Inca agricultural terraces

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Ancient Inca agricultural terraces still productive after centuries

The  Incas were remarkable constructors and cultivators as well. They have created stepped plantation fields on the sides of mountains and hills. Because there was little flat space around several important cities, the Incas decided to transform the relief shapes into adequate agricultural lands.

The lands were irrigated with the use of aqueducts, controlled waterways carved into rocks. These ancient irrigation systems still work (at least many of them) and are being used in many parts of Peru to ensure food for the locals.

The Sacred Valley of the Incas is Peru's most productive agricultural area.

In Inca times, the plantations were primarily destined to producing crops and potatoes.

The Incas were growing plants on whole mountain sides, irrigating them whenever it was necessary. At the time, even on global scale, the Sacred Valley was one of the most agriculturally productive zones. While Europeans were waiting for the rain to come, the Incas were irrigating their land whenever it was needed. This way, the threat of drought was practically eliminated. Whole rivers were diverted in order to ensure the water for the plants.

The terraces had 2 purposes: the most important was to ensure food, then, secondly, erosion of the land could be blocked this way. In places where there were no terraces, the land could simply flow down into the valley due to occasional massive rains, earthquakes or erosion that comes with times. The Incas were not afraid that something might fall on their heads from the mountains above, the terraces held everything in place.   

The Incas not only controlled the water, but also used different types of earth for planting various species of plants.

Parts of Machu Picchu are covered agricultural terraces. On some parts of the city, the aqueducts have been put into function in order to show the tourists how the network was working centuries ago. Though, no plants are planted in the Machu Picchu terraces. If you want to see how the terraces are actively used to grow food, then you'll have to visit the numerous villages in the Sacred Valley.

A very interesting, unique site is Moray. The terraces there are circular, sunken into the ground like meteorite craters. Unique in design, certainly difficult to build, these terraces were probably used for experimentation with different plant species by planting them on higher and lower levels, exposing them to different temperatures and more or less exposure to the Sun rays.