Europeans found difficulties of intercourse in their trading routes due to barriers such as the mountains and the deserts, while for the Andean people the mountains and the deserts were part of their daily transportation in order to interchange their products all over their difficult terrain.
The routes of trade of both communities were determined by the physical features of the intervening areas, and led through the few gaps which existed in their geographical background.
In the Inca Empire, Cuzco became a hub for the road system. The geographical area for transportation stretches from modern-day Colombia to central Chile and from the Amazonian slopes to the Pacific ocean. The main road went through the Highlands from the capital Cuzco to Quito and into Colombia. Another segment went South through Bolivia to central Chile and NorthWest Argentina. The entire Road System webbed more than 25,000 miles. They were narrow with distance of 3 to 52 ft wide and the ones covering the high mountain roadways were even more narrower and winding than those located along the Coast. Through desert areas, walls of posts, adobes, or stones were built to prevent sand from being blown on the traveler. This challenge is perceived as an superb engineering marvel.
In contrast, stone was laid over the roads and canals for wet areas. The Inca Road System was used to move government messengers, Inca armies, royal litters, and for food trade caravans. Additionally, types of rope suspension bridges were constructed over deep chasms and waterways. Some of them were cables hung from masonry towers for support. Others bridges were made of wood, stone, and floating reeds. The roads served as the backbone of the entire empire. Most of the routes were done on foot. Light loads of cargo (45kg/100lbs) were carried by the domesticated llama.
The system of roads and bridges travelled in Peru today were developed from the Incas who ruled over millions of people. It is not known when the first of those roads were built. When Tiahuanaco and Huari cultures dominated the Andean landscape, roads were the main way of communication. At this time roads crossed through major towns that later were linked to the ones made by the Incas.
The goal of transportation and the use of the roads was for survival purposes. It benefited the Inca in becoming so powerful, because he respected the main goal of them that was to bring food to the 4 corners of the empire. They provided food to the mining cities on top of the mountains, then to the cities away from the agricultural areas that served as military towns, then to the cities in charge of arts and crafts, and with the people living on the Coast, Desert and Jungle areas. Everybody was benefited with the production of the soil in a such landscape made of extreme difficulties that they needed to overcome in order to deserve the life they reached thanks to community work and respect to the land entrusted to them by the Higher Spirits.
In the 15th century by contrast, Europe and Asia were very different in the way of their trading. They were linked by 3 general routes over which the Oriental trade passed - the Southern, the Central, and the Northern.
The Southern Route was an all-water in all but its final stage, and therefore for them possessed the advantages of being somewhat quicker and safer than the others. Throughout its entire length it was made up of several links. At the Eastern extremety, Chinese and Japanese or Malaysian vessels brought wares from these countries to the great trading center Malacca, on the straits of the same name between the Malay Peninsula and the Island of Samatra. Traders carried these and other goods collected en route to Cali-Cut and other ports along the Mala-Bar or Western Coast of India. From here a great highway of commerce stretched across the Arabian Sea to the Red Sea. Since the prevailing North Winds made it difficult for vessels to sail North in the Red Sea, most of the goods destined for Europe were landed at some ports on the Eastern Coast of Africa, whence they would be carried by caravan to Cairo or to some convenient point on the Nile down which they would be taken by boat to Cairo or Alex-Andria. The voyage from India to Egypt could be made under favorable conditions in somewhat less than 3 months by this route.
The Central Route followed the lines of the Southern Route as far as India, but here it diverged to the North, passing through Or-Muz at the mouth of the Persian Gulf to Bas-Ra at the head. From Bas-Ra one branch of this route went up the Tigris River to Bag-Dad, and then followed the River Valley North-West-ward either to Trebi-Zond on the Black Sea or to Say-As on the Mediterranean. A 2nd branch went by caravan from Bas-Ra across the desert, where it spread out like a fan to Aleppo, Antioch, and Damascus, and thence to the Mediterranean. Here the caravans were met by Venetian vessels which distributed the Oriental wares to Europe.
The Northern Route was a system of all-land lines of trade leading from China and India, through ancient cities of Yar-Kand, Samar-Cand and Bok-Hara to the region of the Caspian Sea. From Bok-Hara the routes again divided. Some led around the Southern End of the Caspian Sea to Trebi-Zond on the Black Sea, where they joined the Central Route, and finally reached the Mediterranean through Constant-Inople and Asia Minor. Others passed around the Northern End of the Caspian, and went through Russia to Novgo-Rod and the Baltic, or through Astra-Khan to the sea of Azov.
Arrived at the Eastern Mediterranean Ports, the Oriental wares were taken by European Traders, for the most part Italians from Venice, Genoa, and Florence. From these 3 cities trade routes led through the passes in the Alps to all parts of Europe, or by ship through the Mediterranean to Eng-Land, Flan-Ders, and the Scandinavian countries.
Such was the philosophy and character of the trade between the Orient and Europe that by contrast to the one possessed by the Incas, grew in Old World. Destiny put both of them together in the New World, but they did not understand the true reason why they were led to a new way of live in such challenging environment. They just wanted to become rich by the resources of the world while the people of the New World just survived because they respected the richness of the World in terms to harmonize with it as humans and not to exploit it to the point of exhausting or depleting the land from it.
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