The Agriculture of Mesoamerica

Mesoamerica comprises most of the lower region of Mexico and upper Central America. It consists of a broad range of ecological environments, from deserts, grasslands, and coniferous forests of the northern and central highlands to the dense tropical jungles and savannahs of the lowlands. Much of its ecological diversity is due to great changes in altitude, which can vary from sea level to nearly 6,000 feet within a few hundred miles. The regions profound differences in …

…to shift from hunting and gathering to agriculture and sedentary life. Agriculture permits a society to increase in population, but with population on the rise, it creates a demand for more intensive cultivation. A wide variety of agricultural techniques were developed to keep up with the supply and demand. They could reap as many as three crops of corn a year using a form of agriculture, which still thrives in a suburb of Mexico City.