Who invented the wheel?

We do not know who invented the wheel. The first transport wheels seem to have appeared around 3500 BCE in Mesopotamia, but no inventor's name survived. It was likely many practical makers testing, copying, and improving a round disc and axle until carts could carry heavy loads.

A neat detail is that wheels were not useful everywhere. In steep Andean country, the Inca built roads and cities without wheeled vehicles because carts needed suitable land and pulling animals. Later, spokes made wheels lighter, but that clever improvement is anonymous too.