Andeancivilizations
Andeancivilizations
Andeancivilizations
people.[1] They stretched down the spine of the Andes for 4,000 km (2,500 mi) from
southern Colombia, to Ecuador and Peru, including the deserts of coastal Peru, to
north Chile and northwest Argentina. Archaeologists believe that Andean
civilizations first developed on the narrow coastal plain of the Pacific Ocean. The
Caral or Norte Chico civilization of coastal Peru is the oldest known civilization
in the Americas, dating back to 3500 BCE.[2] Andean civilization is one of the six
"pristine" civilizations of the world, created independently and without influence
by other civilizations.
Less than a century prior to the arrival of the Spanish conquerors, the Incas, from
their homeland centered on the city of Cusco, united most Andean cultures into one
single empire that encompassed nearly all of what is usually called Andean
civilization. The Timoto Cuica of Venezuela remained outside the Inca orbit. The
Inca Empire was a patchwork of languages, cultures and peoples. Spanish rule ended
or transformed many elements of the Andean civilizations, notably influencing
religion and architecture.
History
Main article: History of Andean South America
Aerial photograph of one of the Nazca lines, taken in July 2015, that shows the
design known as "The monkey"
This was followed by the Ceramic Period. Various complex societies developed at
this time, such as Chavín culture, lasting from 900 BCE to 200 BCE, Paracas
culture, lasting from 800 BCE to 200 BCE, its successor Nazca culture, lasting from
200 BCE to 800 CE, the Moche civilisation, lasting from 100 to 700, Wari and
Tiwanaku Empires, with both lasting from 600 to 1000, and Chimor, lasting from 900
to 1470.
Machu Picchu, a mountainous settlement that was inhabited during the time of
Tahuantinsuyu.
In later periods, much of the Andean region was conquered by the indigenous Incas,
who in 1438 founded the largest empire that the Americas had ever seen, named
Tahuantinsuyu, but usually called the Inca Empire. The Inca governed their empire
from the capital city of Cuzco, administering it along traditional Andean lines.
The Inca Empire rose from Kingdom of Cuzco, founded around 1230.
In the 16th century, Spanish colonisers from Europe arrived in the Andes,
eventually subjugating the indigenous kingdoms and incorporating the Andean region
into the Spanish Empire.
Uniqueness
A quipu
Andean civilizations also lacked wheeled vehicles and draft animals. People on land
traveled only by foot and the transport of goods was only by humans or llama, pack
animals which could carry loads of up to one-fourth of their weight, a maximum of
45 kilograms (99 lb).[8] Llamas were not big or strong enough to be used for
plowing or as riding animals for adults.[5]
Finally, the Andean civilizations lacked money. Copper axe-monies (also called
"naipes")[10] and Spondylus shells[11] functioned as mediums of exchange in some
areas, especially coastal Ecuador, but most of the Andes area had economies
organized on reciprocity and redistribution rather than money and markets. These
characteristics were especially notable during the Inca Empire but originated in
much earlier times.[12]
Agriculture
Agricultural terraces (andenes) were widely built and used for agriculture in the
Andes.
Agriculture in South America may have begun in coastal Ecuador with the
domestication of squash about 8000 BCE by the Las Vegas culture.[13]
Some scholars believe that the earliest civilizations on the Peruvian coast
initially relied more upon maritime resources than agriculture during the formative
period of their societies.[14][15] However, as in all civilizations until the late
19th century, agriculture was the principal occupation of the great majority of the
people. The greatest contribution of Andean civilization to the modern world has
been the plants its people domesticated