Inside Mexico City’s Museo Nacional de Antropología, Luis Covarrubias’ painting Gran Tenochtitlan en 1519 shows the city of Tenochtitlan, situated in what is now the center of Mexico City, at the height of Aztec rule. The artwork shows what appears to be a compact, bustling city lost within the blue water of Lake Texcoco. For those familiar with the vastness of the DFs streets, the idea that it was once limited to a few small islands completely surrounded by water seems surreal. However, how the Aztecs were able to expand food production by building farmland, called chinampas, Mexico City’s famed floating gardens, might be even harder to fathom.
Created by piling up the rich soil from the lakebed and aquatic vegetation, the chinampas were connected by causeways, many of which have become streets in the modern city. Bit by bit, as the city ran out of the room and radiated outward, more of the ancient lake bed was built over. Eventually little of it remained. During the Spanish Conquest of Mexico dams were destroyed and many farms were abandoned, yet some, such as the chinampas of Xochimilco, have been preserved.