Large‐scale irrigation systems (canal irrigation) went hand‐in‐hand with the rise of cities and truly complex societies on the coast of Peru during pre‐Hispanic times. Such systems delivered water to hundreds of hectares of potentially fertile land along a dry desert coast. Relatively late in prehistory, from 300 BCE onward, a number of well‐known urban cultures (e.g., Moche, Lima) undertook the construction and expansion of irrigation works, which supported dense populations. This process culminated around AD 1000 in the construction of exceptionally large and sophisticated works by the Chimu, including an intervalley canal of impressive proportions from the Rio Chicama. These works made it possible for a population of some 25,000 to reside at the capital city of Chan Chan. Irrigation agriculture played a primary role in sustaining urban communities near the coast, where large irrigable plains of potentially fertile land were brought into production.
Similar irrigation systems in the...
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Graffam, G. (2008). Irrigation in South America. In: Selin, H. (eds) Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4425-0_8665
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