Chinampas: Their Role in Aztec Empire, Building and Expansion

The volume describes the Chinampa Agricultural System, its history and its role in Aztec empire-building. It contains chapters on the history of Aztecs and the Valley of Mexico, and concludes that the Chinampa Agricultural System, employed by Aztecs as the main form of agricultural system, is one of the most important variables in settlement of the nomadic Aztec tribes, expansion of the tribes, the Aztec state formation, and ultimately in Aztec empire-building and its expansion. Several relevant and rich scholarly sources have been identified, through which inferences have been made using specific evidence, and inductive and deductive reasoning. The inferences made through these sources suggest the viability of the hypothesis that the Chinampa Agricultural System was one of the most important elements in the Aztec empire-building process.