Texcoco and the lake to the south contained fresh water. but the northern lakes contained salt water. which was no good for irrigation. The Aztecs built an embankment 10 miles long to keep out the salt water and also to protect the city from flooding.
Feeding the people
archaeologists think that when Tenochtitlan was at its greatest. about one million people lived in the Valley of Mexico. That included Tenochtitlan and the 50 or 60 city-states on the mainland surrounding the lakes. Food for all these people had to come from farming
Historians are not sure how many people in Tenochtitlan were farmers. but they think it may have been between one third and one half of the population. The rest were the nobility, craftspeople, and others. Each chinampa was only big enough to grow food for one family. Most people in Tenochtitlan depended on food from outside the city.
As the city grew, more and more land was drained for farming and for building. Farmers had no tools except simple hoes and digging sticks, but the loose soil was fertile and easy to turn. The main crop was corn. but farmers also grew tomatoes, beans, chili peppers, and prickly pears. They grew maguey cactus for its fibers and to make a drink called pulque. Cacao trees were grown in the hottest areas. The seeds were used for trading and to make a chocolate drink.
Inside an Aztec Home
There were big differences between a rich Aztec home and a poor one. The nobles houses were like palaces. They were one story high and built around a courtyard. Each of the four side contained four or five large fooms. The courtyards were planted with flower and vegetable gardens. Some houses on the island in the center of the city were built of adobe-bricks made from mud and dried in the sun. Adobe is still used for building in Mexico today. These grad houses and places were whitewashed so that they shone in the sun. The Spanish soldier Bernal diaz described buildings that looked like" gleaming white towers and clastles : marvelous sight.