Natural resources

The Andes produce all sorts of metals such as gold, copper, silver, tin, lead, iron, platinum, and quicksilver. The people who live among the Andes have developed large terraces and irrigationsystems, on which they grow crops like potatoes, corn, and coffee.
The name Andes is thought to have come from anti , a Quechuan name for copper. The Andes' are an abundant source of copper. Chile (acountry on the southwestern side of the Andes) is known to be the world's largest exporter and producer of copper.
In the Andean region of Venezuela , indigenous peoples adapted their agriculturalpractices for the changes in altitude. They grew manioc and maize below 2400 meters, and moved into the highlands after discovering that tubers could be grown there: potatoes, cuiba, and ulluco (Pérez,1998). The higher altitude páramo was reserved for hunting and collection of native plants. People used plants for medicine and food, and also extracted lumber from the ecotone, or boundary of twoecosystems, of the páramo and the montane forests. Giant caulescent rosette-plants, unusual plants found in the tropical alpine region, were also used for weaving baskets, and for roofing and insulation inbuilding homes (Pérez, 1998). These practices show a dynamic relationship of humans to the land, meeting the needs of both.
While indigenous peoples in the Venezuelan Andes had learned to adapt theiragriculture to the highlands by planting tuber crops, after Spanish conquest of the area, they impacted the páramo ecology by introducing wheat and cattle. Wheat, though only a marginal crop, is beinggrown in the páramo up to 3600 meters. Current human disturbance is causing habitat deterioration for the giant caulescent rosette-plants, an unusual plant found in the páramo. Along withcolonization came the accidental introduction of many non-native plant species, while cattle have damaged the growth of some native plants. Pollen studies have shown that land was deforested at the same time...