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Chapter 02 of 5

Tenochtitlan: The Amphibious City

How chinampas and dikes turned Lake Texcoco into a food machine.

  1. Strategic Logic

    Island of Power

    The Aztecs settled on a marshy island in Lake Texcoco, turning a defensive weakness into an impregnable fortress.

  2. Innovation

    The Chinampa System

    To feed a growing population, they created 'floating gardens' by layering mud and vegetation into rectangular plots.

  3. Mechanism

    Fixed Foundations

    Though called floating, chinampas were actually anchored to the lakebed by planting willow trees at their corners.

17 more cards in this chapter

Could you answer this?

What was the primary purpose of the 16-kilometer Nezahualcoyotl dike?

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🛶 A City Built on Mud

  1. 01The Basin of AnáhuacExplore the unique endorheic lake system at 2,240 meters high.
  2. 02Tenochtitlan: The Amphibious CityHow chinampas and dikes turned Lake Texcoco into a food machine.
  3. 03The Great Drain (El Desagüe)The catastrophic shift from living with water to fighting it.
  4. 04The Sinking MegacityThe geography of subsidence and the collapse of the clay foundation.
  5. 05The Thirsty ParadoxSurrounded by water legacy, yet starving for a drop to drink.