Lake Xochimilco

Lake Xochimilco is an ancient endorheic lake, located in the present-day Borough of Xochimilco in southern México City.

The lake is within the Valley of Mexico hydrological basin, in central México.

Lake Xochimilco is part of a series of historical lakes, which included:

These lakes were the home of many Mesoamerican cultures, including the Teotihuacanos, the Toltecs, and the Aztecs.

Due to its shallow waters and the freshwater springs that lined the south shore of the lake, Lake Xochimilco was the center of Chinampa agriculture in the centuries of the pre-Columbian era. This made the region a prime target for the expansionist Aztecs, who obtained control over the lake in a series of campaigns, from circa 1432 until 1440, during the reign of the Aztec Hueyi Tlatoani, Itzcóatl.

After the Spanish conquest of Mexico in 1521, the Spaniards' destruction of the dams and sluice gates in the 1520s, as well as the sharp declines in the native population, led to the near abandonment of the Chinampa gardens.

The five lakes within the Valley of Mexico have now largely disappeared, drained to reduce flooding. Only the Xochimilco canals remain from the original Lake Xochimilco. Even today, some chinamperos still work their chinampa gardens between the canals.

Xochimilco Lake remnamts are part of large urban parks in Mexico City, with water-based and land recreation. Colourful trajineras (rafts) take groups of people on the remaining canals for pleasure.

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