Jardines prehispánicos de México en las Crónicas de Indias

Abstract

The pre-Columbian gardens of the Anáhuac plateau disappeared as the result of the abrupt changes introduced by the Spaniards following the cruelest period of the Conquest. In spite of this destruction, many of the sixteenth-century chroniclers of the Indies included numerous descriptions in their texts. They provide a very complete idea of these gardens since they name their promoters and describe their formal structure and some of their most important elements. Together with these chronicles, sixteenth century manuscripts and certain mural paintings depict these pre-Columbian Mexican gardens, in which their uses -for pleasure as well as practical and symbolic purposes- is manifest.