2. The Maya of Yucatan How did the Maya support large cities and high population density? It was not easy with limited water and soil but they succeeded The Castle The Observatory

5. The hardworking and intelligent Maya relied on a complex agroforestry system to build soil, retain water and produce a bountiful harvest from this challenging land (José Salvador Flores left)

6. The challenge Limited soil, often bare limestone No surface water, except in cenotes

7. The water challenge Water remained a difficult challenge The Rain god Chac played an important role in their religion

8. Starting from bare rock The first step is often building rock walls to protect gardens The second step is creating compost from collected plant material and ashes

9. Intensive management Soon the soil is developed well enough to support a very diverse set of vegetables, shrubs, and trees In many respects it is more like container gardening than traditional farming

12. Agroforestry Agroforestry combines trees and crops on the same land Forest gardens are an intensive form of agroforestry practiced by many traditional farming groups including the Maya They provide food, fodder for animals, building material, medicines, firewood and more right around the house

13. Forest gardens of the Maya

14. The forest gardens are critical

15. Tasty and Nutritious Fruits

16. More from the garden The home gardens also support the native turkey Flowers are also popular for their beauty The Maya also manage a stingless bee to make honey

17. Shade for the garden The trees shade the house and provide shelter for plants Plant material is burned to make ashes to control pests and improve fertility

18. Raised beds There is a long tradition of using hollowed out logs and containers to grow seedlings and vegetables above the reach of animals

19. The milpas Corn and other plants are grown in milpas The Maya bend over the top of the stalk so the corn can dry more effectively The limestone fields cannot be cultivated by machines

20. Nutrient management The milpas are fallowed after a few years Trees, shrubs and weeds grow These are then burned to return available nutrients to the soil

21. Tree management Trees may be coppiced or cut off to resprout This can speed recovery after harvest

22. Shaded trail networks The corn fields may be scattered and far from home but are connected with shaded trails

23. Trail borders provide resources The trees along the forest trails also provide charcoal and material for homes and tools Charcoal is made with primitive methods that have low yield

24. Forest blocks Forests are also protected Some are permanent Others are harvested 20 year 40 year

25. Cacao The Yucatec Maya also grew cacao This very valuable crop can still be found in some of the cenotes Stairways and planting areas from ancient times can still be seen

26. Lessons from the Maya The Maya learned how to grow food with limited water and soil This challenge remains for millions of people around the world--who can learn from their experience Research to better understand how they did it is needed Soil study

27. Making the difficult look easy Not many modern agronomists would consider it possible to make this limestone rock yard productive But the Maya did in ancient times -- and do today

28. Parchutistas Farmers near Merida claim land by converting wasteland to productive forest gardens (1988) In just a few years these gardens are very productive

29. To market A wide range of fruits and vegetables reach the market They also provide sustenance for farm families

30. Recent additions Pigs add value for families They can be a walking bank that can be redeemed when cash is needed And they provide meat for the table

31. The Maya Revolts In 1847 a Maya uprising began against the “foreign” oppressors and the brutal henequen plantations Slave labor for the plantations came from as far away as the borderlands with the US where Yaqui Indians were captured and enslaved -- their survival time was measured in months on the henequen plantations The Maya came close to victory but were eventually defeated with more than half the population dead or displaced and much traditional knowledge lost The conflict continued for decades (with flareups in the 1930s and even later) An independent Maya nation would have offered a very different vision of land management

32. To learn more about the Yucatec Maya Arturo Gomez-Pompa, Jose Salvador Flores and Mario Aliphat Fernandez. 1990. The Sacred Cacao Groves of the Maya. Latin American Antiquity 1(3): 247-257. Arturo Gomez-Pompa and David A. Bainbridge. 1995. Tropical forestry as if people mattered. pp. 408-422. In A. E. Lugo and C. Lowe, eds. Tropical Forests: Management and Ecology, Springer Verlag. Arturo Gomez-Pompa, Michael F. Allen, Scott L. Feddick, Juan J. Jimenez-Osornio, eds. 2003. The Lowland Maya Area: Three Millennia at the Human– Wildland Interface. Food Products Press. Nelson Reed. 2002. The Caste War of Yucatan. Stanford University Press. Photographs by David A. Bainbridge, Bill Steen and Omega Photo Lab