Aztec Farming

FARMERS
At least 1 million people lived in the Valley of Mexico in the early
1500’s. All of them needed regular supplies of food, so growing
crops was a vital task.
▼ The Florentine Codex,
made by both Aztec and
Spanish authors in the mid-
1500’s, shows an Aztec farmer
using a long digging stick with
a blade at the end. The Aztec
used this tool to plant and
cultivate their garden plots.
Most Aztec farmers had only small plots of land. They used different
farming methods in different areas. On the steep slopes of the mountains,
the soil was easily washed away by rain. On these slopes, the farmers built
terraces (TEHR ihs ehz), small stone walls to
keep the soil in place. In the lowlands, there was
not enough rain for plants to grow, so farmers
dug long ditches to bring water from the rivers.
Crops from the Chinampas
The Aztec even grew crops on the shallow
lakes and swamps. To do this, they created
artificial islands called chinampas (chee
NAHM pahs). First they scraped up mud
from the lake bottom and piled it into
mounds mixed with reeds. Then they drove
in wooden posts or planted willow trees to
hold the edges of the island.
With water readily available, the chinampas
produced large amounts of vegetables,
fruits, and flowers. They could improve the
soil by adding more lake mud, which was
very fertile. Or they fertilized the soil with
water plants that were rich in nitrogen
(NY truh juhn)—a chemical that most
plants need to grow.
Working the Land
Aztec farmers had no plows or carts,
and they used very simple tools.
They did most of their work with a
long digging stick, which had a blade
at the end. With this tool, they dug in
the soil and scraped over the soil to
clear weeds.

F A R M E R S 21
▲ The Codex Fejervary-Mayer, painted on deerskin before the 1521
conquest, illustrates the effects of weather on the Aztec’s corn crop over
a two-year period. In the first year (top right), a goddess pours rain
down over a healthy plant. In the second year (top left), the plant
withers during a drought. The Aztec believed that a single god, Tlaloc
(TLAH lohk), was responsible for both plentiful rain and drought.
Beans, corn, squash, sweet potatoes, and tomatoes were the
main crops grown by the Aztec. On the drier lowlands,
farmers grew cotton, cactus, and maguey (MAG way or mah
GAY), a term for certain types of agave (uh GAH vee) plants.
Maguey was a very useful plant. The Aztec made cloth from
the leaves, sewing needles from the sharp spines, and
medicines and an alcoholic drink from the juice.
WHERE WERE THE ANIMALS?
During the time that the Aztec
ruled, there were no horses,
cattle, hogs, or sheep in the
Western Hemisphere. They
arrived with the Europeans.
Therefore, the Aztec had no
milk or wool and no draft
animals, that is, strong animals
used to pull plows or carry
heavy loads. Livestock on
Aztec farms was primarily
turkeys, ducks, and rabbits.