Andean world

The Andean world (Spanish: mundo andino), Andean cultural area (Spanish: área cultural andina) or Andean America (Spanish: andinoamérica) is a cultural area in existence since pre-Columbian times located in the central region of the Andes mountain range, where the most complex societies of South America developed, the Andean civilizations. Its approximate "area of influence" extends from the center-south of Chile and Mendoza in Argentina, to the south, up to the south of Colombia, as well as the societies inheriting them. To the north, it overlaps with what is traditionally known as the Intermediate Area.

The concept of the Andean area was discussed in the mid-20th century. Bennet and Bird established an area of co-tradition in the Andean region primarily focused on the Central Andes and the existence of an "Intermediate" area located north of the Cajamarca basin in Peru. This approach, valid for Peruvian archaeology, does not encompass all the complex societies that emerged in the Andes before the Spanish conquest.

In this regard, the macro-Andean approach postulated by Luis Lumbreras in 1981 emerged, which established what is now known as the Andean cultural area. This cultural area is the consequence of an interdependence relationship caused by an agricultural-based lifestyle; therefore, it is not applicable to pre-agricultural stages nor will it be for social levels based, for example, on industry.

A factor that unites all the peoples of this area, according to Lumbreras, is that their relationship with the environment is resolved through a constant cycle of sea - mountain range - tropical forest, which shapes an integrative economic rationality transverse to the geographic axis of the Andes.

However, there are differences and varying degrees of complexity in the social and political development of the cultures within the Andean area, expressed in sub-areas.