Chinampa

Chinampa (Nahuatl languages: chināmitl [tʃiˈnaːmitɬ]) is a technique used in Mesoamerican agriculture which relies on small, rectangular areas of fertile arable land to grow crops on the shallow lake beds in the Valley of Mexico.

They are built up on wetlands of a lake or freshwater swamp for agricultural purposes, and their proportions ensure optimal moisture retention.

[2] Although different technologies existed during the Post-classic and Colonial periods in the basin, chinampas have raised many questions on agricultural production and political development.

After the Aztec Triple Alliance formed, the conquest of southern basin city-states, such as Xochimilco, was one of the first strategies of imperial expansion.

Before this time, farmers maintained small-scale chinampas adjacent to their households and communities in the freshwater lakes of Xochimilco and Chalco.

Often trees such as āhuexōtl [aːˈweːʃoːt͡ɬ] (Salix bonplandiana)[3] (a willow) and āhuēhuētl [aːˈweːweːt͡ɬ] (Taxodium mucronatum)[14] (a cypress) were planted at the corners to secure the chinampa.

In some places, the long raised beds had ditches in between them, giving plants continuous access to water and making crops grown there independent of rainfall.

The Aztecs not only conducted military campaigns to obtain control over these regions but, according to some researchers, undertook significant state-led efforts to increase their extent.

There is evidence to support the idea of state involvement, primarily the amount of manpower and materials it would take to build, turn, and maintain the chinampas.

With the destruction of the dams and sluice gates during the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, many chinampas fields were abandoned.

[19] However, many lakeshore towns retained their chinampas through the end of the colonial era since cultivation was highly labor-intensive and less attractive for Spaniards to acquire.

[21] The extent to which Tenochtitlan depended on chinampas for its fresh food supply has been the topic of a number of scholarly studies.

[22][23][24][25] Among the crops grown on chinampas were maize, beans, squash, amaranth, tomatoes, chili peppers, and flowers.

[31] In alphabetic Nahuatl documentation, The Testaments of Culhuacan from the late sixteenth century have numerous references to chinampas as property that individuals bequeathed to their heirs in written wills.

Through steps, the structure of chinampas is to locate shallow land by the bank and surround said area with stakes of a common wetland tree [ahuejote].

[35] Other fields, both dried and surrounded by canals, produce foods such as lettuce, cilantro, spinach, chard, squash, parsley, coriander, cauliflower, celery, mint, chives, rosemary, corn, and radishes.