INTRO TO THE ANDES

• 900BC-200ADChavín

• 300BC- 300ADTiwanaku

• 100BC-800ADNazca

• 100BC-800ADMoche

• 1100-1450Chimú

• 1438-1533Inca

Timeline

IntroThe Andes refers to a geographical region that is made up of Ecuador, Colombia, Chile, Bolivia and Peru.

The Andes has an incredible amount of languages, estimated around 700 languages in Peru alone.

The language of the Incas was Quecha, and is the second most important language is the Andes today.

Quechua still is spoken by 10 million people in western South America

Almost 2 million Aymara people of the Andes and Atiplano region speak the Aymara language

It is even an official langue of Bolivia

Ethnicity The ethnic composition of Bolivia is diverse.

There are approximately three dozen native groups totaling 59% of the Bolivian population – the largest proportion of indigenous people in Latin America.

The largest of these are the Quechuas (2.5 million), Aymaras (2 million), then Chiquitano (180,000), and Guaraní (125,000).

So the full Amerindian population is at 60%; the remaining 30% are mestizo (mixed Amerindian and white), and around 10% are white

Languages in Bolivia

Bolivia has great linguistic diversity as a result of its multiculturalism.

Bolivia recognizes 36 official languages besides Spanish: Aymara, Araona, Baure, Bésiro, Canichana, Cavineño, Cayubaba, Chacobo, Chiman, Ese Ejja, Guaraní, Guarasuawe, Guarayu, Itonama, Leco, Machajuyai-Kallawaya, Machineri, Maropa, Mojeño-Trinitario, Mojeño-Ignaciano, Moré, Mosetén, Movima, Pacawara, Puquina, Quechua, Sirionó, Tacana, Tapiete, Toromona, Uruchipaya, Weenhayek, Yaminawa, Yuki, Yuracaré and Zamuco.[

The main indigenous languages are: Quechua (28% of the population in the 2001 census), Aymara (18%), Guarani (1%), other (4%)

Geographic distribution of the indigenous languages of Bolivia

The Andes mountains. The longest mountain chain in the world

the Andes are second only to the Himalayas in altitude. Yet people have survived and thrived in this rugged

environment for thousands of years.

AndesWestern South America contains the world’s driest coastal desert, its longest and second-highest mountain chain, and one of its largest and densest tropical jungles!

None of these 3 zones offers a satisfactory balance of water and land for agriculture, hence the indigenous populations have had to develop social organizations in which travel, reciprocity, diversification and control are paramount.

Agriculture

The people of the Andes were a predominately agriculture based society.

Their approach to growing food in this mountainous region was to create Andenens. Narrow terraces where a variety of food could be planted and harvested.

Andenens also known as terraces

Foods It is estimated that the Inca cultivated around seventy crop species.

The main crops were potatoes, sweet potatoes, maize, chili peppers, cotton, tomatoes, peanuts, quinoa and amaranth.

There are over 200 variety of potatoes in Peru alone!

The Inca also raised llamas, guinea pigs and alpacas for their wool and meat.

Emergence of people in the

Andes10,000 BC

The Andes has been occupied for at least 12,000 years.

People in Northern Chile began mummifying their dead around the year 5,000 BC.

That’s 500 years before the Egyptians!

Chilean Chinchorro Mummy5,000 BC

Art• Andean art as a whole has

an emphasis on opposites interlocked, on pairs, doubling, and mirror-image of all kinds.

• Advances in metalworking- especially in gold and silver, copper and bronze.

• The majority of Andean art is concerned with religious conotations/ rituals/ceremonies/prayers

• However, we will also see some very personal art- that shows concern for the beauty everyday events

• The Sun God and the Mother Goddess will be two important deities

Feather ArtGreat emphasis on colored feathers

considered more valuable than gold or silver

ArtInca architecture sculpts the earth in opposition of light and shadow.

Textiles will feature identical birds, and double-headed creatures.

Transformation: all ancient Americans, believed in a universe of transformations. .

Cyclical thinking is key to the Andean worldview and will be represented in their art.

Architecture The people of the Andes

developed a different technique of wall building that was well-suited to an earthquake prone area.

Rather that repeated rows of bricks or rectangular stones, they interlock the stones in the different levels (courses) of the wall.

The Inca developed this technique to the highest point.

Note that here the large stones have been cut to interlock like a jigsaw puzzle.

They were shaped so precisely that no mortar is necessary.

TextilesDue to the arid conditions of the Andes, ancient textiles have existed from 5,000 BC. The oldest surviving textiles of the Americas!

The Andeans used the back strap loom to create their textiles and focused heavily on the use of geometry, symmetry and colors.

The Andes continues to produce some of the most colorful and expensive textiles of Latin America.

Wind Instruments

• The panpipes group include the sikú (or zampoña) and antara.

• These are ancient indigenous instruments that vary in size, tuning and style.

• Instruments in this group are constructed from aquatic reeds found in many lakes in the Andean Region of South America

Coca LeavesCoca is a plant native to South America that plays an important role in Andean societies.

In addition to its medicinal value (stimulant, anesthetic, appetite suppressant), it has a leading role in social interaction and religious ceremonies.

The oldest coca leaf was found on the northern coast of Peru dating from 2500 BCE.

The coca leaf is used in religious rites for various purposes: to protect someone from curses and bad energy, to change bad luck, to predict the future and to make offerings to the Pachamama (Mother Earth).

Human Sacrifice

The Incas practiced human sacrifice, especially at great festivals or royal funerals where retainers died to accompany the dead into the next life

The Inca also made human sacrifices. As many as 4,000 servants, court officials, favorites, and concubines were killed upon the death of the Inca Huayna Capac in 1527, for example.

A number of mummies of sacrificed children have been recovered in the Inca regions , an ancient practice known as qhapaq hucha.

The Incas performed child sacrifices during or after important events, such as the death of the Sapa Inca (emperor) or during a famine

"The Maiden", one of the Llullaillaco mummies, Inca human sacrifice, Salta province (Argentina).

Virgins of the Sun and Incan Human Sacrifice