Did the Aztecs have primitive farming techniques?

Answer 1

Farming was the main activity in Aztec life, and as the land that the Aztecs inhabited was not very fertile, they had to resort to irrigation, fertilizers, and constructing terraces into hills in order to create flat land. As a lot of the land was swampy, they also came up with a method of creating "floating" gardens, called chinampas.

To create chinampas, canals were dug through the marshes and swamps, and alternating layers of weeds, muck and earth were piled into rectangular cane frames between the canals. Trees were then planted on the corners, which secured the chinampa once they had taked root. So the chinampas were not actually floating, but would appear to be doing so. They made very effective use of the space available to them. Corn, avocados, beans, chili peppers, squash, and tomatoes were among the vegetables that could be planted on the chinampas.

In the area of Xochimilco, the chinampas are still in use. The area was first used by the Aztecs for chinampa farming after they conquered it from the previous inhabitants, seven Nahua tribes, who themselves moved into the area between the eighth and tenth centuries AD.