Anden

Anden (plural andenes), Spanish for "platform", 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 the amount of cultivatable land available to farmers by leveling a planting area for crops. The best known examples of andenes are in Peru, especially in the Sacred Valley near the Inca capital of Cuzco and in the Colca Canyon. 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, minimizing the threat of freezes, increasing exposure to sunlight, controlling erosion, improving absorption of water, and better aeration of 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.

Agricultural terraces 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 more important after 900 BCE and terraces were built in the central Andes of Peru by people of the Huarpa culture and the later Wari culture (500-1000 CE). During the Inca Empire (1438-1533 CE) the technology and the quantity of land devoted to andenes reached their highest levels. Andenes are estimated by archaeologists to have covered about 1,000,000 hectares (2,500,000 acres) of land and to have contributed substantially to feeding the approximately ten million people ruled by the Incas.

The Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire 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 to flatter and more easily cultivated lands. Also, the Spanish introduced oxen and horses as draft animals 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.

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