Maize Cultivation in Mesoamerica

Timeline

1. 1451–1453Chinampa zone of Lake Texcoco · Mexican PlateauThe chinampa network around Lake Texcoco reached its historical peak under direct Aztec noble management and community cooperation; the Three Sisters intercropping of maize, beans, and squash fully exploited the fertility of chinampa silt, yielding extremely high output per unit area, with the grain flowing as tribute into Tenochtitlan's state granaries (the calpulli storage system), supporting the imperial army and the temple priesthood.
2. 1454–1455Central Highlands · Mexican PlateauSuccessive frosts and droughts caused widespread maize crop failure; Aztec chronicles record large numbers of commoners dying or being sold into slavery. The famine exposed the vulnerability of over-reliance on the lake-zone chinampas, after which the ruler Moctezuma I forcibly implemented a grain reserve system, requiring each vassal city-state to regularly deliver grain to fill strategic stores, thereby establishing a standardized maize tribute system.
3. 1456–1460Gulf of Mexico coast and Oaxaca region · Southern MexicoThe Aztec Empire expanded southward to Oaxaca, the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, and the Gulf of Mexico lowlands, bringing heat-tolerant lowland tropical maize strains and highland strains into the tribute circulation system; maize strains from different altitudes and climate zones converged in Tenochtitlan through trade markets (tianquiztli) and channels of military conquest, forming a de facto multi-strain germplasm repository and enhancing the overall climate-adaptation resilience of agriculture.