| The word "hydroponics" is derived from two | | | | who reportedly visited China during the late |
| Greek words: cidra, meaning water, and | | | | 13th Century CE and introduced pasta to |
| punikos, meaning labor; thus, literally | | | | Italy, commented on what he called the |
| "waterworks." Contrary to popular belief, the | | | | "Floating Gardens." Around the same time on |
| grow system we have come to know as | | | | the other side of the world, the Mexica - one |
| hydroponic gardening is an ancient form of | | | | of the native peoples who later formed the |
| agriculture, going back 3,000 years. There | | | | Aztec Empire of Mexico - built a city called |
| are references to the cultivation of plants | | | | Tenochtitlan on the shores of Lake Texcoco. |
| directly in water in Egyptian records dating | | | | Where Mexico City stands today, the Mexica |
| back to the time of the New Kingdom and the | | | | constructed an extensive urban center that |
| "Woman-King," Pharoah Hatshepsut around 1460 | | | | included a type of early hydroponic system |
| BCE. | | | | upon which plants were cultivated on the |
| | | | surface of the water. These early Mexican |
| The best-known hydroponic gardens of the | | | | "floating gardens" were developed out of |
| ancient world were the Hanging Gardens of | | | | necessity, because arable land was at a |
| Babylon. Also known as the Gardens of | | | | premium in the area. Called chinampas, they |
| Semiramis, the Hanging Gardens are reputed to | | | | were actually small, artificial islands that |
| have been located near Al-Hillah in | | | | were created by scooping up mud from the |
| present-day Iraq. These hydroponic gardens | | | | marshy areas bordering the lakes. This mud |
| were regarded as one of the Seven Wonders of | | | | was ultimately held together by tree roots; |
| the Ancient World. | | | | food plants were cultivated on these |
| | | | "islands," and were amazingly productive. |
| The Hanging Gardens grow system was built by | | | | |
| King Nebuchadnezzar around 600 BCE. His wife, | | | | The modern history of hydroponics actually |
| Amytis, was from Media, whose people were the | | | | begins in 1627, when Sir Francis Bacon's |
| ancestors of the modern Kurds. The country of | | | | Sylva Sylvarum was published posthumously. In |
| Medea was a mountainous one, roughly | | | | this treatise, Bacon - an English philosopher |
| corresponding to present-day Kurdistan, | | | | and contemporary of Shakespeare - wrote about |
| northern Iran and Azerbaijan. Legend says | | | | the cultivation of terrestrial plants without |
| Amytis became homesick for the mountains and | | | | soil. Although Bacon died before his theories |
| the flora of her homeland; Nebuchadnezzar had | | | | could be explored, the idea of water culture |
| the Gardens constructed for her. According to | | | | caught on as an area of scientific study |
| Greek historians of the time, the Hanging | | | | throughout the remainder of the 17th Century. |
| Gardens, a water pipe led into a well tower, | | | | By the 1860s, German botanists Julius von |
| which supplied water via a number of vaults | | | | Sachs and Wilhelm Knop had perfected the |
| for fruit trees growing in a layer of | | | | first nutrient solutions for soilless |
| asphalt. | | | | agriculture, and modern hydroponic gardening |
| | | | was born. |
| Centuries later, Italian traveler Marco Polo, | | | | |