Mesoamerica consisted of Southern Mexico, Western Costa Rica, Guatemala, Western Nicaragua, El Salvador, Belize, and Western Honduras (Landon 2008:112).
Ancient Mesoamerica gave way to various great civilizations including the Aztecs, Olmecs, Maya, Toltec, Mixtec, and Zapotec had rich, vibrant cultures leaving behind remarkable statues and other amazing artifacts for archaeologists to find thousands of years later (Scarre 2018:591). Although these Mesoamerican civilizations were incredible, they unfortunately lacked an interconnected and unified irrigation system. This lack of a connected irrigation system made it even more difficult for surrounding communities to transport goods to and from each other (Scarre 2018:594). The research question I chose for the focus of this website will be the different hypotheses about the reasons behind irrigation development in Mesoamerica. The necessity for the development of irrigation was needed because of two possible hypotheses including the change in climate and the increase in agriculture/domestication of crops.