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Tenochtitlán

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Michelle Sandberg
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« on: July 30, 2007, 03:04:50 pm »


Tenochtitlán, looking east. From the mural painting at the National Museum of Anthropology, Mexico City. Painted in 1930 by Dr. Atl.
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Michelle Sandberg
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« Reply #1 on: July 30, 2007, 03:05:43 pm »

The capital city of the Aztec empire was Tenochtitlan, now the site of modern-day Mexico City. Built on a series of islets in Lake Texcoco, the city plan was based on a symmetrical layout that was divided into four city sections called campans. The city was interlaced with canals which were useful for transportation.

Tenochtitlan was built according to a fixed plan and centered on the ritual precinct, where the Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan rose 60 m above the city. Houses were made of wood and loam, roofs were made of reed, although pyramids, temples and palaces were generally made of stone.

Around the island, chinampa beds were used to grow foodstuffs as well as, over time, to increase the size of the island. Chinampas, misnamed "floating gardens", were long raised plant beds set upon the shallow lake bottom. They were a very efficient agricultural system and could provide up to seven crops a year. On the basis of current chinampa yields, it has been estimated that 1 hectare of chinampa would feed 20 individuals and 9,000 hectares of chinampas could feed 180,000.

Anthropologist Eduardo Noguera estimates the population at 200,000 based in the house count and merging the population of Tlatelolco (once an independent city, but later became a suburb of Tenochtitlan). If one includes the surrounding islets and shores surrounding Lake Texcoco, estimates range from 300,000 to 700,000 inhabitants
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Michelle Sandberg
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« Reply #2 on: July 30, 2007, 03:06:53 pm »



 
Lake Texcoco, detail from 1847 Bruff/Disturnell map.
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Michelle Sandberg
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« Reply #3 on: July 30, 2007, 03:08:57 pm »

The Great Pyramid or Templo Mayor was the main temple of the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan (modern Mexico City). The temple rose 60 m (197 ft) above the city's ritual precinct, surmounted by dual shrines to the deities Huitzilopochtli (god of war and sun) and Tlaloc (god of rain and fertility).

It was mostly destroyed in 1521 after the conquest of the Aztec empire by the Spanish conquistadores under the leadership of Hernán Cortés. Remains of the lower portions of the temple complex have been discovered by modern archaeologists buried under a portion of modern Mexico City.

Numerous smaller buildings and platforms associated with the temple formed a closely-situated complex around its base. A stucco relief depicting a tzompantli, or "skull rack", decorated one platform leading to the temple.

The temple was enlarged several times, and for the last time in 1487, when between 3,000 and 84,000 people were sacrificed over 4 days during its reconsecration.

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Michelle Sandberg
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« Reply #4 on: July 30, 2007, 03:10:39 pm »



An illustration of the Templo Mayor's possible original appearance
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Michelle Sandberg
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« Reply #5 on: July 30, 2007, 03:12:20 pm »



The nested remains of successive phases of construction.
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Michelle Sandberg
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« Reply #6 on: July 30, 2007, 03:13:20 pm »



An illustration of the Templo Mayor's possible original appearance
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Michelle Sandberg
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« Reply #7 on: July 30, 2007, 03:14:07 pm »

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Michelle Sandberg
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« Reply #8 on: July 30, 2007, 03:15:18 pm »

Chinampa is a term describing a method of ancient Mesoamerican agriculture which used small, rectangle-shaped areas of fertile arable land to grow crops on the shallow lake beds in the Valley of Mexico.

Often referred to, as "floating gardens", chinampas were stationary artificial islands that usually measured roughly 30 by 2˝ meters, although they were sometimes longer. They were created by staking out the shallow lake bed and then fencing in the rectangle with 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 willows were planted at the corners to secure the chinampa. Chinampas were separated by channels wide enough for a canoe to pass.

The earliest fields that have been securely dated are from the Middle Postclassic period, 1150 – 1350 CE. Chinampas were used primarily in Lakes Xochimilco and Chalco near the springs that lined the south shore of those lakes. 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.  Chinampa farms also ringed Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital, which was considerably enlarged over time due to the use of chinampas. 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 gates during the Spanish conquest of Mexico, many chinampas fields were abandoned, although remnants are still in use today in what remains of Lake Xochimilco.

The primary chinampas crops were maize, beans, squash, amaranth, tomatoes, and chilies, although chinampas were also used to grow flowers. It is estimated that food provided by chinampas made up one-half to two-thirds of the food consumed by the city of Tenochtitlán. Chinampas were fertilized using lake sediments as well as human excrement.

The word chinampa comes from the Nahuatl language word chinamitl, meaning "square made of canes".

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Michelle Sandberg
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« Reply #9 on: July 30, 2007, 03:16:34 pm »



Modern chinampas
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« Reply #10 on: July 30, 2007, 03:17:53 pm »



The lake system within the Valley of Mexico at the time of the Spanish Conquest, showing distribution of the chinampas.
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