Table of Contents
Typical Aztec crops included maize (corn), along with beans, squashes, potatoes, tomatoes and avocados; they also supported themselves through fishing and hunting local animals such as rabbits, armadillos, snakes, coyotes and wild turkey.
What was the main crop that the Aztecs grew?
Once the floating island was secure and useable, the Aztecs used it to plant their principal crop: corn. They also grew various vegetables (such as avocados, beans, chili peppers, squash, and tomatoes), and sometimes—even flowers.
What did the Aztecs grow in their gardens?
The gardens were used to grow chili peppers, corn, tomatoes, beans, and squash. It was somewhat difficult to harvest the food since the gardens were floating in marsh water. To solve this, Aztec engineers built mud and stone walls around each floating garden.
Did the Aztecs grow rice?
The most important staple was corn (maize), a crop that was so important to Aztec society that it played a central part in their mythology. Just like wheat in much of Europe or rice in most of East Asia, it was the food without which a meal was not a meal.
What types of plants and animals did the Aztecs raise?
The Aztec diet was dominated by fruit and vegetables, as domesticated animals were limited to dogs, turkeys (totolin), ducks, and honey bees. Game (especially rabbits, deer and wild pigs), fish, birds, salamanders, algae (used to make cakes), frogs, tadpoles and insects were also a valuable food source.
How did the Aztec grow food?
To grow all this food, the Aztecs used two main farming methods: the chinampas and terracing. Chinampas were essentially man-made islands, raised bed gardens on the surface of Lake Texcoco’s shallow waters. To use the hilly land for farming, the Aztecs terraced the hills by cutting into them.
What is Aztec agriculture famous for?
The Aztecs are known for their agricultural ingenuity of ‘chinampas’ or floating gardens. Tenochtitlan also had causways, dikes, and canals that were also built by the Aztecs.
How did the Aztecs develop?
The Aztecs built alliances, or partnerships, to build their empire. The Aztecs made the people they conquered pay tribute, or give them cotton, gold, or food. The Aztecs controlled a huge trade network. Markets drew buyers and sellers from all over the Aztec Empire.
What were the achievements of the Aztecs?
Their engineering achievements include the construction of a double aqueduct, a massive dike, causeways and artificial islands. Among other things, the Aztecs had a number system, a calendar, great knowledge of medicine and a rich tradition in poetry.
What did the Aztecs eat?
While the Aztecs ruled, they farmed large areas of land. Staples of their diet were maize, beans and squash. To these, they added chilies and tomatoes. They also harvested Acocils, an abundant crayfish-like creature found in Lake Texcoco, as well as Spirulina algae which they made into cakes.
Did Aztecs eat dogs?
Yes, the Aztecs ate dogs. In fact, they raised the animals mostly for food.
Did Aztecs eat humans?
The Aztecs sacrificed human beings atop their sacred pyramids not simply for religious reasons but because they had to eat people to obtain protein needed in their diet, a New York anthropologist has suggested.
Did the Aztecs drink alcohol?
The liquor with which the Aztecs were acquainted was called octli (sometimes identified as pulque), and it was obtained by fermenting the sap of the maguey. Even though the Aztecs greatly restricted the use of alcohol, they frequently gambled.
How did the Aztecs use plants to gather food?
The system enabled fresh produce to be supplied to the city even during the region’s long dry season, whereas food availability from rain-fed agriculture was highly seasonal. The planting platforms or chinampas were built by hand, with alternate layers of mud, silt and vegetation piled onto a mesh of reeds or branches.
What animals did some Aztec families raise?
Aztec farmers raised turkeys, dogs and duck for meat and eggs, but they also hunted and fished, which brought deer, iguana, rabbit, fish and shrimp to the table. Insects such as grasshoppers were easily harvested and eaten as well.
How did the Aztecs make floating gardens?
Chinampas were invented by the Aztec civilization. Sometimes referred to as “floating gardens,” chinampas are artificial islands that were created by interweaving reeds with stakes beneath the lake’s surface, creating underwater fences.
How did the Aztec economy grow without money?
The Aztec economy was based on three things: agricultural goods, tribute, and trade. Aztec trade was crucially important to the empire; there could be no empire without it as many goods used by the Aztecs were not produced locally.
What crops did the Aztecs grow on chinampas?
The chinampa were companion-planted (the planting of different crops in proximity for pest control, pollination, providing habitat for beneficial creatures, maximizing use of space, and to otherwise increase crop productivity) with corn, beans, squash, tomatoes, peppers, and flowers, and these incredible gardens Feb 2, 2018.
What did the Aztecs use water for?
The Aztecs built an expansive system of aqueducts that supplied water for irrigation and bathing.
Why was the Aztec Empire so successful?
Their relatively sophisticated system of agriculture (including intensive cultivation of land and irrigation methods) and a powerful military tradition would enable the Aztecs to build a successful state, and later an empire.
What did the Aztecs use to build their temples?
Aztec Architecture Each building and temple was built hand-by-hand and stone-by-stone. The masterpieces were the pyramid temples that had double staircases facing the sun on the west.
How did the Aztecs adapt to their environment?
They adapted to their environment. They built canoes so they could hunt and fish. They created medicines from the many plants they found in the area. They created floating gardens for more places to grow food.
