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An andén (plural andenes), Spanish for "platform", [1] is a stair-step like terrace 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 in the Andes mountains of South America. Andenes had several functions, the most important of which was to increase ...
Terraces were built to permit agriculture in the rugged terrain of the Andes. The heartland of the Inca Empire was in the high plateaus and mountains of the Andes of Peru. This area is mostly above 3,000 metres (9,800 ft) in elevation and is characterized by low or seasonal precipitation, low temperatures, and thin soils.
The plateau is located at the latitude of the widest part of the north–south-trending Andes. The bulk of the Altiplano lies in Bolivia, but its northern parts lie in Peru, and its southwestern fringes lie in Chile. There are on the plateau many towns and several cities, including El Alto and Oruro in Bolivia, Juliaca and Puno in Peru.
The Andes are an orogenic belt of mountains along the Pacific Ring of Fire, a zone of volcanic activity that encompasses the Pacific rim of the Americas as well as the Asia-Pacific region. The Andes are the result of tectonic plate processes extending during the Mesozoic and Tertiary eras, caused by the subduction of oceanic crust beneath the ...
The Sacred Valley of the Incas (Spanish: Valle Sagrado de los Incas; Quechua: Willka Qhichwa), 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 "Valley of Yucay".
The Andean region, located in central Colombia, is the most populated natural region of Colombia. With many mountains, the Andes contain most of the country's urban centers. [ 1 ] They were also the location of the most significant pre-Columbian indigenous settlements.
Communities engage in many cultural and faith-based practices to ensure a good harvest and season. They highly value ancestral wisdom and call on it often for agricultural and social endeavors. Many farmers still use Incan-style terraces and irrigation systems for cultivation. [4]
The prevailing westerly winds are laden with moisture and come from the Pacific Ocean, being linked to the South Pacific subtropical anticyclone. Frontal systems move inland and precipitation is high at low altitudes in southern Patagonia, making the fiord region one of the wettest places on earth outside the tropics, with rainfall topping ...