Tools & tillage: a journal on the history of the implements of cultivation and other agricultural processes (2.1972/1975)

4

D. W. GADE . R. RIOS


Fig. 1. Geography of the Andean footplough in South America: A. Andean Highlands; B. probable zone
of origin; C. region of greatest present importance; D. direction of diffusion in pre-Spanish times; E. high
plateau above 3.800 m (“Altiplano”). Map by D.W. Gade.
Geographie des Fusspflugs der Anden in Siidamerika: A. Die Anden; B. das vermutliche Entstehungsgebiet;
C. Gebiet der heutigen grbssten Bedeutung; D. Richtung der Verbreitung in vor-spanischer Zeit; E. Hoch-
plateau liber 3800 m (»Altiplano«).

time of the Conquest extended well beyond the
range of the footplough. The high plateau,
as well as the slopes above the irrigated An-
dean valleys and basins, may have been cultiv-
ated for the first time when the taclla appeared,

thus increasing food production in the Inca
Empire. On the Peruvian-Bolivian Altiplano, a
grassy plateau at over 3,800 m elevation, more
than 800 square km of ridged fields were con-
structed, either for reclamation and/or irriga-