Acequia

An acequia (Spanish: [aˈθekja]) or séquia (Valencian: [ˈsɛkia]) is a community-operated watercourse used in Spain and former Spanish colonies in the Americas for irrigation. Particularly in Spain, the Andes, northern Mexico, and the modern-day American Southwest, acequias are usually historically engineered canals that carry snow runoff or river water to distant fields. It can also refer to the long central pool in a Moorish garden, such as the Generalife in the Alhambra in Southern Iberia.

The Spanish word acequia (and Catalan séquia) comes from Classical Arabic "as-sāqiya", which has the double entendre of "the water conduit" or "one that bears water" and the "barmaid". The Arabs brought the technology to Iberia during their occupation of the Iberian peninsula. The technology was adopted later by the Spanish and Portuguese (levadas on Madeira Island), utilized throughout their conquered lands, except in e.g. Mendoza, Argentina where acequias today run along both sides of all city streets but originally were dug all around by the indigenous Huarpes long before the arrival of the Spanish.

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