Vertical Ecology of the Andes
Hillside agriculture, Mantaro Valley near Pampas (ISB_01048)
Agriculture in the Andes is practiced in diverse ecological zones. This form of exploitation has been given the name of vertical ecology or the Andean Archipelago by John Murra (see bibliography of Billie Jean Isbell's To Defend Ourselves 1968, 1970, 1972 and 1975). Murra argues that pre-Inkaic kingdoms controlled production and redistribution of diverse zones often over large distances. The Inka pattern of agricultural production and distribution followed the same model.
In contemporary communities such as Chuschi, agricultural production covers diverse ecological zones from 4,500 meters in the puna to the bottom lands of the river Pampas at 2,300 meters. For a discussion of the ecology and agricultural practices of Chuschi see Billie Jean Isbell's To Defend Ourselves. Prospect Heights, Ill.: Waveland Press, 1985. Chapter 2, section 7 [link to ch. 2]. For an excellent study of household economies see Enrique Mayer's The Articulated Peasant, 2002, Westview Press.
The photos in the section show the ecological zones and agricultural activities in the puna, valleys and river bottom lands of Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia, with additional views of Lake Titicaca and surrounding lands.
View Vertical Ecology: Overviews Group
View Vertical Ecology: Puna Group
View Vertical Ecology: Valley Group
Bibliography:
Isbell, Billie Jean. To Defend Ourselves: Ecology and Ritual in an Andean
Village. Prospect Heights, Ill.: Waveland Press, 1985.
URL: http://hdl.handle.net/1813/2135