Visit an Aymara Community on Lake Titicaca
Learn about the Aymara people who live on islands in Lake Titicaca on the border between Bolivia and Peru.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
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Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.Learn about the rise and fall of ancient Mesopotamia by watching this overview.
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Contunico © ZDF Studios GmbH, Mainz; Thumbnail © Heritage Pictures/Dreamstime.comFrancisco Pizarro, who arrived in Peru to find the legendary lost city of gold, El Dorado, overthrew the wealthy Inca empire and inaugurated Spanish rule there.
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Contunico © ZDF Studios GmbH, Mainz; Thumbnail Wellcome Collection, London (Public domain)How Francisco Pizarro conquered the Inca empire, in part by executing the emperor Atahuallpa.
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Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.Learn about the Altiplano region of Bolivia and Peru by viewing its vast plains, high plateaus, and Lake Titicaca.
Transcript
[Music in]
NARRATOR: Sprawled across the border of Bolivia and Peru is Lake Titicaca, the largest and deepest high-altitude lake on earth.
The Aymara Indians arrived here before the Incas. And they continue to subsist on fish, much as their ancestors did, and to live on floating islands of reeds, where they manage to grow a few crops.
Relying on the barter system, the Aymaras trade the food they produce for wool, which they need for warm clothing. Otherwise, the Indians of Titicaca depend almost entirely on the lake for their survival.
Today's generation is rediscovering the merit of ancient methods, such as extending raised rows of soil into the lake so that crops can grow in the warmer air near the water.
Because of the milder temperatures around Lake Titicaca, people in both Bolivia and Peru have settled on its shores.
[Music out]
NARRATOR: Sprawled across the border of Bolivia and Peru is Lake Titicaca, the largest and deepest high-altitude lake on earth.
The Aymara Indians arrived here before the Incas. And they continue to subsist on fish, much as their ancestors did, and to live on floating islands of reeds, where they manage to grow a few crops.
Relying on the barter system, the Aymaras trade the food they produce for wool, which they need for warm clothing. Otherwise, the Indians of Titicaca depend almost entirely on the lake for their survival.
Today's generation is rediscovering the merit of ancient methods, such as extending raised rows of soil into the lake so that crops can grow in the warmer air near the water.
Because of the milder temperatures around Lake Titicaca, people in both Bolivia and Peru have settled on its shores.
[Music out]