View source for Chinampa

{{Short description|Type of Mesoamerican agriculture}}
{{Italic title}}
{{About||the settlement in Veracruz|Chinampa de Gorostiza|the album by Cecil Taylor|Chinampas (album)}}
[[File:camas chinampas.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Modern ''chinampas'']]
[[File:Lake Texcoco c 1519.png|thumb|right|300px|The lake system within the [[Valley of Mexico]] at the time of the [[Spanish Conquest of the Aztec Empire]], showing distribution of the chinampas.]]

'''Chinampa''' ({{langx|nah|chināmitl}} {{IPA|nah|tʃiˈnaːmitɬ|}}) is a technique used in [[Agriculture in Mesoamerica|Mesoamerican agriculture]] which relies on small, [[rectangle|rectangular]] areas of [[fertility (soil)|fertile]] [[arable land]] to grow [[agriculture|crops]] on the shallow [[lake]] beds in the [[Valley of Mexico]]. The word chinampa has Nahuatl origins, chinampa meaning “in the fence of reeds”. They are built up on wetlands of a lake or freshwater swamp for agricultural purposes, and their proportions ensure optimal moisture retention.<ref> Oxford University Press, 2001. {{ISBN|9780195188431|}}</ref> This method was also used and occupied most of [[Lake Xochimilco]]. The United Nations designated it a [[Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System]] in 2018.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Chinampa Agriculture in the World Natural and Cultural Heritage Zone in Xochimilco, Tláhuac and Milpa Alta |url=https://www.fao.org/giahs/giahsaroundtheworld/designated-sites/latin-america-and-the-caribbean/chinampa-system-mexico/en/ |access-date=2022-09-19 |website=www.fao.org}}</ref>

Although different technologies existed during the [[Post-classical history|Post-classic]] and Colonial periods in the basin, chinampas have raised many questions about agricultural production and political development. After the [[Aztec Empire|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. The Aztecs did not invent the chinampa technology but rather were the first to develop it to a large scale cultivation.<ref name="Kasperson" /><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Morehart |first1=Christopher T. |title=''CHINAMPA'' AGRICULTURE, SURPLUS PRODUCTION, AND POLITICAL CHANGE AT XALTOCAN, MEXICO |journal=Ancient Mesoamerica |date=3 June 2016 |volume=27 |issue=1 |pages=183–196 |doi=10.1017/S0956536116000109}}</ref> Sometimes referred to as "floating gardens," chinampas are [[artificial island]]s that were created by interweaving reeds with stakes beneath the lake's surface, creating underwater fences.<ref name=":5">{{Cite CiteSeerX|title=The floating gardens in México Xochimilco, world heritage risk site|last=Onofre|first=Saúl|citeseerx=10.1.1.632.129}}</ref> A buildup of soil and aquatic vegetation would be piled into these "fences" until the top layer of soil was visible on the water's surface.<ref name=":5" />

When creating chinampas, in addition to building up masses of land, a drainage system was developed.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal|last=Nunley|first=Parker|title=A Hypothesis Concerning the Relationship between Texcoco Fabric-Marked Pottery, Tlateles, and Chinampa Agriculture|journal=American Antiquity|volume= 32|issue=4|pages=515–522|jstor=2694079|year=1967|doi=10.2307/2694079|s2cid=164138691}}</ref> This drainage system was multi-purposed. A ditch was created to allow for the flow of water and [[sediment]]s (likely including [[night soil]]).<ref name=":4">Pedro Armillas, "Mesoamerica" in ''A History of Land Use in Arid Regions'', L. Dudley Stamp, ed. Paris: UNESCO 1961, 266-67.</ref> Over time, the ditch would slowly accumulate piles of mud.<ref name=":3" /> This mud would then be dug up and placed on top of the chinampas, clearing the blockage.<ref name=":3" /> The soil from the bottom of the lake was also rich in nutrients, thus acting as an efficient and effective way of fertilizing the chinampas.<ref name=":3" /><ref name="Baq">Baquedano, E. (1993). ''Aztec Inca & Maya. A Dorling Kindersley Book:'' Singapore. {{ISBN|0-679-83883-X}}</ref> Replenishing the [[topsoil]] with lost nutrients provided for bountiful harvests. Embarcadero-Jiménez and colleagues tested the correlation between environmental parameters and bacterial diversity in the soil. It is speculated that a diverse array of bacteria can affect the nutrients in the soil. The results found that bacterial diversity was more abundant in cultivated soils than non-cultivated soils.  Also, "the structure of the bacterial communities showed that the chinampas are a transition system between sediment and soil and revealed an interesting association of the S-cycle and iron-oxidizing bacteria with the [[rhizosphere]] of plants grown in the chinampa soil".<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Embarcadero-Jiménez |first1=Salvador |last2=Rivera-Orduña |first2=Flor N. |last3=Wang |first3=En Tao |title=Bacterial communities estimated by pyrosequencing in the soils of chinampa, a traditional sustainable agro-ecosystem in Mexico |journal=Journal of Soils and Sediments |date=2 October 2015 |volume=16 |issue=3 |pages=1001–1011 |doi=10.1007/s11368-015-1277-1|s2cid=93334865 }}</ref>

Evidence from Nahuatl wills from late seventeenth-century [[Colhuacan (altepetl)|Pueblo Culhuacán]] suggests chinampas were measured in ''matl'' (one matl = 1.67 meters), often listed in groups of seven.<ref>Cline, ''Colonial Culhuacan'', pp. 134-35.</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Harvey |first1=HR |last2=Williams |first2=BJ |title=Aztec arithmetic: positional notation and area calculation. |journal=Science |date=31 October 1980 |volume=210 |issue=4469 |pages=499–505 |doi=10.1126/science.210.4469.499 |pmid=17841389 |jstor=1685035|bibcode=1980Sci...210..499H |s2cid=42237687 }}</ref> One scholar has calculated the size of chinampas using [[Aztec codices|Codex Vergara]] as a source, finding that they usually measured roughly {{convert|30|x|2.5|m|abbr=on|round=5|ft}}.<ref name="Jorge">{{cite journal |last1=Jorge Mdel |first1=C |last2=Williams |first2=BJ |last3=Garza-Hume |first3=CE |last4=Olvera |first4=A |title=Mathematical accuracy of Aztec land surveys assessed from records in the Codex Vergara |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |date=13 September 2011 |volume=108 |issue=37 |pages=15053–7 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1107737108 |pmid=21876138|pmc=3174618 |bibcode=2011PNAS..10815053J |doi-access=free }}</ref> In [[Tenochtitlan]], the chinampas ranged from {{convert|90|x|5|m|abbr=on|round=10|ft}}<ref name="Jorge" /> to {{convert|90|x|10|m|abbr=on|round=10|ft}}<ref name="Jorge" /><ref>Tompkins, P. (1976). ''Mysteries of the Mexican pyramids. Fitzhenry & Whiteside Limited:'' Toronto. pp. 299 {{ISBN|0-06-014324-X}}</ref> They were created by staking out the shallow lake bed and then fencing in the rectangle with [[Wattle (construction)|wattle]].  The fenced-off area was then layered with mud, lake sediment, and decaying vegetation, eventually bringing it above the level of the lake.  Often trees such as ''āhuexōtl'' {{IPA|nah|aːˈweːʃoːt͡ɬ|}} (''[[Salix bonplandiana]]'')<ref name="Kasperson">{{cite book |chapter-url=http://archive.unu.edu/unupress/unupbooks/uu14re/uu14re0s.htm#7 |title=Regions at risk: Comparisons of Threatened Environments |chapter=Chapter 7: The basin of Mexico |publisher=United Nations University Press |editor=Jeanne X. Kasperson|year=1995 |isbn=978-92-808-0848-3}}</ref> (a [[willow]]) and ''āhuēhuētl'' {{IPA|nah|aːˈweːweːt͡ɬ|}} (''[[Taxodium mucronatum]]'')<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.conifers.org/cu/tax/mucronatum.html |title=Taxodium mucronatum |publisher=The Gymnosperm Database |access-date=2009-10-12 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100109102022/http://www.conifers.org/cu/tax/mucronatum.html |archive-date=2010-01-09 }}</ref> (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.<ref>Cline, ''Colonial Culhuacan'' p. 2.</ref> Chinampas were separated by channels wide enough for a [[canoe]] to pass.{{citation needed|date=May 2015}}  These raised, well-watered beds had very high crop yields with up to 7 harvests a year. Chinampas were commonly used in pre-colonial Mexico and Central America. There is evidence that the Nahua settlement of Culhuacan, on the south side of the Ixtapalapa peninsula that divided Lake Texcoco from Lake Xochimilco, constructed the first chinampas in C.E. 1100.<ref>Richard Blanton, "Prehispanic Settlement Patterns of the Ixtapalapa Peninsula Region, Mexico." Ph.D. dissertation, University of Michigan 1970.</ref>

==History==
[[File:The Digital Edition of the Florentine Codex Book 1 0640 Seeding, tilling and harvesting maize.tif|thumb|left|Aztec maize agriculture as depicted in the [[Florentine Codex]] with the cultivator using a digging stick]]

The earliest fields that have been securely dated are from the [[Mesoamerican chronology|Middle Postclassic period]], 1150–1350 [[Common Era|CE]]. Chinampas were used primarily in Lakes [[Lake Xochimilco|Xochimilco]] and [[Lake Chalco|Chalco]] near the [[spring (hydrosphere)|springs]] that lined the south shore of those lakes. The [[Aztec]]s 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.<ref>Since many of the chinampas regions show a uniformity of size and orientation, researchers such as Townsend assume they were constructed by "a planned program ... over a short time". (p 167)</ref> There is some strong evidence to suggest state-led operations for the “expansion” of the chinampas. This is sometimes referred to as the hydraulic hypothesis, which is directly related to a [[hydraulic empire]], which is an empire that maintains power and control through the regulation and distribution of water. 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. However, arguments about state control of the chinampas rely upon the assumption that dikes were necessary to control the water levels and to keep the [[saline water]] of [[Lake Texcoco]] away from the freshwater of the chinampa zone. This is plausible, but there is evidence that the chinampas were functional before the construction of a dike that protected them from the saline water. It is suggested that the dike was meant to drastically improve the size of the chinampa operation.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Baker |first1=Jeffrey L. |title=The State and Wetland Agriculture in Mesoamerica |journal=Culture & Agriculture |date=June 1998 |volume=20 |issue=2–3 |pages=78–86 |doi=10.1525/cag.1998.20.2-3.78}}</ref>

Chinampa farms also ringed [[Tenochtitlán]], the Aztec capital, which was considerably enlarged over time. Smaller-scale farms have also been identified near the island-city of [[Xaltocan]] and on the east side of [[Lake Texcoco]]. With the destruction of the dams and [[sluice gate]]s during the [[Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire]], many chinampas fields were abandoned.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Morehart |first1=Christopher |last2=Frederick |first2=C. |date=Jun 2014 |title=The chronology and collapse of pre-Aztec raised field (chinampa) agriculture in the northern Basin of Mexico |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/262685649 |journal=Antiquity |volume=88 |issue=340 |pages=531–548 |doi=10.1017/S0003598X00101164 |via=ResearchGate}}</ref> 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.<ref>Charles Gibson, ''The Aztecs Under Spanish Rule''. Stanford: Stanford University Press 1964.</ref>
[[File:Chinampas.jpg|thumb|right|Chinampas and canals, 1912.]]
[[File:Trajinera en canal Nativitas.jpg|thumb|right|Trajinera tourist boat in [[Xochimilco]]]]

The Aztecs built [[Tenochtitlan]] on an island around 1325. Issues arose when the cities' constant expansion eventually caused them to run out of room to build. As the empire grew, more sources of food were required. At times this meant conquering more land; at other times it meant expanding the chinampa system. With this expansion, chinampas' multiple crops per year became a large factor in the production and supply of food. Empirical records suggest that farmers had a relatively light tribute to pay compared to others because the annual tribute may have been only a fraction of the amount necessary for local needs.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Morehart |first1=Christopher |title=The Potentiality and the Consequences of Surplus: Agricultural Production and Institutional Transformation in the Northern Basin of Mexico |journal=Economic Anthropology |year=2014 |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=154–166 |doi=10.1002/sea2.12010 |s2cid=154899887 |url=https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/sea2.12010|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

The extent to which Tenochtitlan depended on chinampas for its fresh food supply has been the topic of a number of scholarly studies.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Calnek |first1=Edward E. |title=Settlement Pattern and Chinampa Agriculture at Tenochtitlan |journal=American Antiquity |date=1972 |volume=37 |issue=1 |pages=104–115 |doi=10.2307/278892 |jstor=278892|s2cid=163995403 }}</ref><ref>Edward E. Calnek, "The Organization of Urban Food Supply Systems: The Case of Tenochtitlan" in ''Las ciudades de América Latina y sus áreas de influencia a través de la historia'', Jorge Hardoy and Richard P. Schaedel, eds. Buenos Aires: Sociedad Interamericana de Planificación 1975.</ref><ref>Edward E. Calnek, "El sistema de mercado de Tenochtitlan," in ''Política e ideología en el México prehispánico," Pedro Carrasco and Johanna Broda, eds. Mexico: Editorial Nueva Imagen, 1978, pp. 97-114.''</ref><ref>Jeffrey R. Parsons, "The Role of Chinampa Agriculture in the Food Supply of Aztec Tenochtitlan," in ''Cultural Change and Continuity'', Charles Clelland, editor. New York: Academic Press 1976, 242.</ref>

Among the crops grown on chinampas were [[maize]], [[bean]]s, [[Squash (plant)|squash]], [[amaranth]], [[tomato]]es, [[chili pepper]]s, and flowers.<ref>Van Tuerenhout, Dirk R. (2005). [https://books.google.com/books?id=EqfvgerVsuEC&pg=PA106 ''The Aztecs: New Perspectives''], p. 106. ABC-CLIO, Inc.</ref> [[Maize]] was planted with digging stick ''huictli'' {{IPA|nah|wikt͡ɬi|}} with a wooden blade on one end.<ref name="Baq" /><ref>Teresa Rabiela Rojas, "Agricultural Implements in Mesoamerica," in ''Explorations in Ethnohistory'', H.R. Harvey and Hanns J. Prem, eds. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press 1984</ref>

The word ''chinampa'' comes from the Nahuatl word ''chināmitl'', meaning "square made of canes" and the Nahuatl locative, "pan." In documentation by Spaniards, they used the word ''camellones'', "ridges between the rows."<ref>Cline, ''Colonial Culhuacan'', p. 132.</ref> However, Franciscan [[Fray Juan de Torquemada]] described them with the Nahua term, chinampa, saying "without much trouble [the Indians] plant and harvest their maize and greens, for all over there are ridges called chinampas; these were strips built above water and surrounded by ditches, which obviates watering."<ref>Juan de Torquemada, ''Monarquia Indiana'', vol. 2, 483. Mexico: Editorial Porrúa 1975.</ref>

Chinampas are depicted in pictorial [[Aztec codices]], including Codex Vergara, Codex Santa María Asunción, the so-called Uppsala Map,<ref>Sigvald Linné, ''El valle y la ciudad de México en 1550. Relación histórico fundada sobre un mapa geográfico, que se conserva en la biblioteca de la Universidad de Uppsala [Sweden]''. Stockholm 1948.</ref> and the Maguey Plan (from Azcapotzalco).<ref>{{cite journal |first=Edward E. |last=Calnek |year=1973 |title=The Localization of the 16th-century Map Called the Maguey Plan |journal=American Antiquity |volume=37 |issue=1 |pages=104–15|doi=10.2307/278892 |jstor=278892 |s2cid=163995403 }}</ref> 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.<ref>S.L. Cline and Miguel León-Portilla, ''The Testaments of Culhuacan'' UCLA Latin American Center, Nahuatl Studies Series, vol. 1 1984.</ref><ref>Cline, ''Colonial Culhuacan''</ref>

There are still remnants of the chinampa system in Xochimilco, the southern portion of greater Mexico City. Chinampas have been promoted as a model for modern [[sustainable agriculture]], although some sources have disputed the applicability of this model. One anthropologist, for instance, reports that attempts by Mexico to develop chinampas among the [[Chontal Maya]] people in the 1970s failed until the technicians modified their goals in order to suit the Chontales' interests.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Chapin |first1=M |title=The seduction of models. Chinampa agriculture in Mexico. |journal=Grassroots Development |date=1988 |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=8–17 |pmid=12342093}}</ref>{{clarify|What are the arguments against chinampas being a viable model for sustainable agriculture? How can an anthropologist discuss sustainable agriculture?|date=August 2015}}

== Construction ==

According to Antonio Vera through the UH Hilo website, within the framework of chinampas, there were two versions, inland and irrigated chinampas. Islands are created on banks, while irrigation is built on water. Through steps, the structure of chinampas is to create and isolate shallow land by the bank and surround said area with stakes of a common wetland tree [ahuejote]. The urbanization of Mexico led to this tradition being lost, and new challenges are created within the urbanization of Mexico.<ref>{{cite web | title=Chinampa: An ancient agricultural system – Nihopeku | date=2 February 2018 | url=https://hilo.hawaii.edu/nihopeku/2018/02/02/chinampa-an-ancient-agricultural-system/ }}</ref>

== Modern chinampas ==
As of 1998, chinampas are still present in San Gregorio, a small town east of [[Xochimilco]], in addition to San Luis, [[Tláhuac|Tlahuac]], and [[San Andrés Mixquic|Mixquic]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.chinampas.info/virtualfieldtrips/chinampazoneofxochi/1.htm|title=Virtual Field Trip|last=Crossley|first=Philip|date=1999|website=The Chinampas of Mexico|pages=1–14|access-date=October 1, 2017}}</ref> Although many of these gardens were constructed and thoroughly tended to from the [[Mesoamerican chronology|Postclassic Period]] through the [[Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire|Spanish conquest]], many of these plots of land still exist and are in active use.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/chinampa|title=Chinampa|last=Pauls|first=Elizabeth|orig-year=July 20, 1998 |date= December 8, 2006|website=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=October 1, 2017}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> 

Many of these chinampas have been allowed by present-day farmers to become overgrown.<ref name=":0" /> Some choose to use canoes to farm, but many are becoming increasingly dependent on wheelbarrows and bicycles for transportation.<ref name=":0" /> Other fields, such as some located in San Gregorio and San Luis areas, have been deliberately filled up.<ref name=":0" /> As the canals dry up, several of the fields are naturally joined. Although not used for their original purpose, they are commonly used for [[Cattle feeding|cattle feed]].<ref name=":0" />

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.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=http://www.ipsnews.net/2016/02/mexicos-chinampas-wetlands-turned-into-gardens-fight-extinction/|title=Mexico's Chinampas – Wetlands Turned into Gardens – Fight Extinction|last=Godoy|first=Emilio|date=February 27, 2016|website=Inter Press Service News Agency|access-date=October 1, 2017}}</ref> The young leaves of [[Quelites (disambiguation)|quelites]] and [[Amaranth|quintoniles]], which are often mistaken for weeds, are grown and harvested as ingredients of sauces.<ref name=":0" /> Flowers also continue to be grown on these plots.<ref name=":0" /> Some chinampa fields are also used as tourist sites.

<gallery widths=200 heights=160>
File:Sembradío en chinampa.JPG|An example of a modern-day chinampa
File:Chinampa.JPG|One of the remaining chinampas in Xochimilco
File:Gran Ganado Chinampas Xochimilco.JPG|An example of cattle feeding on the grasses of dried chinampas lands
</gallery>

=== Challenges ===
Although many locals and farmers are happy to return to their agricultural roots, they are faced with several challenges. During the [[Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire|Spanish conquest]], many lakes were drained, limiting their agricultural capacity, such as the lake at [[Xochimilco Ecological Park and Plant Market|Xochimilco]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Tomky |first=Naomi |date=January 31, 2017 |title=Mexico's Famous Floating Gardens Return to Their Agricultural Roots |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/mexicos-floating-gardens-return-their-agricultural-roots-180961899/ |access-date=October 1, 2017 |website=Smithsonian.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Ancient Mesoamerica|last=Morehart|first=Christopher|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2016|pages=192}}</ref> In addition, in 1985 [[1985 Mexico City earthquake |an earthquake struck]], further damaging several canals.<ref name=":2" /> Other challenges include limited water supply, the use of pesticides, [[climate change]], [[urban sprawl]], and water pollution caused by untreated sewage and toxic waste.<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite journal|last=DeWalt|first=Billie|date=June 1992|title=Review: The Chinampas|jstor=680550|journal=American Anthropologist|volume= 94| issue =  2|pages=524|doi=10.1525/aa.1992.94.2.02a00910}}</ref><ref name=":1" />

==See also==
{{Portal|Gardens|Gardening}}
* [[Aquaponics]]
* [[Aquaculture]]
* [[Historical hydroculture]]
* ''[[Nanfang Caomu Zhuang]]'', 4th-century Chinese record of floating gardens
* [[Waru Waru]]

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

==Sources==
* Blanton, Richard. "Prehispanic Settlement Patterns of the Ixtapalapa Peninsula Region, Mexico." Ph.D. dissertation, University of Michigan 1970.
* Calnek, Edward E., "Settlement Pattern and Chinampa Agriculture," ''American Antiquity'' 1972, 37(104-15).
* Chapin, Mac. "The seduction of models: Chinampa agriculture in Mexico," ''Grassroots Development: Journal of the Inter-American Foundation'' Volume 12, no. 1, 1988, pp.&nbsp;8–17.
* Cline, S.L., ''Colonial Culhuacan, 1580-1600: A Social History of an Aztec Town''. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press 1986.
* Ezcurra, E. ''De las chinampas a la megalópolis: El Medio Ambiente en la Cuenca de México. Mexico City, SEP 1991.''
* Parsons, Jeffrey R. "The Role of Chinampa Agriculture in the Food Supply of Aztec Tenochtitlan," in ''Cultural Change and Continuity'', Charles Clelland, editor. New York: Academic Press 1976,
* Popper, Virginia (Fall/Winter 2000). [https://web.archive.org/web/20021020135747/http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/ioa/backdirt/Fallwinter00/farming.html "Investigating Chinampa Farming"]. ''Backdirt'' (Cotsen Institute of Archaeology).
* Rabiela, Teresa Rojas. "Chinampa Agriculture". In [[David Carrasco|Davíd Carrasco]] (ed.). ''The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures''. : Oxford University Press, 2001. {{ISBN|9780195188431|}}
* Jaslene Miya M. (2000). ''The Aztecs'', revised ed. Jaslene and Jaslene, New York.{{Full citation needed|date=May 2025}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Chinampas}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080601180809/http://sidewalksprouts.wordpress.com/history/international-history-of-urban-ag/tenochtitlan/ Chinampas of Tenochtitlan - History of Urban Agriculture:]
* [http://northeasternpermaculture.wikispaces.com/file/view/mx_city_floating_gardens.pdf Floating Gardens of Mexico City] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200419225932/https://northeasternpermaculture.wikispaces.com/file/view/mx_city_floating_gardens.pdf |date=2020-04-19 }}
* [http://permaculturenews.org/2013/05/28/chinampas-2-0-an-elegant-technology-from-the-past-to-save-the-future/ Chinampas 2.0 – an Elegant Technology From the Past to Save the Future]. Rodrigo Laado. Permaculture Research Institute of Australia. May 28, 2013.
* http://hombresdemaiz.com.mx/v2/permacultura-mesoamericanamesoamerican-permaculture-chinampas-2-0-fundraising-edition {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151014223735/http://hombresdemaiz.com.mx/v2/permacultura-mesoamericanamesoamerican-permaculture-chinampas-2-0-fundraising-edition |date=2015-10-14 }}
* [http://midwestpermaculture.com/2012/12/chinampas-gardens/ Chinampas Gardens]. Brianna. Midwest Permaculture. December 6, 2012.
* [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLAcoRHqCmNShuG54OtqE3hAfuLQTZoU9&app=desktop Soy Xochimilco] {{in lang|es|en}} - [[CONABIO]] via [[YouTube]]
* {{YouTube|frbOcFQraeScovPU|Chinampas of Mexico - Andrew Millison}}

{{Horticulture and gardening}}

[[Category:Agriculture in Mesoamerica]]
[[Category:Agriculture in Mexico]]
[[Category:Gardens in Mexico]]
[[Category:Aztec society]]
[[Category:Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems]]
[[Category:Artificial islands]]
[[Category:Land reclamation]]