How many crops did the Inca grow?
Inca farmers mastered high-altitude agriculture, cultivating some 70 different native crops and often stockpiling three to seven years' worth of food in vast storage complexes.
What crops did the Incas grow first?
potato The Incas were the first people to plant the potato and realize its value. They farmed on terraces, which were carved steps of land in the mountainside. Potatoes, quinoa (a type of grain), and maize (corn) were three of the most important foods in their diet.
What were the three main crops of the Inca?
The three principal crops that the Inca's lived on were quinoa, potatoes and corn, although they used many other plants for medicinal purposes.
What was the Incas most important crop?
Maize was the principal crop grown up to an elevation of 3200 meters commonly and 3,500 meters in favorable locations. Cotton was a major crop near the Pacific Ocean and grown up to elevations of about 1,500 meters.
Did the Incas grow wheat?
During their South American conquest 500 years ago, Spaniards suppressed quinoa cultivation because of its use in indigenous religious ceremonies. They forbade quinoa cultivation for a time, with the Incas forced to grow wheat instead.
What was the Incas main food source?
The most important staples were various tubers, roots, and grains. Maize was of high prestige, but could not be grown as extensively as it was further north. The most common sources of meat were guinea pigs and llamas, and dried fish was common.
Did the Incas grow corn?
Yet the Incas, and the civilizations before them, coaxed harvests from the Andes' sharp slopes and intermittent waterways. 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.
Why did the Incas grow root vegetables the most?
Food security was one of the most important policies of the Inca Empire. Their organization, roads, labor and tax systems contributed to the success of its distribution. Root vegetables were the most important staple foods consumed by the Incas and all of them are native to the Andes.
Why did the Incas grow potatoes?
As well as using the food as a staple crop, the Incas thought potatoes made childbirth easier and used it to treat injuries. The Spanish conquistadors first encountered the potato when they arrived in Peru in 1532 in search of gold, and noted Inca miners eating chu�u.