Islands in the Lake
Environment and Ethnohistory in Xochimilco, New Spain

Thanks to creative uses of the environment, Xochimilco's residents preserved their culture and society in the face of colonial disruption.

Richard M. Conway (Author)

9781316518892, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 14 October 2021

337 pages
23.6 x 15.9 x 3.2 cm, 0.761 kg

'An original study combining environmental history and ethnohistory, Islands in the Lake is a major contribution to colonial Mexican history.' Susan Kellogg, Hispanic American Historical Review

Now notorious for its aridity and air pollution, Mexico City was once part of a flourishing lake environment. In nearby Xochimilco, Native Americans modified the lakes to fashion a distinctive and remarkably abundant aquatic society, one that provided a degree of ecological autonomy for local residents, enabling them to protect their communities' integrity, maintain their way of life, and preserve many aspects of their cultural heritage. While the area's ecology allowed for a wide array of socioeconomic and cultural continuities during colonial rule, demographic change came to affect the ecological basis of the lakes; pastoralism and new ways of using and modifying the lakes began to make a mark on the watery landscape and on the surrounding communities. In this fascinating study, Conway explores Xochimilco using native-language documents, which serve as a hallmark of this continuity and a means to trace patterns of change.

Introduction
1. Ecological and Political Landscapes
2. Land
3. Canoes and Commerce
4. Demography and Society
5. Crisis in the Seventeenth Century
6. Late-Colonial Watersheds
7. Nahuatl Sources from Xochimilco
Conclusion
Glossary
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Social & cultural history [HBTB], History of the Americas [HBJK]