Preservation, Rehabilitation, and Management of Heritage Wetlands in Mexico - Restorative Redevelopment of Devastated Ecocultural Landscapes - page 176

FIGURE 11.14 Biodiversity dioramas inside the visitor center.

Mayan codices show people heading out on boats into the chinampas. Estimates
suggest that at one time there were over a hundred thousand watercraft plying the
shallow lake and wetlands.
Because chinampas allowed for three crops to be grown per year with no
need for irrigation, they could support the large population of the Central Valley
and were really one of the most intensive and productive farming systems ever
devised. Therefore, whereas Mesopotamians had to rely upon irrigation (which
they invented) for producing their crops grown on dryland amidst the wetlands,
the ancient Mesoamericans did them one better by actually farming right inside
their wetlands.