In June 2014 the United Nations educational, scientific and cultural organisation (UNESCO) designated two of the world's ancient trading routes as World Heritage Sites.
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| The Majishan Temple, Tianshui, China. Image courtesy of Marsman Rom, wikimedia commons. |
The first of these roads is a five thousand kilometer
stretch of Asia's ancient Silk Road, located between the Guangzhong Plains of
north central China and the Province of Chuy in northern Kyrgyzstan via
Kazakhstan.
This part of the road will now be known as the Silk
Road Chag'an - Tianshan Corridor and will include thirty three newly designated
World Heritage Sites, both natural and cultural, including China's ancient
Majishan Temple and grottoes in Tianshui, the picturesque Talas Valley of
Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan's ancient city of Nevaket, also known as Krasnaya
Rechka.
The road also includes several palace complexes, cave
temples, mountain passes, ancient cities, isolated mountain villages, historic fortifications,
religious sites and even part of China's Great Wall.
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| The route of the Qhapaq Nan. |
The second of these roads is the Qhapaq Nan, which means beautiful road in the ancient Inca language, a fifteenth century,
north / south Inca trade route which measures 30,000 kilometers (18,600 miles)
in length and links the city of Quito in Ecuador with the city of Santiago in
Chile by way of the former ancient Inca Empire capital of Cuzco.
The six hundred year old road, most of which is
situated at an elevation of between five hundred and eight hundred meters above
sea level, travels along several snow capped Andean peaks and through a myriad
of cloud forests, alpine tundra, isolated mountain villages, Inca ruins, picturesque
valleys, deep gorges and fast flowing rivers, many of which are spanned by Inca rope bridges, scenic coastal locations, vast rain forests, great swathes of
grassland and vast arid deserts.
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| Patallacta, near Cuzco, Peru. Image courtesy of Steve Porter, wikimedia commons. |
The road, which travels through the six South American
countries of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, also offers
access to two hundred and seventy three ancient Inca and Spanish colonial
historical sites along the way, the most famous of which is Peru's Machu Pichu,
which is accessed by way of the Inca Trail (Camino Inca) to Machu Pichu, a set
of three picturesque and very high Andean trails.
Two major routes which make up the Qhapaq Nan include
the 5,200 km long (3,200 mile) El Camino Real mountain road, located between
Quito in Ecuador and Mendoza in Argentina, and the 4,000 km long (2,500 mile)
El Camino Real de la Costa, a coastal road located in the Valparaiso Province
of Chile.
The lowland area along the Qhapaq Nan has a
temperate, dry climate with average temperatures ranging between 0 to 21 °C (32
to 70 °F). The rainy season is between December and March and the area can be
dry or even parched between the months of May through to September.
The highlands and mountain passes located along the
Qhapaq Nan experiences year round snowfall and frigid temperatures.  |
| The Apurimac River rope bridge, Huinchiri, Peru. Image courtesy of irb-7-muddy, wikimedia commons. |
Find other World Heritage Sites Around The World
at - Unesco World Heritage Sites
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