Herna'n Cortes and his conquistadors caught their first glimpse of the Aztec capital of Tenochtitla'n in November1519. As they looked down from the mountains, the city appeared to float on the surface of a vast, shimmering lake. The Spaniards thought they had found anothervenice, fiotrealisingthat much of what they saw was reclaimed land. The Aztecs had created a labyrinth of islands in the lake with the help of their own sewage. These fertile mounds supported one of the most productive agricultural systems the world has ever seen - but Cortes took scant notice of that. Horrified by the ritual of human sacrifice, he captured and destroyed Tenochtitla'n with great energy, and initiated the building of Mexico City on its ruins. Since then, one area of the original lake has resisted centuries of drainage. The floating gardens of Xochimilco are a reminder of Aztec ingenuity, and an ancient practice that might solve some of the modern city's sanitation problems.
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