Flood Agriculture Of The Amazonians

“Those peoples living along the river centuries before had shaped the Amazon soit would produce human food in abundance... Amazonians developed a number of unique strategies...While most cultures are forced to farm the same soils year after year, the Amazon’s annual flood supplied new fertile soil to the intensively farmed riverbanks with no effort on the farmers’ behalf. As the waters rose, Andean silt deposited itself in layers on the broad floodplain; as the floods receded, the virgin sediment received seed... the Amazon’s waters fall rapidly, allowing planting to take place early enough to secure two crops per year, and its waters rose slowly enough to allow a paced harvest. Farmers harvested two crops per year, year after year.”