WHI-Chap6/21-obj4

The people of Mesoamerica cultivated many crops, but maize became a staple crop in most of the area's major societies. The Olmecs produced beans, chili peppers, avocados, squashes, gourds, and later on they also began to produce potatoes. The Maya created terraces that trapped silt from the surrounding rivers to harvest maize, cotton, and cacao beans. The cotton was woven into fine textiles while the cacao beans were the source of chocolate. The city of Teotihuacan produced many crops. Their agricultural process was very different from most other societies in Mesoamerica. Their cultivators lived within the city and went out to the fields to produce crops. In contrast, all other Mesoamerican societies lived by the fields they worked in and went in to their respective cultural centers for religious ceremonies and other things. The Aztecs used chinampas to cultivate maize, beans, squashes, tomatoes, peppers, and chiles. Chinampas were "islands" that were formed using mud from the bottom of Lake Texcoco. The islands were very fertile, cultivators sometimes harvested seven crops a year. Mesoamerians did not used animal energy, but rather cultivated all the crops themselves using man labor.

Maize was a staple crop of Mesoamerica.

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