Chinampa (Nahuatl: chināmitl [tʃi'naːmitɬ] ( listen)) is 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. Sometimes
referred to as "floating gardens," chinampas were artificial
islands that usually measured roughly 98 ft × 8.2 ft (30 m × 2.5
m). Chinampas were used by the ancient Aztec Indians. In
Tenochtitlan, the chinampas ranged from 300 ft × 15 ft (91 m ×
4.6 m) to 300 ft × 30 ft (91 m × 9.1 m) 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 āhuexōtl
[aː'weːʃoːt͡ɬ] (Salix bonplandiana) (a willow) and āhuēhuētl
[aː'weːweːt͡ɬ] (Taxodium mucronatum) (a cypress) were planted at
the corners to secure the chinampa. Chinampas were separated by
channels wide enough for a canoe to pas