Attitudes toward Mountains - Mountain Geography: Physical and Human Dimensions - page 457

ica also revered mountains as the abodes of deities who controlled the weather and the
water on which they depended for their survival (Reinhard 2006).
FIGURE 9.1 Machu Picchu, ancient Inca settlement and religious site at 2,300 m (7,500 ft) amid pre-
cipitous terrain in the Peruvian Andes. Extensive terracing has increased the amount of usable
land. Even the high peak on the right displays terracing near the summit. This was used as a
lookout; soldiers stationed there grew their own food. (Photo by E. Bernbaum.)
Mountains were frequently linked in legend with the origin of a tribe or people.
The Panzaleo of highland Ecuador traced their descent from the volcano Tungurahua.
Another tribe, the Puruha, believed that they were created by the union between two
volcanoes, the feminine Tungurahua and the masculine Chimborazo (Trimborn 1969).
Many cultures have viewed mountains as male and female, or have in other ways as-
sociated them with fertility and members of human families. An Algonquin legend from
the northeastern United States provides a typical example: There was once an Indian
girl gathering blueberries on Mount Ktaadn, and, being lonely, she said, “I would that
I had a husband.” Seeing the great mountain in all its glory rising on high, with red
sunlight on the top, she added: “I wish Ktaadn were a man, and would marry me.” Her
wish came true, and she gave birth to a son who used his great supernatural powers to
help his people (Bent 1913). Mountains could also be female: The Yakutat Tlingit regard
Mount Fairweather as the estranged wife of Mount St. Elias, 240 km (150 mi) up the
Alaskan Coast (Laguna 1972).
Many of the higher mountains of the Andes were considered to be the home of deities
(Reinhard and Constanza 2010; Reinhard 2006). In the cosmology of a remote village
located east of Cuzco, Peru, at 4,265 m (14,000 ft), a number of the surrounding peaks
have special religious significance. The villagers still make offerings of coca leaves and