USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Did the Incas use terrace farming? The Incas used bench terraces reinforced with stone walls. They used irrigated terrace farming to grow crops like maize and potatoes.

Detailed explanation-2: -The Incas had to create flat land to farm, since they lived in the mountains. They did this by creating terraces. Terraces were carved steps of land in the mountainside. Not only did this genius way of farming help them grow crops, it was also great for irrigation and preventing drought.

Detailed explanation-3: -They developed resilient breeds of crops such as potatoes, quinoa and corn. They built cisterns and irrigation canals that snaked and angled down and around the mountains. And they cut terraces into the hillsides, progressively steeper, from the valleys up the slopes.

Detailed explanation-4: -The Incas carved out these bench terraces, or andenes, to create level platforms for growing crops on the steep slopes of the Andes. The bench terraces shown here are located at Machu Picchu and would have been used to provide maize or potatoes for this remote city.

Detailed explanation-5: -Terraces at Pisac. At higher elevations, Incas farmers utilized tiers of agricultural terraces to better irrigate their fields. The Terraces at Pisac in the sacred valley of the Incas, in Peru, is an example of this.