the Inka to integrate diverse communities over vast territories in the Andes.
Learn more +
close
This online lesson offers a new way to teach and learn about the Inka Empire that thrived in South America in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Explore a variety of resources to investigate how the need to feed and provide water for millions of people across a vast territory led to Inka innovations in water management and agriculture. Many of these innovations are still in use today by indigenous communities in the Andes.
Lesson Information
lesson information Right
Essential Understandings
Essential Understandings Right
Academic Standards
Academic Standards Right
Close

Lesson Information


Grades:

5–8

Nations:

Aymara, Quechua

Subjects:

Economics, Environmental Science, Geography, History, STEM

Keywords:

Inka, innovation, engineering, ancient civilizations of South America, road system, bridge types

Regions:

South America


FULL LESSON
LESSON AT-A-GLANCE
Close

Essential Understandings


Framework for Essential Understandings about American Indians:
NMAI’s Essential Understandings reveal key concepts about the rich and diverse cultures, histories, and contemporary lives of Native peoples. Woven throughout the lesson, the following Essential Understandings provide a foundation for students to thoughtfully approach the complexity of the Inka Empire. The Essential Understandings directly correlate to the National Council of the Social Studies’ ten themes that form a framework for social studies standards.
This resource addresses the following Essential Understandings:
Essential Understanding 3:
People, Places, and Environments:

For thousands of years, indigenous people have studied, managed, honored, and thrived in their homelands. These foundations continue to influence American Indian relationships and interactions with the land today.

Essential Understanding 8:
Science, Technology, and Society:

American Indian knowledge resides in languages, cultural practices, and teaching that spans many generations. This knowledge is based on long-term observation, experimentation, and experience with the living earth. Indigenous knowledge has sustained American Indian cultures for thousands of years. When applied to contemporary global challenges, Native knowledge contributes to dynamic and innovative solutions.

Close

Academic Standards


Common Core State Standards
STANDARDS
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.1:
Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.1:
Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.7:
Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects based on focused questions, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.
College, Career & Civic Life–C3 Framework for Social Studies State Standards
STANDARDS
D2.Geo.2.6-8:
Use maps, satellite images, photographs, and other representations to explain relationships between the locations of places and regions, and changes in their environmental characteristics.
D2.Geo.3.6-8:
Use paper based and electronic mapping and graphing techniques to represent and analyze spatial patterns of different environmental and cultural characteristics.
D2.Geo.4.6-8:
Explain how cultural patterns and economic decisions influence environments and the daily lives of people in both nearby and distant places.
D2.Geo.7.6-8:
Explain how changes in transportation and communication technology influence the spatial connections among human settlements and affect the diffusion of ideas and cultural practices.
D2.His.3.6-8:
Use questions generated about individuals and groups to analyze why they, and the developments they shaped, are seen as historically significant.
D2.His.16.6-8:
Organize applicable evidence into a coherent argument about the past.
D2.Eco.1.6-8:
Explain how economic decisions affect the well-being of individuals, businesses, and society.
D2.Eco.3.3-5:
Identify examples of the variety of resources (human capital, physical capital, and natural resources) that are used to produce goods and services.
D2.Eco.7.6-8:
Analyze the role of innovation and entrepreneurship in a market economy.
D2.Eco.14.6-8:
Explain barriers to trade and how those barriers influence trade among nations.
National Science Education Standards
STANDARDS
E1.1:
Abilities of Technological Design, including evaluate completed technological designs and products; communicate the process of technological design.
F5.4:
Science and Technology in Local Challenges, including science and engineering work in many different settings.
Next-Generation Science Standards
STANDARDS
Practice 2:
Developing and using models.
Practice 6:
Constructing explanations (for science) and designing solutions (for engineering).
down

The Meaning of Innovation

Open Instructions
Close Instructions
What is the meaning of innovation? How does innovation look different depending on the context of place and time? Watch the introductory video animation “Inka Innovative Engineers–The Great Inka Road,” featuring two middle school students. The video sets the stage for learning about the Inka Road system and the only remaining suspended grass bridge of Inka design.
Teacher Instructions
Student Instructions

Inka Innovative Engineers

up down

The Inka Empire

Open Instructions
Close Instructions

In less than one hundred years, from 1438 to 1533, the Inka built Tawantinsuyu, which means "the four parts together” in Quechua. The Inka Empire grew from a small kingdom in the highlands of Peru to become the largest empire in the Americas. Access the sources on the right to learn about the geography, ways of living, and history of the Inka Empire.

Additional Sources

Teacher Instructions
Student Instructions

Geography

Ways of Living

History Timeline

Close

Additional Sources

The Inka Empire-Tawantinsuyu Essay: Offering additional background and content.

Resistance and Adaptation: Images, videos, and text showcasing the resiliency of Inka descendant cultures in the Andes today.

The Inka Empire’s Impact on the World: Inka foods, minerals, medicines, and engineering and how they affected our world.

Inka Innovation in Masonry: 3D viewer interactives showcasing Inka innovations in stone work

up down

The Great Inka Road System

Open Instructions
Close Instructions
The Andes mountains represent one of the most diverse and harsh geographical environments in the world. Here, in the fifteenth century, the Inka Empire constructed, maintained, and managed a road network spanning 25,000 miles. Engage with maps, interactive tools, and images to learn about the complex road system and how the Inka accomplished such an amazing construction feat without the wheel, metal tools, or animals to carry heavy burdens. While llamas can carry up to 60 pounds, they were not used by the Inka in the road construction process as load-carrying animals. The road was built for llamas and foot traffic, not by llamas.
Teacher Instructions
Student Instructions

A Road in the Andes

Impressions of the Road

Inka Bridge Types Gallery

up down

Engineering a Grass Bridge

Open Instructions
Close Instructions
Q’eswachaka–the only remaining suspended grass bridge of Inka design—is a key component of the Great Inka Road and a masterpiece of Inka engineering. Watch a video of the yearly renewal of Q'eswachaka and engage in hands-on activities to explore tension and compression forces and to understand the concept of tensile strength and how it applies to Inka bridge engineering.
Teacher Instructions
Student Instructions

The Bridge of Q’eswachaka

The Bridge of Q’eswachaka

Explore Tension and Compression

Explore Tensile Strength

Explore Tensile Strength

Be a Bridge Maker

up down

How Can a Road System Be an Example of Innovation?

Open Instructions
Close Instructions
How can we use innovation to tackle difficult problems and find solutions to challenging situations? Construct an evidence-based argument about the unique features of the Inka Road system and how it serves as an example of innovation.
Teacher Instructions

The Andean Messenger: Making the Case for Innovation

up down

Taking Informed Action

Open Instructions
Close Instructions
Discover how Indigenous groups in the Andes are honoring their traditions to protect their culture from the pressures of globalization.
Teacher Instructions

Preserving Traditions

Close

Preserving Traditions

Saphichay | “Indigenous Rights and Cultural Survival”

Saphichay, meaning “my roots” in the Quechua language, is a nonprofit organization that reawakens indigenous identity, knowledge, and traditional practice in indigenous youth in order to build resilient communities.

Learn More

 

Centro de Textiles Tradicionales del Cusco | “By Weavers, For Weavers”

The Center for Traditional Textiles of Cusco was created to prevent traditional knowledge of weaving and dyeing techniques from disappearing due to the pressures of industrialization in the twenty-first century.

Learn More

up down

Related Resources

The Great Inka Road: Engineering an Empire

The Inka Empire: What Innovations Can Provide Food and Water for Millions?

Q’eswachaka-A Living Legacy of Inka Engineering

The Great Inka Road Activity Guide

The Chaski: Official Messengers of the Inka Empire

El gran camino inka: ¿Cómo puede un sistema de carreteras ser un ejemplo de innovación?
Close

Credits

The National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) expresses gratitude to the people of Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina, whose historical and cultural connections to the Inka Empire are represented on these pages.


The museum wants to thank the following staff and other contributors for their work in the creation of these lessons:

Museum Director: Kevin Gover (Pawnee)

Associate Director for Museum Learning and Programs: Maria Marable-Bunch

Developerand Writer: Isabel Hawkins, Ph.D., Consultant

Project Manager: Vilma Ortiz-Sanchez

Curator: Ramiro Matos

Reviewers:

Daniel Fischer, NMAI

Stacey Mann

Michelle Nelin-Maruani, NMAI Teacher-In-Residence, South Dakota

Vilma Ortiz-Sanchez, NMAI

Christopher Robinson, NMAI Teacher-In-Residence, Kentucky

Edwin Schupman, NMAI

Colleen Smith, NMAI

Community Interviews:

Victoriano Arizapana Huallhua, Huinchiri, Cusco, Peru

John Ochsendorf, Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Jorge Flores Ochoa, Ph. D., Cusco, Peru

Gary Urton, Ph.D., Harvard University

Media and Interactives:

Mark Christal, NMAI

Dan Davis, NMAI

Doug McMains, NMAI

The Origin of the Inka:

    Illustrations: Ojitos Production, Santiago, Chile

    Narration: Xozy Tonantzin Sarasvati Grijalva

    Music: Jose Montaño and Grupo Aymara

The Inka Milky Way:

    Painting: Miguel Aráoz Cartagena, Qorikancha—Museo del Convento de Santo Domingo, Cusco, Peru

Fly-out video:

    Developer: Interactive Knowledge

Fly-over video Cusco to Machu Picchu:

    GIS data courtesy of Google Earth

    Image © 2015 CNES/Astrium

    Image Landsat

    Image © Digital Globe

    Thanks to John Bailey

    Photo of Machu Picchu by José Barreiro

The Bridge at Q’eswachaka video:

    Produced: Noonday Films

Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala illustrations from The First New Chronicle and Good Government courtesy of The Royal Library, Copenhagen

Photography:

Ernest Amoroso

Ernesto Benavides del Solar

Dan Davis

Joseph Dutra

Isabel Hawkins

Kevin Cartwright

Doug McMains

Ramiro Matos

Jeremy Cornejo Moscoso

Axel E. Nielsen

Joanne Pillsbury

Beate Salz

Wayne Smith

Ephraim George Squier

Amy Van Allen

A. Hyatt Verrill

R.A. Whiteside

Web Design and Development:

David Chang

Rebecca Estes, NMAI

Laurie Swindull, NMAI

Cheryl Wilson, NMAI

Deanna Wood, NMAI

Editing:

Martha Davidson

Christine Gordon

Voice Talent:

Studio Center, Virginia Beach, VA

Ramiro Matos, NMAI

Contract Management:

Vilma Ortiz-Sanchez, NMAI

Special thanks to:

Vicentina Galiano Blanco Huaman, Cusco, Peru

Jesús Galiano Blanco Huaman, Cusco, Peru

up
NK 360 logo