Desde la perspectiva de la isla: El ordenamiento territorial incaico en la transecta andina Arica-Carangas (18° S)

Abstract

In this article we examine Inca imperialism in the context of the socio-territorial formations of the Colesuyu during late prehispanic times (fifteenth to sixteenth centuries AD). Due to the high degree of multiethnic, interdigitated settlement patterns and the heterogeneous environment extending between the Pacific and the altiplano, this region of the south-central Andes posed a geopolitical challenge to imperial integration. We are interested in the case of the Altos de Arica, described by colonial archives as a multiethnic space, with complex interdigitated settlement systems extending between the altiplano of Carangas and the coast of Arica. Based on a high-resolution multiscale geospatial archaeological record complemented by excavation data and dates, we analyze the Inca spatial planning process within the Belén Valley (ca. 3,000 m asl). This valley was known as Tocoroma and constituted the main island of the Carangas archipelago on the western Andean slope of 18°S. We demonstrate the production of an imperial agricultural landscape in the valley, and we discuss the nodal function of this imperial locality within a large-scale socio-territorial network extending between Arica and Carangas. The study confirms the role played by the Tawantinsuyu in the structuring of the vertical archipelagos of the south-central Andes.