Commerce and Tribute

Tenochtitlan received raw materials and manufactured goods from the tributary regions of the Mexica state as well as products obtained by specialized merchants known as pochteca. The conquered provinces brought gold, cochineal, cloth and textiles, warrior attire, and many other sumptuary goods as well as chía, amaranth, maize, and other subsistence items. Some goods were redistributed to warriors and functionaries at special fiestas, while others were sold in the market. Goods from the palace, from long-distance trading, from professional traders, and some products brought by agricultural workers and small artisans all were brought to the market. These included dyes, unguents, medicinal plants, tobacco, raw and cooked foods, live and dead animals, skins, gold and silver jewelry, feather adornments, cotton, rich vestments, knives, objects of daily use (pottery, salt, carbon, firewood, flowers), maize, frijol, chía, amaranth, chile, vegetables, fruit, and cacao. Items such as dogs, pottery, textiles, jewels, birds, and slaves were sold in specialized local markets.

Over 70 neighborhoods existed in Tenochtitlan and Tlatelolco combined. Some were occupied by foreigners (e.g., Otomis, Xochimilcas) but the majority were inhabited by groups dedicated to certain trades that were passed from father to son and based around the cult of a particular deity. Silversmiths and goldsmiths lived in Yopico; fisherman in Huitnahua; weavers, feather workers, and painters in Amantla; merchants in Pochtlan; and pulque brewers in Tlamatzinco.

Tenochtitlan society consisted of three great groups: the nobility, agricultural workers, and slaves. The nobles possessed their own lands, did not pay tribute, could be polygamous, and sent their sons to calmécac (special schools). This group was comprised of the tlaloque (rulers), the tetechutin (nobles), the pipiltin (sons of the two previous categories), the quauhpipiltin (those whose came from common stock but ascended through their merits as warriors), and the capuleque (lords of the calpulli). The macehuales (common people) consisted of the free men, who paid tribute, and the mayeque, who paid rent. At the bottom of the list were the tlacohtin (slaves), who were prisoners of war, purchased slaves, or slaves as a result of punishment.

Tenochtitlan was the capital of a vast and powerful state and a city that amazed both Mesoamericans and Spaniards when the latter encountered it in 1521. It was also the culmination of a tradition in which urbanism represented the model of civilized life and in which the city was a miniature version of the cosmos. Despite regional differences, the Mesoamerican city was multiethnic, the result of urban planning, and a center for the distribution of goods and services.