Paisaje hídrico y ciclos hidrosociales Ichsma e Inca en el valle bajo del Rímac del 900/1000 d. C. al 1532 d. C.

From the perspective of political ecology this article analyzes the hydraulic landscape during the Ichsma presence (900/1000 – circa 1400 AD) to the Inca influence (circa 1450 to 1532 AD) in the lower Rimac Valley of the central Peruvian coast. Methodologies such as Geographic Information System (GIS), aerial and historical maps were used to obtain terrain modeling with the purpose of identifying the courses and growth of the canals, the Least-Cost Path of water and calculating the irrigation area in these two periods. These data allowed us to identify the hydraulic landscape formed by hydrosocial cycles in order to understand the water governance of the Ichsma curacazgos and the successive Inca occupation of the right bank of the lower Rímac valley. It is also observed that the hydraulic dynamics of these long and wide dendritic canals reflect complex heterarchical sociopolitical relations that allowed Ichsma curacazgos had autonomous water management and extensive negotiations among them. Later, under Inca occupation in the valley, the same water technology continued, but other water regulatory principles were used marking hydrosocial cycles that benefited the water governance of the empire and their allied curacazgos.