Quebrada de Humahuaca

TOMASI, JORGE; BARADA, JULIETA

Encyclopedia of Vernacular Architecture of the World

Oxford Brookes University

Lugar: Oxford; Año: 2018;

Quebrada de Humahuaca is constituted as the eastern edge of the Andean highlands, within the province of Jujuy, in the northwest of the current Argentine territory. In topographic terms it is a depression in the north-south direction, about 120 km long, with an altitudinal variation that goes from 1600 to 3400 meters above sea level. Since pre-hispanic times has been an intense corridor that allowed communication between the lowlands and highlands, also having a considerable stable population both dispersed and conglomerate. In this way, the mainly agricultural population of the area maintained exchange links with the Puna herders. During the colonial period, between the seventeenth and early nineteenth centuries, a number of towns were formed linked to the reduction of the population that in many cases were associated with prehispanic settlements in both the main ravine and the subsidiaries. During this time, the Quebrada de Humahuaca continued to be an important space for north-south articulation and circulation. Its longitudinal conformation worked, historically as a corridor, having been part of the road to Alto Peru.