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...
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Adams, Robert M. The Evolution of Urban Society. Chicago: Aldine, 1966.
Bolin, Inge. Upsetting the Power Balance: Cooperation, Competition, and Conflict Along an Andean Irrigation System. Human Organization 49.2 (1990): 140–8.
Hastorf, Christine A. Agriculture and the Onset of Political Inequality Before the Inca. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993.
Isbell, William H. and Gordon F. McEwen. Huari Administrative Structure: Prehistoric Monumental Architecture and State Government. Washington, District of Columbia: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 1991.
Mitchell, William P. Peasants on the Edge: Crop, Cult, and Crisis in the Andes. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1991.
Moseley, Michael E. The Incas and Their Ancestors: The Archaeology of Peru. London: Thames and Hudson, 1992.
Netherly, Patricia J. The Management of Late Andean Irrigation Systems on the North Coast of Peru. American Antiquity 49.2 (1984): 227–54.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2008 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg New York
About this entry
Cite this entry
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
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4425-0_8665
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-4559-2
Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-4425-0
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and Law