Andenes are terrace

Terrace (agriculture)

Terraces are used in farming to cultivate sloped land. Graduated terrace steps are commonly used to farm on hilly or mountainous terrain. Terraced fields decrease erosion and surface runoff, and are effective for growing crops requiring much water, such as rice...

s dug into the slopes of mountains for agricultural purposes. They were constructed and much used in the Andes

Andes

The Andes is the world's longest continental mountain range. It is a continual range of highlands along the western coast of South America. This range is about long, about to wide , and of an average height of about .Along its length, the Andes is split into several ranges, which are separated...

 mountain range to provide cultivable hillsides. The majority of these terraces were constructed and used by the pre-Hispanic cultures, and many can still be observed throughout the region.

Origin and History

The rivers that flow through the Andean mountain range form narrow valleys in the regions above altitudes of 500 meters. Unlike the topography of the Peruvian coast where irrigation by canals allows cultivation of the desert plains, the very narrow and deep valleys in the mountainous zones prohibit large scale agriculture. The ancient Andeans, who needed farmland in addition to that provided by their narrow valleys, attempted to gain more arable land at the cost of the mountains and created the first andenes.

The scale of the andenes doesn't seem to have been very important until approximately the sixth century, when the Wari, or Huari, government began a mass construction of Andenes in the region of Ayacucho

Ayacucho

Ayacucho is the capital city of Huamanga Province, Ayacucho Region, Peru.Ayacucho is famous for its 33 churches, which represent one for each year of Jesus's life. Ayacucho has large religious celebrations, especially during the Holy Week of Easter...

, which involved a large inversion of the labor force. At this time the Wari acquired geopolitical importance and began their expansion into the Central Andes in what is considered the first Andean empire

Empire

The term empire derives from the Latin imperium . Politically, an empire is a geographically extensive group of states and peoples united and ruled either by a monarch or an oligarchy....

 (500 - 900 AD).

In the successive centuries they refined the technique of construction of the Andenes, incorporating layers of different materials into the filling, in order to better control drainage compared to the same rainfall. In the fifteenth century the Incas brought the architecture of the Andenes to their utmost splendor, investing considerable resources not only in the filling but also in the quality of the stone walls.

In the Incan period the Andenes were used to other ends, specifically to control the erosion of the mountains where they constructed their ceremonial centers. For example, a good part of Andean construction in the extreme west of Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu is a pre-Columbian 15th-century Inca site located above sea level. It is situated on a mountain ridge above the Urubamba Valley in Peru, which is northwest of Cusco and through which the Urubamba River flows. Most archaeologists believe that Machu Picchu was built as an estate for...

 appears to be stuctural.

After the Spanish conquest, the andenes continued in use. They have been maintained to this day, and still account for a significant amount of cultivation.

Famous Collections of Andenes

The Andenes possess an appeal beyond the historical and their original economic motivations: they are also landscape resources whose situation in the Andes Mountains has notable aesthetic value. Many of them follow the natural curve of the slopes in such a way that preserves the visual harmony of the environment. The idea of hanging gardens in the mountains can fit well with the description of the Andenes.

Between the center of Peru

Peru

Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....

 and the north of Bolivia

Bolivia

Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...

 one finds the best conserved collection of andenes. Perhaps the most impressive anden zone is the Colca Canyon

Colca Canyon

Colca Canyon is a canyon of the Colca River in southern Peru. Peru's third most-visited tourist destination with about 160,000 visitors annually, it's located about 100 miles northwest of Arequipa...

 (Valle de Colca), whose terraces were constructed by the Collaguas beginning in the eleventh century. Those on the islands in Lake Titicaca

Lake Titicaca

Lake Titicaca is a lake located on the border of Peru and Bolivia. It sits 3,811 m above sea level, making it the highest commercially navigable lake in the world...

 (constructed by the Aymara) are visually stunning, as are those in the so-called Sacred Valley of the Incas (Valle Sagrado de los Incas) in Cusco

Cusco

Cusco , often spelled Cuzco , is a city in southeastern Peru, near the Urubamba Valley of the Andes mountain range. It is the capital of the Cusco Region as well as the Cuzco Province. In 2007, the city had a population of 358,935 which was triple the figure of 20 years ago...

, those constructed by the Incas in Moray (Inca ruin)

Moray (Inca ruin)

Moray is an archaeological site in Peru approximately 50 km northwest of Cuzco on a high plateau at about 3500 m and just west of the village of Maras. The site contains unusual Inca ruins, mostly consisting of several enormous terraced circular depressions, the largest of which is about 30 m deep...

 in a collection of concentric circles, as well as the enormous terraces at Pisaq and Ollantaytambo

Ollantaytambo

Ollantaytambo is a town and an Inca archaeological site in southern Peru some 60 kilometers northwest of the city of Cusco. It is located at an altitude of 2,792 meters above sea level in the district of Ollantaytambo, province of Urubamba, Cusco region...

. A good part of these Ardenes are used to this day, which illustrates the quality of their design.

External links

• Tecnología agraria en el antiguo Perú. http://www.yachay.com.pe/especiales/agricultura/tecnologia-andina.html
• Agricultura de laderas a través de andenes, Perú.http://www.rlc.fao.org/es/tierra/pdf/capta/siste5.pdf