The Chinampa: An Ancient Mexican Sub-Irrigation System

Abstract

The Chinampa is an agro-hydrological system practised for many generations, built over shallow lacustrine wetland areas near Mexico City. It was developed by the Aztecs, a pre-Hispanic culture who settled around the lake in the old Tenochtitlan, ancient capital of the Mexican empire. The Chinampa design takes advantage of local environmental and soil conditions. Nowadays, some are still used by local producers and it is one of the few pre-Hispanic irrigation structures that have been preserved and that operate as originally designed, with increasing value, because of its sustainability. The Chinampa consists of several layers of vegetation and sludge to produce an organic soil 50 cm above the water level for agricultural use in wetlands. These rectangular plots, surrounded by water, are 5–10 m wide by 50–100 m long. When a significant number of Chinampas are built, they make a network of canals among Chinampas, and broader canals provide navigation routes. The Chinampa is secured on the edges by trees whose roots hold the soil. These agricultural structures have provided many benefits for the inhabitants in the water system of the area, not only productive, but also economic, environmental, cultural and social. In December 1984, the Chinampa system in the Valley of Mexico was declared to be Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO; in 1992, the Mexican government declared the zone a ‘Natural Protected Area’; and in 2004, the wetlands that support the Chinampa were also declared a RAMSAR site. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.