Inca Culture - The Land and Farming

​The Inca Empire started in what is now present day Peru in South America. The capital city for the Incas was Cuzco.

​There were three geographical and climate regions that the Inca Culture had to deal with.

​The western coast of this region, along the Pacific Ocean is in some cases almost desert like.

​The eastern side of the Inca empire is covered

​with tropical rainforests which are part of the Brazilian Rainforest.

​Splitting the desert to the west and the rainforest to the east are the Andes Mountains, which is the longest mountain chain in the world.

​Because the Inca Culture lived primarily in the Andes Mountains, they needed to use terrace or steppe farming in order to grow the crops they needed.

​The Incas built channels in the mountains to guide water to irrigate their crops and bring water to their cities. These aqueducts or channels were usually lined with stone to prevent

​erosion from occurring. Some of these are still used today!

​The Incas often grew more crops than they usually needed. Extra crops were kept in "granaries" or buildings that stored the food for times of famine and hardships.

​As with other cultures, corn was the most important crop for the Incas along with beans and squash. The also raised potatoes and quinoa, a type of plant related to spinach, grown for its seeds that are high in protein.

​In the tall peaks of the Andes Mountains the llama became a very important animal to the Incas. Its sure footedness on the steep slopes made it the perfect animal to be used as a pack animal to carry various types of food and materials up the mountain slopes. They used the llama's fur to make clothing out of much like we use the wool from sheep. They also used the llama as a food source for its delicious meat. They even provided the Incas with milk!

​Just too cute to eat!