[3] Despite occupying a desert, the inhabitants of Ishma had a high standard of living, thanks to their expertise in devising multiple irrigation channels as far as the river waters could reach, to give life to an extensive orchard and forest.

[5] This latter toponym has great variation in colonial sources, including , , , , , and .

[5] The word was clearly part of Classical Quechua vocabulary, as colonial dictionaries have it, written as or , as a color term for red.

[5] Archaeologist Krysztof Makowski has proposed an Aymaran origin for Ichma, as an explanation for the existence of two placenames, as opposed to clearly Quechua Pachacamac.

[8][9] Ishma territory reached up to the sanctuary of Mama located in Rimac (present-day Ricardo Palma) and the sites of Chontay and Sisicaya in Lurin at 1,000 meters above sea level.

[4] Each saya was in turn divided into unu or waranka subdivisions, which in turn were also divided into the anan and luren moieties,[12] The Ishma dominions of Lati, Surco (Sulco), Guatca, Rimac (Lima), and Maranga (Malanca) were located in the Rimac valley, while the dominions of Pachacamac (Ishma), Manchay, Quilcay (Quilcayuna), and Caringa were located in the Lurin valley.

The chronicles recorded religious beliefs, the importance of the deity Pachacamac and his kin, inter-valley relations, the existence of curacazgos, the coastal ecosystems, the irrigation schemes, among other aspects.