Tambo (Inca structure)

Found along the extensive roads, tambos typically contained supplies, served as lodging for itinerant state personnel,[1] and were depositories of quipu-based accounting records.

Individuals from nearby communities within the Inca empire were conscripted to maintain and serve in the tambos, as part of the mit'a labor system.

The Incas built many of their tambos when they began to upgrade their empire-wide road system during the reign of Thupa Inka Yupanki from 1471 to 1493.

[9] The largest and most luxurious tambos were generally used to lodge the traveling Inca and his entourage (typically wives and state officials).

[4][7] Beyond taking care of various kinds of travelers, larger tambos would also contain facilities where various specialists, such as potters and weavers, would produce their goods.

And so certain of them would not give more than others, and all should make their contribution, they kept the accounts by a method of knots, which they call quipus, and in this way, after the troops had passed by, they could check and see that there had been no fraud.

[12] However, as Hyslop points out, there are many factors, both individual and external, that can affect how much one can walk in a day, making this unreliable as a measure of physical distance.

[21] The kancha consists of a walled rectangular enclosure , which houses a number of smaller one-room structures, facing a courtyard.

[21] The decision to build smaller structures within appears to be related to the "cold, rainy environment of the Andean highlands.

[21] Historians think that kanchas were typically used as living facilities, which reflects the tambos purpose of housing traveling individuals or groups.

[23] Historians know that the Spanish extended the tambo system beyond what existed throughout the Inca empire, increasing the amount of territory covered.

According to archaeologist Rubén Stehberg the Spanish utilized pre-existing buildings and did not built any structure in Santiago until no less than eight months after their arrival to the location.