The Peruvian Andes

The Peruvian Andes, in the center of the world's longest mountain range which stretches for 8,000 km north to south, was once home to the magnificent Inca Empire (A.D. 1200-1534). The lofty stone fortresses of the Inca were renowned for their fine masonry architecture and the urban center, Machu Picchu, still remains situated in the Andes high above the Urubamba River. Immortalized by the Chilean poet , Pablo Neruda, Machu Picchu stands as a living monument to the creativity, boldness, and skill of Inca architects, crafts people, and statesmen.

At the time of the Spanish Conquest in 1532 the Inca controlled the lives of almost six million people, most of them living in small villages dispersed around religious and political centers. In these centers Inca artisans produced major works of art in gold and silver, as well as finely woven textiles and brightly painted pottery. It was these magnificant objects-but especially the gold-that led Francisco Pizarro to vow to conquer the Inca Empire for Spain, a task he accomplished by 1534, for the Inca had no firearms and could not withstand the power of the Spanish guns.

Although the Spanish forced the native Quechua Indians of the Peruvian Andes to work in mines and on farms run by the Spaniards under harsh conditions, the Indians were used to the difficult conditions of the high plateaus. It is here that their ancestors had originally domesticated their most valuable crop, and gift to the rest of the world, the potato.

Today Quechua Indians living in the Andes, such as the villagers of Huinchiri on the Rio Apurimac, still maintain many of their Inca traditions, including the cultivation of potatoes, as well as raising sheep and alpaca that they spin into wool. Another custom they maintain is fighting with stones, using the onda, an Inca weapon. Once every two years the villagers rebuild their reed bridge. This is the only place in the Andes where this tradition remains. On Uros Island in Lake Titicaca, the people live on a floating island made of reeds. Unique to the environment of the lake, the reeds are especially valuable to the local inhabitants. Boats and houses are made of reeds, and people even eat them. Although the villagers still make their living much as they did in ancient times, there are now many tourists who come to visit, and recently a telephone office (with a fax machine!) was opened.

Nancy Lutkehaus