One of the things that I've learned is that most road improvements in early times came not from demand for better paths for commercial travel, but from the desire to link and conquer territory. The Roman road system is perhaps the est known, but the grand Inca network should not be forgotten. Indeed, when Spaniards first arrived in Inca county they were very impressed by the roads. At that time there was nothing like them in Europe, since the Roman system--built more than 1000 years previously--had been allowed to deteriorate.
This photo is of a wall in Cuzco along a thoroughfare that had been laid out and built by Incas. The neatly carved stone blocks are fit together so well that many have survived earthquakes that destroyed structures built after the Spaniards arrived.
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