Fibre suspension bridge (Q'eswachaka)
Puente colgante de fibra (Q'eswachaka)
- Date
- c. 1450 · confidence medium
- Place
- Q'eswachaka, Quehue, Canas, Cusco, Peru
- Credited to
- Inca Empire; present-day Quechua communities
- Field
- Tools
What it is
Bridges of braided ichu-grass cables anchored to stone abutments that spanned gorges up to 45 m wide; they are renewed every year. The Spaniards considered them superior to those of Europe.
Europe did not build long-span suspension bridges until the 19th century.
What it led to
- communication across Andean valleys
- a living communal tradition (Intangible Heritage, 2013)