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Andenes are terraces dug into the slopes of mountains for agricultural purposes. They were constructed and much used in the Andes mountain range to provide cultivable hillsides. The majority of these terraces were constructed and used by the pre-Hispanic cultures, and many can still be observed throughout the region. ==Origin and history== The rivers that flow through the Andean mountain range form narrow valleys in the regions above altitudes of 500 meters. Unlike the topography of the Peruvian coast where irrigation by canals allows cultivation of the desert plains, the very narrow and deep valleys in the mountainous zones prohibit large scale agriculture. The ancient Andeans, who needed farmland in addition to that provided by their narrow valleys, attempted to gain more usable land at the cost of the mountains and created the first andenes. The scale of the andenes does not seem to have been very important until approximately the sixth century, when the Wari, or Huari, government began a mass construction of Andenes in the region of Ayacucho, which involved a large inversion of the labor force. At this time the Wari acquired geopolitical importance and began their expansion into the Central Andes in what is considered the first Andean empire (500–900 AD). In the successive centuries they refined the technique of construction of the Andenes, incorporating layers of different materials into the filling, in order to better control drainage compared to the same rainfall. In the fifteenth century the Incas brought the architecture of the Andenes to their utmost splendor, investing considerable resources not only in the filling but also in the quality of the stone walls. In the Incan period the Andenes were used to other ends, specifically to control the erosion of the mountains where they constructed their ceremonial centers. For example, a good part of Andean construction in the extreme west of Machu Picchu appears to be structural. After the Spanish conquest, the andenes continued in use. They have been maintained to this day, and still account for a significant amount of cultivation. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「anden」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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