Ultimately, the andenes, stockpiles and quipus served the Inca to steadily grow an empire that sooner or later dominated a fantastic swath of South The united states, encompassed 12 million individuals and generated majestic citadels this kind of as Machu Picchu.

But the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors in the 16th Century induced the overthrow of the Inca and the decrease of the andenes. Colonial violence, epidemics of European ailments and forced displacement devastated the indigenous populations of the central Andes. European crops and agriculture techniques were launched and swiftly spread throughout the location.

However although quite a few andenes have been abandoned or fell into disrepair, they never disappeared fully. Drawing on understanding handed down about the generations, quite a few Andean farmers go on to use them nowadays, and however normally ignored by travellers, they keep on being a popular sight in spots this sort of as Isla del Sol and the wider Titicaca region, the Sacred Valley in close proximity to Machu Picchu, and the Colca Canyon in southern Peru, a fissure 2 times the depth of the Grand Canyon.

In new yrs, there has also been renewed educational desire in andenes as a type of sustainable agriculture that could enable the world cope with the local climate crisis, water shortage and soil erosion. The Foods and Agriculture Group of the UN, for example, describes traditional Andean culture as “one of the best illustrations of the adaptation and know-how of farmers to their atmosphere”, and highlights its sustainable technique to land utilization, drinking water administration, soil safety and crop biodiversity.

Four and a 50 % thousand decades after they very first emerged, the terraced fields of the Andes surface to be in advance of their time.

Historic Engineering Marvels is a BBC Vacation sequence that normally takes inspiration from exclusive architectural thoughts or ingenious constructions crafted by earlier civilisations and cultures throughout the world.

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