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economy: Asia and the Pacific 319 40,000 inhabitants The city began as a small village in about 200 b.c.e., but at its height it was arguably the most important city in the Andes The backbone of the Tiwanaku’s economy was agriculture, and most economic activity related to agricultural production and engineering The city and its surrounding area were located at a high elevation, with relatively warm days but cold nights Further, the region had poor soil and somewhat sparse rainfall Accordingly, Tiwanaku devoted its labor and resources to a number of agricultural innovations Its farmers practiced raised-bed agriculture, increasing the yield of the land In combination with an extensive irrigation system, terraced fields on hillsides, and raised beds in the shallows of rivers and lakes, the region was able to harvest more potatoes from an acre of land than farmers can today using modern methods and fertilizers Connecting the fields was an elaborate system of canals, which in time were stocked with fish for consumption These canals not only provided water but also absorbed heat from the sun, providing a kind of thermal “blanket” to prevent crops from freezing at night Thus, virtually 100 percent of Tiwanaku’s economic activity was devoted to agriculture Farmers, of course, cultivated and harvested crops, but engineers, road builders, stonemasons, and other craftsmen devoted their time and resources to building and maintaining the infrastructure that supported agriculture The other major culture that was a precursor to the Inca was that of the Wari While the people of Tiwanaku were peaceful farmers who showed little interest in extending their realm, the Wari were a warlike culture that spread through military conquest They lived in modern-day Peru, reaching the height of their power between 700 and 1200 The Wari were able to achieve their power because they had numerous economic resources These resources included minerals, petroleum, fish, sugar, wool, cotton, pottery, foodstuffs, and coffee The Wari fed themselves by using terraced fields for agriculture, making their fields far more productive and increasing the amount of land available for cultivation Extensive irrigation systems watered the fields Beyond that, though, the Wari economy relied on trade and was a stopover on a trade network that extended from the Pacific coast inland To foster this trade, the Wari built an extensive road network, roads that were later used by the Inca culture These roads also were used for the movement of troops who conquered neighboring regions and absorbed them into the Wari Empire Additionally, the Wari economy revolved around construction and engineering The Wari constructed numerous cities that were laid out in precise ways, some of them crisscrossed by underground tunnels Their stone buildings even had ventilation systems and were resistant to earth- quakes Wari city planners and engineers would be the envy of modern people who perform these tasks All of this construction activity implies a system of organization, a class structure with skilled tradesmen, a large labor force, supervisors to oversee the activities, and a class of entrepreneurs to conduct trade Unfortunately, though, historians know little about the day-to-day workings of the culture, primarily because the Wari left behind no written records Much the same can be said of other South American cultures that rose, prospered, and fell during this era The Inca Empire, which dominated the western coast of South America from the late 12th century into the 1400s, built an economic system based on an abundance of resources, including water; agricultural land; mines; precious and semiprecious metals, such as gold, silver, and copper; and a large force of peasant labor The Inca economy was a command economy, with the state controlling resources, products, and the allocation of labor, although local barter between individuals was tolerated A system of tribute called mita funded the state’s enterprises The economic system depended, first, on the ability of the state to marshal a large labor force in the construction of cities, irrigation projects, the terracing of mountain land for agriculture, and especially the empire’s vast network of roads, which linked every part of the empire and was used by llama caravans carrying goods Additionally, a corps of runners and couriers carried messages as well as fresh fish from the coastline to the interior These couriers, who were posted at intervals, could cover up to 1,200 miles in as few as six days Asia and the Pacific by Kenneth R Hall Domestic welfare in Asia improved during the medieval age because of the increased agricultural productivity of essential grains and cash crops Different localities specialized in marketplace products such as cotton, indigo, sugarcane, tea, and pepper Long-distance trade was supported by the development of road or river networks that linked upstream urban centers and coastal regions In some cases Asia’s medieval-era urban centers were coincident with the centers of political power, as was the norm in China; in other cases, as in India and Japan, they arose from marketplaces that developed around a major ritual complex or commercial emporium that was linked to other centers of trade Urban residents, who might number 400,000 or more, consumed substantial quantities of food and demanded luxury goods This had an enormous impact on the surrounding countryside, which provided food and local handicrafts It also necessitated increasing numbers of local artisans and merchants
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