The Inca: mountain roads, terraces and the quipu

Grade 7 Social Studies Worksheet - Building Confidence

Circle the best answer.

1. 1.

   The cell marked ? is blank. Noah's chart has a blank: how long was the Inca road system?

   • About 30,000 to 40,000 km
   • Exactly 40,000 km
   • A few km
   • About 300 to 400 km along the main road

2. Read this first

   Inca roads and runners

   Topic	What we know
   Length	about 30,000 to 40,000 km of roads (sources give different totals)
   Travel	people and goods moved without wheels or draft animals
   Chasquis	relay runners who took over at stations a few km apart (most chroniclers say about 2.5 km; others give 6 to 9 km); estimates of a day's travel range from up to 300 km to 360–480 km
   Tambos	roadside buildings with supplies and lodging

3. 2.

   How far apart were the chasqui stations, Pia asks?

   • About 30,000 km
   • About 25 to 90 km
   • About 300 to 480 km
   • About 2.5 to 9 km, by different accounts
4. 3.

   What did tambos hold, Ren asks?

   • Relay runners' horses
   • Supplies and lodging
   • Gold coins
   • Wheeled carts
5. 4.

   Tala reads that chasquis were relay runners. What is a relay?

   • A message sent by ship
   • One runner runs the whole way
   • Runners take turns, each running a stretch
   • Runners ride horses
6. 5.

   Why does the chart give a range, 30,000 to 40,000 km, instead of one number, Ari asks?

   • Sources give different totals
   • The chart could not count
   • 40,000 is the exact length
   • The roads change length each day
7. 6.

   Suppose a message went 300 km each day. How far would it go in 100 days, and how does that compare with the road range, Bo asks?

   • 30,000 km: the low end of the range
   • 400 km: a short trip
   • 40,000 km exactly: the high end
   • 3,000 km: far below the range of the roads
8. 7.

   Suppose stations were 2.5 km apart. How many handoffs would a message have in 300 km, Esme asks?

   • About 750
   • About 12
   • About 120
   • About 302
9. 8.

   Why use relay runners instead of one runner, Kira asks?

   • Relays slowed the message
   • One runner is faster over a long distance
   • Runners rode wheeled carts
   • Fresh runners kept the message fast
10. 9.

    Why build tambos along the roads, Luz asks?

    • To stop people traveling
    • Travelers needed supplies and rest
    • To store wheels
    • To mark the end of the roads
11. 10.

    Milo's friend says Inca roads were built for carts. What is the best reply?

    • Agree: roads mean carts
    • Agree: llamas pulled carts along the roads
    • Disagree: travel was without wheels
    • Disagree: no one used the roads