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The Inca agriculture system not only included a vast acreage of crops, but also numerous herds, some numbering in the tens of thousands, of animals, some taken by force from conquered enemies. [9] These animals were llamas and alpacas , the dung of which was used to fertilize the crop fields. [ 9 ]
Pachamama is a goddess revered by the indigenous peoples of the Andes.In Inca mythology she is an "Earth Mother" type goddess, [1] and a fertility goddess who presides over planting and harvesting, embodies the mountains, and causes earthquakes.
The Inca faced many problems with living in areas with steep terrain. Two large issues were soil erosion and area to grow crops. [5] [6] The solution to these problems was the development of terraces, called Andenes. These terraces allowed the Inca to utilize the land for farming that they never could in the past. [6]
The terraces were built to make the most efficient use of shallow soil and to enable irrigation of crops by allowing runoff to occur through the outlet. [ 9 ] The Inca people built on these, developing a system of canals , aqueducts , and puquios to direct water through dry land and increase fertility levels and growth. [ 10 ]
The Inca roads were used to transport food, goods, people, and armies, while Inca officials frequently relayed messages using the roads across the vast stretches of the Inca Empire. In areas, where rivers blocked the directions of the roads, the Inca constructed elaborate and complex rope bridges.
A water channel to drain and irrigate andenes. 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 1 metre (3.3 ft) deep to lend strength and stability to the retaining wall, which might rise about 2 metres (6.6 ft) above the slope of the ground.
The basis of the Andean socio-political organisation was the ayllu, a group of families united by real or mythical kin ties, and separated into a male and a female line.. The ruler of an ayllu was the kuraka, or chief, called kamachikuq, and was part of the class of common people ("Hatunruna
Inca leaders kept records of what each ayllu in the empire produced but did not tax them on their production. They instead used the mita for the support of the empire. The Inca diet consisted primarily of fish and vegetables, supplemented less frequently with the meat of cuyes (guinea pigs) and camelids. In addition, they hunted various animals ...