Canal sights in Mexico City
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Canals
Xochimilco (Náhuatl for 'Place where Flowers Grow') was an early target of Aztec hegemony, probably due to its inhabitants' farming skills. The Xochimilcas piled up vegetation and mud in the shallow waters of Lake Xochimilco, a southern offshoot of Lago de Texcoco, to make fertile gardens called chinampas, which later became an economic base of the Aztec empire. As the chinampas proliferated, much of the lake was transformed into a series of canals.
Approximately 180km of these waterways remain today and provide a favorite weekend destination for defeños. The chinampas are still under cultivation, mainly for garden plants and flowers such as poinsettias and marigolds. O…
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