Xochimilco is one of Mexico's most magnificent cities. In the Aztec's Náhuatl language, the name Xochimilco means "garden of flowers." The name describes the city perfectly because its streets and rooftop gardens are lined with flowers. Today, Xochimilco is a major tourist attraction, but sometime between the 8th and 10th century it was the agricultural hub of the Aztec city, Tenochtitlan. Today, as in centuries past, canals surround raised agricultural fields (camellones) in a network called the chinampa system. The chinampas were crucial to the city of Xochimilco, because they served as a productive means of efficient agricultural production.

Xochimilco was built on the ancient Aztec city of Tenochtitlan. The size of the city was enormous during the 1500s. The city alone was inhabited by over 200,000 people; it is estimated that about one million people lived in the entire valley. A Spanish writer, Bernal Diaz del...