ICA (YCA, or ECCA)  , a city of southern Peru and the capital of a department of the same name, 170 M . S.S.E. of Lima, and 46 m. by rail S.E. of Pisco; its port on the Pacific coast . Pop . (1906, official estimate) 6000 . It lies in a valley of the foothills of the Cordillera Occidental, which is watered by the Rio de Ica, is made highly fertile by irrigation, and is filled with vine-yards and cotton fields; between this valley and the coast is a desert . The original town was founded in 1563, 4 M . E. of its present site, but it was destroyed by the earthquake of 1571, and again by that of 1664, after which the present town was laid out near the ruins . In 1882 a Chilean marauding expedition inflicted great damage to private property in the town and vicinity . These repeated disasters give the place a partially ruined appearance, but it has considerable commercial and industrial prosperity . It has' a large cotton factory and there are some smaller industries . Wine-making is one of the principal industries of the valley, and much brandy, called pisco, is exported from Pisco . A new industry is that of drying the fruits for which this region is celebrated .

Ica is the seat of a

national college . The department of ICA lies between the Western Cordillera and the Pacific coast, and extends from the department of Lima S.E. to that of Arequipa . Pop . (1906, official estimate) 68,220; area 8721 sq. m . Ica is in the rainless region of Peru, and the greater part of its surface is barren . It is crossed by the rivers Pisco, Ica and Grande, whose tributaries drain the western slope of the Cordillera, and whose valleys are fertile and highly cultivated . The valley of the Nasca, a tributary of the Grande, is celebrated for an extensive irrigating system constructed by the natives before the discovery of America . The principal products of the department are cotton, grapes, wine, spirits, sugar and fruit . These are two good ports on the northern coast, Tambo de Mora and Pisco, the latter being connected with the capital by a railway across the desert, 46 m. long .