Nanchoc District is one of thirteen

districts A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

San Miguel Province The San Miguel Province is one of the thirteen provinces in the Cajamarca Region of Peru. It was created by Law No. 15152 on September 29, 1964 by president Fernando Belaunde Terry. It has a mountainous territory which varies in height from 500 t ...

in the

Cajamarca Region Cajamarca (; qu, Kashamarka; ay, Qajamarka) is a department and region in Peru. The capital is the city of Cajamarca. It is located in the north part of the country and shares a border with Ecuador. The city has an elevation of above sea le ...

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

. In 2017, the district had an area of and a population of 1,368. The capital of the district is the town of Nanchoc which had a population of 332 in 2017. The Nanchoc River, a tributary of the

Zaña River The Zaña River (also Saña River) is a small river in northern Peru. The river is in length and begins in the Andes of Cajamarca Region and ends at the Pacific Ocean in Lambayeque Region. In the lower part of the river valley, where the river ...

, bisects the district. Nanchoc is located in an irrigated and cultivated valley about wide and from the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

to the west. Between the valley and the ocean is a low range of mountains and the Peruvian coastal desert. East of Nanchoc the

Andes The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...

rise sharply and the greater precipitation in the Andes feeds the Nanchoc River and its tributaries, permitting irrigated agriculture to flourish in the valley.

History

Nanchoc district was created 2 December 1958 by Law No. 13039 del 2, during the second government of President

Manuel Prado Ugarteche Manuel Carlos Prado y Ugarteche (April 21, 1889 – August 15, 1967) was a banker who served twice as President of Peru. Son of former president Mariano Ignacio Prado, he was born in Lima and served as the nation's 43rd (1939 - 1945) and 46th (1 ...

. At the time the district included the population centers of Carahuasi, Bolívar, El Espino, Trigal, La Aventuraza, El Diamante, La Tambora and Tingues. Most of these communities were separated from Nanchoc district in 1989 and placed in Bolivar District.Sitio web provinvial
Accessed 12 Oct 2019.

Archaeology

On the western side of the Nanchoc river, about from the town of Nanchoc, archaeologist

Tom Dillehay Tom Dillehay is an American anthropologist who is the Rebecca Webb Wilson University Distinguished Professor of Anthropology, Religion, and Culture and Professor of Anthropology at Vanderbilt University. In addition to Vanderbilt, Dillehay has tau ...

found evidence of the oldest known irrigation canals in the Americas,

radiocarbon Carbon-14, C-14, or radiocarbon, is a radioactive isotope of carbon with an atomic nucleus containing 6 protons and 8 neutrons. Its presence in organic materials is the basis of the radiocarbon dating method pioneered by Willard Libby and coll ...

dated to at least 3400 BCE and possibly as old as 4700 BCE. The canals built by the people of Nanchoc at that time were utilized to irrigate crops such as

peanut The peanut (''Arachis hypogaea''), also known as the groundnut, goober (US), pindar (US) or monkey nut (UK), is a legume crop grown mainly for its edible Seed, seeds. It is widely grown in the tropics and subtropics, important to both small ...

squash Squash may refer to: Sports * Squash (sport), the high-speed racquet sport also known as squash racquets * Squash (professional wrestling), an extremely one-sided match in professional wrestling * Squash tennis, a game similar to squash but pla ...

manioc ''Manihot esculenta'', commonly called cassava (), manioc, or yuca (among numerous regional names), is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America. Although a perennial plant, cassava is extensively cultivated a ...

, and chenopods, a relative of

Quinoa Quinoa (''Chenopodium quinoa''; , from Quechua ' or ') is a flowering plant in the amaranth family. It is a herbaceous annual plant grown as a crop primarily for its edible seeds; the seeds are rich in protein, dietary fiber, B vitamins, and ...

References

{{Districts of San Miguel Province Archaeological sites in Peru Andean preceramic