Engaruka irrigation and terraces
Regadío por acequias y terrazas de Engaruka
- Date
- c. 1450 · confidence medium
- Place
- Engaruka, Arusha, Tanzania
- Credited to
- Farmers of Engaruka
- Field
- Life & health
What it is
A system of stone-lined channels diverting water from the streams of the Rift escarpment onto plots and terraces. It sustained an intensive agricultural settlement of several thousand people.
Studied by Sutton and Stump; abandoned around the 18th century. It is related to similar systems of the Marakwet (Kenya).
What it led to
- intensive agriculture in a semi-arid environment
- collective water management
- a model for studying African agricultural sustainability