Chinampa

A chinampa is a raised agricultural plot built in shallow lake water, traditionally from layers of mud, vegetation, and other materials. It is associated especially with the lake region of central Mexico.

Lake Texcoco: A former lake in the Valley of Mexico, surrounded by settlements including Tenochtitlan. Its shallow waters and marshy margins formed part of the landscape where chinampa agriculture developed.
Xochimilco: A district in southern Mexico City known for surviving canals and chinampa landscapes. Its wetlands preserve one of the best-known living chinampa regions.
Maize: A cereal crop domesticated in the Americas and widely cultivated for food and animal feed. Maize was among the crops cultivated in the chinampa region.
Wetland: Land saturated with water permanently or seasonally, supporting plants adapted to wet conditions. Chinampas depend on and modify wetland environments.
Terrace agriculture: Farming on level platforms cut into slopes or hillsides to reduce erosion and manage water. Terraces also create productive plots, but reshape hillsides rather than shallow lake beds.
Raised-field agriculture: Farming on elevated planting beds separated by lower channels or drainage areas. Chinampas are a lake-based form of this broader agricultural approach.
Aztec agriculture: The farming systems used by the Mexica and other peoples of the Aztec Empire. Chinampas supported dense populations and food production in the Valley of Mexico.
Beans: The edible seeds of several legume plants, including species domesticated in the Americas. Beans were grown alongside other staple crops in central Mexican farming systems.
Lake drainage: The removal or diversion of water from a lake, often to reclaim land or control flooding. Drainage projects transformed the lake system on which chinampa agriculture depended.
Floating garden: A garden grown on a buoyant structure or floating mass of vegetation. Chinampas are fixed plots rooted in shallow lake bottoms, not simply floating gardens.

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