Though some could have considered building a civilization in the midst of the Andes Mountains burdensome and fruitless, the Incas who established their homes there were able to use the difficult terrain to their advantage.
The Incan Empire was surrounded on either side by coastline deserts or the Amazon Jungle. The Incas built bridges to travel to these areas when needed. Though they never established permanent living arrangements on either side of the Andes, they would leave their home in the mountains to utilize nearby land for the purpose of collecting fruit, catching seafood, and gathering wood.
The Incas also used the Andes Mountains to protect themselves against invaders. If invaded, the Incas would burn bridges on both sides of a gorge, thus trapping the invaders. Those trapped invaders would often either freeze to death or be eaten by animals.
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