An andén (plural andenes),

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

for "platform", is a stair-step like

terrace Terrace may refer to: Landforms and construction * Fluvial terrace, a natural, flat surface that borders and lies above the floodplain of a stream or river * Terrace, a street suffix * Terrace, the portion of a lot between the public sidewalk a ...

dug into the slope of a hillside for agricultural purposes. The term is most often used to refer to the terraces built by

pre-Columbian cultures This is a list of pre-Columbian cultures. Cultural characteristics Many pre-Columbian civilizations established permanent or urban settlements, agriculture, and complex societal hierarchies. In North America, indigenous cultures in the Lower ...

in the

Andes The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...

mountains of

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

. Andenes had several functions, the most important of which was to increase the amount of cultivatable land available to farmers by leveling a planting area for crops. The best known andenes are in

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

, especially in the

Sacred Valley The Sacred Valley of the Incas (; ), or the Urubamba Valley, is a valley in the Andes of Peru, north of the Inca capital of Cusco. It is located in the present-day Peruvian region of Cusco. In colonial documents it was referred to as the "Vall ...

near the

Inca The Inca Empire, officially known as the Realm of the Four Parts (, ), was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The administrative, political, and military center of the empire was in the city of Cusco. The History of the Incas, Inca ...

capital of

Cuzco Cusco or Cuzco (; or , ) is a city in southeastern Peru, near the Sacred Valley of the Andes mountain range and the Huatanay river. It is the capital of the eponymous province and department. The city was the capital of the Inca Empire unti ...

and in the

Colca Canyon The Colca Canyon is a canyon of the Colca River in southern Peru, located about northwest of Arequipa. With a depth of about 1000 – 2000 m (3300 – 6600 ft) (whereas bottom is at cca 2000 m and edges are at 3000 – 4000 metres above t ...

. Many andenes have survived for more than 500 years and are still in use by farmers throughout the region. The benefits of andenes include utilizing steep slopes for agriculture, reducing the threat of freezes, increasing exposure to sunshine, controlling erosion, improving absorption of water, and aerating the soil. The construction and use of andenes for crops enabled agriculture in the Andes to expand into climatically marginal areas of low or seasonal rainfall, low temperatures, and thin soils.

Origin and history

Agricultural terraces A terrace in agriculture is a flat surface that has been cut into hills or mountains to provide areas for the cultivation for crops, as a method of more effective farming. Terrace agriculture or cultivation is when these platforms are created s ...

have been built and used by farmers around the world for thousands of years, mainly for the purpose of permitting cultivation on steep hillsides. The origin of terraces or andenes in the Andes is poorly understood, but they were being built by 2000 BCE. Agriculture became essential for the subsistence of a growing population after 900 BCE. People of the Huarpa culture and the later

Wari culture The Wari () were a Pre-Inca cultures, Middle Horizon civilization that flourished in the south-central Andes and coastal area of modern-day Peru, from about 500 to 1000 AD. Wari ruins, Wari, as the former capital city was called, is located no ...

(500–1000 CE) built terraces into the hillsides of the Andes in Peru. During the

Inca Empire The Inca Empire, officially known as the Realm of the Four Parts (, ), was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The administrative, political, and military center of the empire was in the city of Cusco. The History of the Incas, Inca ...

(1438–1533 CE) the technology and the quantity of land devoted to andenes reached their highest levels. Archaeologists estimate that andenes covered about of land and contributed substantially to feeding the approximately ten million people ruled by the Incas. The

Spanish conquest of Peru The Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire, also known as the Conquest of Peru, was one of the most important campaigns in the Spanish colonization of the Americas. After years of preliminary exploration and military skirmishes, 168 Spaniards, ...

in 1533 led to a demographic collapse in the Andes, as the Indigenous population precipitously declined due to European diseases and war. With lessened population pressure, many farmers relocated or were relocated by force in accordance with the Spanish policy of

reductions Reductions (, also called ; ) were settlements established by Spanish rulers and Roman Catholic missionaries in Spanish America and the Spanish East Indies (the Philippines). In Portuguese-speaking Latin America, such reductions were also ...

to flatter and more easily cultivated lands. Also, the Spanish introduced

oxen An ox (: oxen), also known as a bullock (in BrE, British, AusE, Australian, and IndE, Indian English), is a large bovine, trained and used as a draft animal. Oxen are commonly castration, castrated adult male cattle, because castration i ...

and

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 mi ...

s as

draft animals A working animal is an animal, usually domesticated, that is kept by humans and trained to perform tasks. Some are used for their physical strength (e.g. oxen and draft horses) or for transportation (e.g. riding horses and camels), while othe ...

and plows. Andenes were difficult to access by these innovations, being most suitable for the hand tiller. In the 19th century with population growth, a number of andenes came back into use, but in the late 20th century 60 to 80 percent of andenes had been abandoned for growing crops, although they may be used for grazing.

Engineering

Andenes were complicated to build, requiring provisions for drainage and irrigation. The first step in constructing an andén was to lay an underground or bedrock foundation about deep to lend strength and stability to the retaining wall, which might rise about above the slope of the ground. Behind the retaining wall, the bottom was filled with large stones, overlaid by a layer about thick of sand or gravel. Capping the top of the terrace was a layer of topsoil about thick. The result was a terrace providing "well-drained rich soil and a level surface for growing crops." At prestigious or royal sites, such as

Machu Picchu Machu Picchu is a 15th-century Inca citadel located in the Eastern Cordillera of southern Peru on a mountain ridge at . Often referred to as the "Lost City of the Incas", it is the most familiar icon of the Inca Empire. It is located in the ...

, finely cut stone was used as the outer (visible) face of the retaining wall. The planting surface of an andén is variable, but in the Colca Valley averages wide. The rock and sand layers were to aid drainage of excessive precipitation and were especially important in areas with abundant rainfall. At Machu Picchu, surface drains conveyed excess water to a main drain which supplied water to fountains and a domestic water supply canal. In arid areas, such as the Colca Valley, where Andenes are still cultivated, water for irrigation is brought down from the snow melt of high peaks and springs via a complex system of canals and reservoirs. Irrigation water is released from a reservoir onto the top-most andén and the overflow irrigates the lower andenes. If irrigation water is inadequate, agriculture on the lower andenes will fail. As strategies of risk management, farmers in the present day – and probably in pre-Columbian times – have up to 30 plots of land at different locations and grow a wide variety of crops.

Micro-climate modification

In the steep terrain of the Andes, flat and good farming land was scarce. The adverse climate in much of the Andes was another negative factor for agriculture, which the use of andenes helped overcome. Much of the Inca Empire was found at elevations of more than above sea-level. Farmers grew crops up to an altitude of about . Frosts impacting crops, however, can occur above an elevation of . The stone retaining walls of andenes absorbed the sun's heat during the day and radiated it at night, warming the soil and preventing damage to frost-sensitive crops such as

maize Maize (; ''Zea mays''), also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago from wild teosinte. Native American ...

. An important objective in constructing andenes was to permit maize to be grown at elevations above its usual climatic limit of up to . Maize was a prestige crop for the Incas and earlier cultures, but of the crops cultivated in the Andes, it is the most demanding of water and nutrients.

Rehabilitation

Efforts to rehabilitate and bring andenes back into production near Cuzco began in the 1970s. In 2014, the Peruvian Ministry of Agriculture and the

Inter-American Development Bank The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB or IADB) is an international development finance institution headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States of America. It serves as one of the leading sources of development financing for the countri ...

began a project to rehabilitate andenes, including those near Laraos in the

Lima Lima ( ; ), founded in 1535 as the Ciudad de los Reyes (, Spanish for "City of Biblical Magi, Kings"), is the capital and largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rive ...

region.

Notable 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. At the Salinas de Maras near Cuzco, andenes are used to create 3,000 salt pans to evaporate salt. The andenes and salt industry are believed to date to pre-Incaic (before 1430 CE) times. A distinctive pink-hued salt is still being produced in the 21st century. Between central

and northern

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

are found the best conserved collection of andenes. Perhaps the most impressive Andenes zone is the

(Valle de Colca), whose terraces were constructed by the Collaguas beginning in the 11th century. Those on the islands in

Lake Titicaca Lake Titicaca (; ; ) is a large freshwater lake in the Andes mountains on the border of Bolivia and Peru. It is often called the highest navigable lake in the world. Titicaca is the largest lake in South America, both in terms of the volume of ...

(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 or Cuzco (; or , ) is a city in southeastern Peru, near the Sacred Valley of the Andes mountain range and the Huatanay river. It is the capital of the eponymous Cusco Province, province and Cusco Region, department. The city was the cap ...

, those constructed by the Incas in

Moray (Inca ruin) Moray () is an archaeological site in Peru approximately northwest of Cusco, Cuzco on a high plateau at about and just west of the village of Maras, Peru, Maras. The site contains Inca ruins, mostly consisting of several terraced circular dep ...

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

Ollantaytambo Ollantaytambo () is a town and an Inca archaeological site in southern Peru some by road northwest of the city of Cusco. It is located at an altitude of above sea level in the district of Ollantaytambo, province of Urubamba, Cusco region. D ...

. File:Sonnen-terrassen.jpg, Andenes in Bolivia overlooking

File:Salineras de Maras, Maras, Perú, 2015-07-30, DD 12.JPG, Salt pans at the Salinas de Maras

Explanatory notes

References

General and citaed references

* * * * * {{Cite book , last=McEwan , first=Gordon F. , year=2006 , title=The Incas: New Perspective , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EFD-iAC-xKEC&pg=PP1 , location=New York , publisher=Norton and Company , isbn=9781851095742 Agriculture in Peru Agricultural terminology Agricultural terraces Geography of Peru History of agriculture de:Terrasse (Landwirtschaft)