This article is within the scope of WikiProject Indigenous peoples of the Americas, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Indigenous peoples of the Americas on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Indigenous peoples of the AmericasWikipedia:WikiProject Indigenous peoples of the AmericasTemplate:WikiProject Indigenous peoples of the AmericasIndigenous peoples of the Americas articles
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Mesoamerica, a project which is currently considered to be inactive.MesoamericaWikipedia:WikiProject MesoamericaTemplate:WikiProject MesoamericaMesoamerica articles
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Agriculture, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of agriculture on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.AgricultureWikipedia:WikiProject AgricultureTemplate:WikiProject AgricultureAgriculture articles
Not necessarily, it is not a farming system, the campesinos, see their milpa as an ecosystem. Usually there is no separation of plants. Beans provide nitrogen to soil, but maiz grows near beans. They handle it wisely with their empirical knowledge, which may be disguised in a some animistic and religious discourse in some regions. It is not restricted to the Mayan area, the word comes from Nahuatl from a culture around the center of Mexico. Some things considered plagues, are not in the milpa vision, for example the huitlacoche is a mushroom that grows in maiz, it is exquisite, they also produce edible insects, like some kinds of ants, chapulines (a kind of cricket), which are tasty. The milpa is a very productive system, it's strength is it's biodiversity, that makes it more resistant to environmental changes. Crop rotation, is different, if I remember well my primary school, it consist in one period crop beans, the next maiz, alternating the different products maintain the soil fertile. Although that is not the main strategy in developing a milpa, I believe that it could be adopted in some cases if the system demands it. The campesinos, adapt to their specific needs.
Kind of. It is a cultural system for honoring nature. It is an agricultural system based on religion originated by the Maya of Central America thousands of years ago.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 24.21.85.44 (talk • contribs) 28 November 2006.
Don't know about it being a system to 'honor nature'- it was an eminently practical method whose main aim of producing food for the people far outweighed any activity done on the fields for purely religious purposes.--cjllw | TALK01:50, 28 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]
As I understand it, it's not "purely religious" or "purely practical" - traditional Mesoamerican culture doesn't really have a secular/religious distinction. It's an effective agricultural system closely tied to many cultural and religious practices and meanings. Nagopaleen (talk) 00:09, 27 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Heard a lot in the news lately about a kid claiming he used sattelite imagery plus some astronomical calculations and found a possible mayan pyramid. Academics seem to dismiss it as just likely being a Milpa or marijuana field. Coordinates in title, any thoughts?
