Word Origin & History. environment c.1600, state of being environed (see environs); sense of nature, conditions in which a person or thing lives first recorded 1827 (used by Carlyle to render Ger. Umgebung); specialized ecology sense first recorded 1956.
Chinampa (Nahuatl: chinÄmitl [tÊiËnaËmitÉ¬]) is a method of Mesoamerican agriculture which used small, rectangular areas of fertile arable land to grow crops on the shallow lake beds in the Valley of Mexico.urther reading [edit]. 1  Blanton, Richard. 2  Calnek, Edward E., Settlement Pattern and Chinampa Agriculture, American Antiquity 1972, 37(104-15). 3  Chapin, Mac. 4  Cline, S.L., Colonial Culhuacan, 1580-1600: A Social History of an Aztec Town. 5  Parsons, Jeffrey R. The Role of Chinampa Agriculture in the Food Supply of Aztec Tenochtitlan, in Cultural ...
Some scholars estimate that the Mexica could have grown over 50 species of crops on each chinampa, including maize, beans, squash, tomatoes, and chili peppers. The diversity of crops, as well as continual irrigation provided by the lake, meant that the soil lasted longer. Whereas most agricultural systems had one harvest per crop each year, each chinampa could have up to three harvests every year. That is a very efficient system.