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Cuzco To Quito In Five Days On Foot
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Watching a BBC4 recording I took some while ago about the Inca Empire, and just got the extraordinary claim by the historian presenting the program that the Incas could get a message from one city to the other in just that time. The distance is over 1,500 km. With only "runners" to carry the messages then they've got to do the equivalent of seven or eight marathons each day, isn't it? Just about achievable at Olympic medal-winning pace?
Anybody know about the Incan civilisation and would care to comment?
Anybody know about the Incan civilisation and would care to comment?
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For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.Not really, but there was a documentary about Central America recently that showed a remote tribe in present-day Mexico who run everywhere through desert and mountainous terrain - in barefeet. The times and distances covered were much quicker than Olympic marathon runners. Sorry, can't remember the programme or provide a link. Maybe that tribe are the last of those in the Americas that used to do that?
Apparently the way to do it was to use a LOT of runners, based at a LOT of relay stations along the route.
This site says that the runners could cover about 250 miles per day between them (and needed good memories!):
http:// www.anc ientpag es.com/ 2016/03 /20/inc a-commu nicatio n-mailm en-inca -empire -fast-r oadrunn ers/
As each runner only covered a mile or two, with the next runner then taking over without any delay, maintaining a speed of roughly 10 mph throughout the day and night could well have been possible.
This site says that the runners could cover about 250 miles per day between them (and needed good memories!):
http://
As each runner only covered a mile or two, with the next runner then taking over without any delay, maintaining a speed of roughly 10 mph throughout the day and night could well have been possible.
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