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Chinampa
Chinampa ( ) 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. This method was also used and occupied most of Lake Xochimilco. The United Nations designated it a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System in 2018. 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 th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Xochimilco
Xochimilco (; ) is a borough () of Mexico City. The borough is centered on the formerly independent city of Xochimilco, which was established on what was the southern shore of Lake Xochimilco in the precolonial period. Today, the borough consists of the 18 , or neighborhoods, of this city along with 14 , or villages, that surround it, covering an area of . The borough is in the southeastern part of the city and has an identity that is separate from the historic center of Mexico City, due to its historic separation from that city during most of its history. Xochimilco is best known for its canals, which are left from what was an extensive lake and canal system that connected most of the settlements of the Valley of Mexico. These canals, along with artificial islands called chinampas, attract tourists and other city residents to ride on colorful gondola-like boats called around the of canals. This canal and chinampa system, as a vestige of the area's precolonial past, has mad ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lake Chalco
Lake Chalco was an endorheic lake formerly located in the Valley of Mexico, and was important for Mesoamerican cultural development in central Mexico. The lake was named after the ancient city of Chalco on its former eastern shore. Lake Chalco and Lake Xochimilco were the original habitat of the axolotl, an amphibian that is critically endangered due to urban destruction. Geography Lake Chalco and the other Mexican great lakes (the brackish lakes Texcoco, Zumpango and Xaltocan and the freshwater Xochimilco) formed the ancient Basin of Mexico lake system. These lakes were home to many Mesoamerican cultures including the Toltecs and the Aztecs. Lake Chalco itself had a fresh water hydrologic structure due in large part to the artesian springs lining its south shore. This allowed extensive beds to be cultivated through the Aztec era. After the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, these beds fell into disuse and were largely abandoned. History The shoreline of the L ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lake Xochimilco
Lake Xochimilco (; , ) is an ancient endorheic lake, located in the present-day Borough of Xochimilco in southern Mexico City. It is the last remaining habitat of the axolotl. The lake is within the Valley of Mexico hydrological basin, in central Mexico. History Geologic Lake Xochimilco is part of a series of historical lakes, which included: :# Lake Texcoco — ''brackish'' :# Lake Zumpango :# Lake Xaltocan :# Lake Chalco — ''fresh water'' Lake Xochimilco was originally a part of an even larger lake, Lake Texcoco, during the last glacial period. Between 12,000 and 6,000 years ago, the climate in central Mexico warmed and the snowmelt that once fed Lake Texcoco virtually disappeared. This caused the lake to drop hundreds of feet over next several thousand years. By 2,000 years ago Xochimilco became a bay in the southern portion of Texcoco. Then around the 13th or 14th century the Aztecs built large causeways effectively creating a new lake. Mesoamerican These lakes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Night Soil
Night soil is a historical euphemism for Human waste, human excreta collected from cesspit, cesspools, privies, pail closets, pit latrines, privy middens, septic tanks, etc. This material was removed from the immediate area, usually at night, by workers employed in this trade. Sometimes it could be transported out of towns and sold on as a fertilizer. Another definition is "untreated excreta transported without water (e.g. via containers or buckets)". Night soil was produced as a result of a sanitation system in areas without Sewerage, sewer systems or septic tanks. In this system of waste management, human feces are collected without dilution in water. Night soil is largely an archaism, outdated term used in historical contexts, while fecal sludge management remains an ongoing challenge, particularly in developing countries. Collection and disposal Feces were excreted into a container such as a chamber pot, and sometimes collected in the container with urine and other waste ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Colhuacan (altepetl)
Culhuacan ( ) was one of the Nahuatl-speaking pre-Columbian city-states of the Valley of Mexico. According to tradition, Culhuacan was founded by the Toltecs under Mixcoatl and was the first Toltec city. The Nahuatl speakers agreed that Culhuacán was the first city to give its rulers the title of "speaker" (''tlatoani''). In the sixteenth century following the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, Culhuacan was incorporated into colonial New Spain and called a ''pueblo'', but in local-level documentation in Nahuatl, residents continued to use the designation altepetl for their settlement. History Culhuacan was perhaps the first of the chinampa towns founded on the shores of Lake Xochimilco, with chinampas dating to 1100 C.E. From written records there is evidence that Culhuacan survived the fall of Tollan and maintained its prestige until the mid-14th century. According to the ''Crónica Mexicayotl'', transcribed in 1609, in 1299, Culhuacan's ''tlatoani'', Coxcoxtli, helped th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mesoamerican Chronology
Mesoamerican chronology divides the history of pre-Columbian, prehispanic Mesoamerica into several periods: the Paleo-Indian (first human habitation until 3500 BCE); the Archaic (before 2600 BCE), the Preclassic or Formative (2500 BCE – 250 CE), the Classic (250–900 CE), and the Postclassic (); as well as the post European contact Colonial Period (1521–1821), and Postcolonial, or the period after independence from Spain (1821–present). The periodisation of Mesoamerica by researchers is based on archaeological, ethnohistorical, and modern cultural anthropology research dating to the early twentieth century. Archaeologists, ethnohistorians, historians, and cultural anthropologists continue to work to develop cultural histories of the region. Overview Paleo-Indian period 18000–8000 BCE The Paleo-Indian (less frequently, ''Lithic stage, Lithic'') period or era is that which spans from the first signs of human presence in the region, which ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Taxodium Mucronatum
''Taxodium mucronatum'', commonly known as Montezuma bald cypress, Montezuma cypress, or ahuehuete, is a species of ''Taxodium'' that is primarily native to Mexico and Guatemala, with a few populations in the southwestern United States. Ahuehuete is derived from the Nahuatl name for the tree, ''āhuēhuētl'', which means "upright drum in water" or "old man of the water." Description It is a large evergreen or semi-evergreen tree growing to tall and with a trunk of diameter (occasionally much more; see below). The leaves are spirally arranged but twisted at the base to lie in two horizontal ranks, long and broad. The cones are ovoid, long and broad. Unlike bald cypress and pond cypress, Montezuma cypress rarely produces cypress knees from the roots. Trees from the Mexican highlands achieve a notable stoutness. One specimen, the Árbol del Tule in Santa María del Tule, Oaxaca, Mexico, is the stoutest tree in the world with a diameter of . Several other specimens fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Valley Of Mexico
The Valley of Mexico (; ), sometimes also called Basin of Mexico, is a highlands plateau in central Mexico. Surrounded by mountains and volcanoes, the Valley of Mexico was a centre for several pre-Columbian civilizations including Teotihuacan, the Toltec, and the Aztec Empire. The valley used to contain five interconnected lakes called Lake Zumpango, Lake Xaltocan (), Lake Xochimilco, Lake Chalco and the largest, Lake Texcoco, covering about of the valley floor. When the Spaniards arrived in the Valley of Mexico, it had one of the highest population concentrations in the world with about one million people. After the conquest of the Aztec Empire, the Spaniards rebuilt the largest and most dominant city, Mēxihco Tenōchtitlan, renaming it ''Ciudad de México'' (Mexico City) and over time began to drain the lakes' waters to control flooding. The Valley of Mexico is located in the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt. The valley contains most of the Mexico City metropolitan area, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Post-classical History
In Human history, world history, post-classical history refers to the period from about 500 CE to 1500 CE, roughly corresponding to the European Middle Ages. The period is characterized by the expansion of civilizations geographically and the development of trade networks between civilizations.The Post‐Classical Era by Joel Hermansen This period is also called the medieval era, post-antiquity era, post-ancient era, pre-modernity era, or pre-modern era. In Asia, the spread of Islam created a series of caliphates and inaugurated the Islamic Golden Age, leading to advances in science in the medieval Islamic world and trade among the Asian, African, and European continents. East Asia experienced the full establishment of the power of History of China#Imp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) leads the programme Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS), which helps identify ways to mitigate threats faced by these systems and their people and enhance the benefits derived from these dynamic systems. Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems recognize remarkable land use systems and landscapes full of life and biodiversity, resilient ecosystems, and valuable cultural heritages managed by farmers, herders, fisherfolk, and forest people. Communities that have preserved and developed complex, diverse, and locally adapted agricultural systems that nowadays provide sustainably many goods and services, food, and livelihood security for millions of people around the world. As of November 2023, the GIAHS Programme has awarded the designation to 86 sites in 26 countries, with 10 additional proposals in queue. List of UN-designated Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems }, Guanho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tenochtitlan
, also known as Mexico-Tenochtitlan, was a large Mexican in what is now the historic center of Mexico City. The exact date of the founding of the city is unclear, but the date 13 March 1325 was chosen in 1925 to celebrate the 600th anniversary of the city. The city was built on an island in what was then Lake Texcoco in the Valley of Mexico. The city was the capital of the expanding Aztec Empire in the 15th century until it was Fall of Tenochtitlan, captured by the Tlaxcaltec and the Spanish in 1521. At its peak, it was the largest city-state, city in the pre-Columbian Americas. It subsequently became a ''Municipalities of Mexico, cabecera'' of the Viceroyalty of New Spain. Today, the ruins of are in the historic center of the Mexican capital. The World Heritage Site of contains what remains of the geography (water, boats, Chinampa, floating gardens) of the Mexica capital. was one of two Mexica (city-states or Polity, polities) on the island, the other being . Etymol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Agriculture
Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to live in the cities. While humans started gathering grains at least 105,000 years ago, nascent farmers only began planting them around 11,500 years ago. Sheep, goats, pigs, and cattle were domesticated around 10,000 years ago. Plants were independently cultivated in at least 11 regions of the world. In the 20th century, industrial agriculture based on large-scale monocultures came to dominate agricultural output. , small farms produce about one-third of the world's food, but large farms are prevalent. The largest 1% of farms in the world are greater than and operate more than 70% of the world's farmland. Nearly 40% of agricultural land is found on farms larger than . However, five of every six farm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
