{"id":2405,"date":"2018-08-19T01:37:49","date_gmt":"2018-08-19T01:37:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/?p=2405"},"modified":"2026-02-26T07:09:04","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T07:09:04","slug":"aztec-economy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/aztec-economy\/","title":{"rendered":"Aztec Economy: A Detailed Summary"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Aztec economy was based on several main factors, including: agriculture, trade, and tribute. In relation to agriculture, chinampas (floating gardens) provided abundant crops like maize, beans, and squash. Markets, such as the great Tlatelolco marketplace, allowed for trade of textiles, obsidian, cacao beans, and other goods. Tribute from conquered regions supplied the Aztec Empire<\/a> with resources, strengthening its overall wealth and power in the regions of Mesoamerica.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

AZTEC ECONOMY – AGRICULTURE<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The\u00a0Aztec Empire\u00a0had a strong and thriving economy before the arrival of Spanish conquistadors<\/a> in 1519.\u00a0 Due to its island location the Aztec economy was based primarily on agriculture in the form of chinampas.\u00a0 Also referred to as \u2018floating gardens\u2019 chinampas were mounds of dirt and other debris built up in the shallow, swampy areas of Lake Texcoco which surrounded\u00a0Tenochtitlan<\/a>.\u00a0 The use of chinampas was particularly popular in southern area of Lake Texcoco near the altepetl of Xochimilco.\u00a0 It was a common practice throughout Mesoamerica but the Aztec Empire was the first to use the farming technique<\/a> on a mass scale.\u00a0 The Aztec farmers had to follow a few key points to create the chinampas.\u00a0 First, the farmers would use wooden stakes to section off the area they were going to build up.\u00a0 Next, they would use vines to create a fence like structure under the water between the stakes.\u00a0 Finally, they would fill the fenced off area with dirt and vegetation to build it up above the surface of the water.\u00a0 Sometimes trees were planted on the edges of the chinampas such that their roots could anchor the dirt and prevent the mounds from shifting.\u00a0 Then the farmers would plant crops such as corn (maize) in the fertile mounds of dirt.\u00a0 When combined with other forms of farming such as traditional farms and terraced hill sides, the agriculture of Aztec Empire grew dramatically and became a central component of the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Aztec
Aztec farmers harvesting maize (corn).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

AZTEC ECONOMY – TRIBUTE<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Another important aspect of the Aztec economy was the tribute system present throughout much of Mesoamerica.\u00a0 Following the Aztec\u2019s founding and construction of Tenochtitlan in the Valley of Mexico in 1325, they quickly established their authority across the other societies in the valley.\u00a0 At the time the Valley of Mexico was populated by many different powerful civilizations, including: Chalco, Tepanec, Tlacopan, Texcoco, Culhuacan, and Chichimec. Several of these civilizations were also on the shores of Lake Texcoco, including the Culhuacan which were on the south shore.\u00a0 By\u00a0conquering many of these other city-states<\/a>\u00a0the Aztec were able to force them to pay tribute back to Tenochtitlan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All of the Aztec rulers at this time pushed forward with expanding the Aztec Empire<\/a> across Mexico and strengthening the power of Tenochtitlan.\u00a0 In fact, the city grew in size and importance during this time as the Aztec culture<\/a> came to dominate the region.\u00a0 For example, by the early 16th century, Tenochtitlan is estimated to have been three to five square miles (eight to thirteen square kilometers), and have a population of between 200,000 and 300,000 people.\u00a0 This means that it was one of the largest cities in the world at the time and larger than any in Europe.\u00a0 As well, the Aztec Empire had spread far from the Valley of Mexico during this time and, at its height, the empire consisted of land across most of central Mexico including the coastlines in both the Gulf of Mexico and Pacific Ocean.\u00a0 This vast expansion meant that the Aztec had conquered and suppressed many different groups of Mesoamerican peoples.\u00a0 The Aztec controlled these different societies by forcing them to provide tributes for payment and\u00a0ritual sacrifice<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, conquered city-states, which are referred to as \u2018altepetl\u2019, were allowed to maintain their current rulers and religion so long as they met several requirements, including: support the Aztec Empire and tlatoani<\/a> of Tenochtitlan, pay tribute to Tenochtitlan, and include the Aztec god\u00a0Huitzilopochtli<\/a>\u00a0in their own religious beliefs<\/a> and practices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This system of tribute provided the Aztec Empire, and ultimately Tenochtitlan, with a continuous supply of goods and people from across central Mexico.\u00a0 In terms of people, conquered altepetl would often supply Tenochtitlan with either warriors<\/a> or slaves.\u00a0 However, the supply of goods was vast and powered the Aztec economy.\u00a0 Goods paid as tribute to the Aztec included: food, clothing, weapons, luxury items, metals, lumber and more.\u00a0 These tributes were paid to the leader, huey tlatoani of the Aztec, who would then redistribute it throughout the society<\/a> of Tenochtitlan.\u00a0 This was important because it gave the huey tlatoani a great deal of power.\u00a0 For example, he could use the incoming tribute as a means of securing loyalty and favor from powerful nobles in the Aztec society.\u00a0 The tribute system benefitted the overall economy of the Aztec because it promoted trade and transport between the different city-states in the region which led to new businesses and a merchant class.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Huitzilopochtli\"
Huitzilopochtli, the Aztec god.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

AZTEC ECONOMY – MARKETS AND TRADE<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Another key feature of the economy was the development of large markets for the different goods from across the Aztec Empire.\u00a0 These markets supplied the citizens with different foods, luxury items and crafts.\u00a0 The markets sold all sorts of things, but it greatly benefitted both merchants (traders) and artists and craftspeople.\u00a0 For example, it allowed the artists<\/a> and craftspeople a venue to sell their finely crafted goods. \u00a0As well, the traders helped distribute goods across the Aztec Empire and ultimately central Mexico.\u00a0 For instance, all goods were transported throughout the empire by human beings.\u00a0 This was because the Aztec lacked any large domesticated animals such as horses.\u00a0 As such, waterways were important to Aztec trade because it allowed goods to be moved quickly.\u00a0 The class of people who carried out this long distance trade in the Aztec Empire were referred to as \u2018pochteca\u2019.\u00a0 They organized trade across the empire and held a high position in society because of it.\u00a0 They were also sometimes known to act as spies for the tlatoani since their travels sometimes took them into enemy territory.\u00a0 The largest market in the Aztec Empire was in Tenochtitlan in a region referred to as Tlatelolco.\u00a0 While in the city,\u00a0Hern\u00e1n Cort\u00e9s<\/a>, wrote extensively about what he witnessed in a series of letters referred to as the \u2018Letters from Mexico\u2019.\u00a0 In his \u2018Second Letter from Mexico\u2019 described the market of Tenochtitlan<\/a> as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is one square twice as large as that of the city of Salamanca, surrounded by porticoes, where are daily assembled more than sixty thousand souls, engaged in buying, and selling; and where are found all kinds of merchandise that the world affords, embracing the necessaries of life, as for instance articles of food, as well as jewels of gold and silver, lead, brass, copper, tin, precious stones, bones, shells, snails, and feathers. There are also exposed for sale wrought and unwrought stone, bricks burnt and unburnt, timber hewn and unhewn, of different sorts. There is a street for game, where every variety of birds found in the country are sold, as fowls, partridges, quails, wild ducks, fly-catchers, widgeons, turtle-doves, pigeons, reedbirds, parrots, sparrows, eagles, hawks, owls, and kestrels they sell likewise the skins of some birds of prey, with their feathers, head, beak, and claws. There are also sold rabbits, hares, deer, and little dogs, which are raised for eating and castrated. There is also an herb street, where may be obtained all sorts of roots and medicinal herbs that the country affords. There are apothecaries’ shops, where prepared medicines, liquids, ointments, and plasters are sold; barbers’ shops, where they wash and shave the head; and restaurateurs, that furnish food and drink at a certain price. There is also a class of men like those called in Castile porters, for carrying burdens. Wood and coals are seen in abundance, and braziers of earthenware for burning coals; mats of various kinds for beds, others of a lighter sort for seats, and for balls and bedrooms. There are all kinds of green vegetables, especially onions, leeks, garlic, watercresses, nasturtium, borage, sorrel, artichokes, and golden thistle; fruits also of numerous descriptions, amongst which are cherries and plums, similar to those in Spain; honey and wax from bees, and from the stalks of maize, which are as sweet as the sugar-cane; honey is also extracted from the plant called maguey, which is superior to sweet or new wine; from the same plant they extract sugar and wine, which they also sell. Different kinds of cotton thread of all colors in skeins are exposed for sale in one quarter of the market, which has the appearance of the silk-market at Granada, although the former is supplied more abundantly. Painters’ colors, as numerous as can be found in Spain, and as fine shades; deerskins dressed and undressed, dyed different colors; earthenware of a large size and excellent quality; large and small jars, jugs, pots, bricks, and an endless variety of vessels, all made of fine clay, and all or most of them glazed and painted; maize, or Indian corn, in the grain and in the form of bread, preferred in the grain for its flavor to that of the other islands and terra-firma; p\u00e2t\u00e9s of birds and fish; great quantities of fish, fresh, salt, cooked and uncooked ; the eggs of hens, geese, and of all the other birds I have mentioned, in great abundance, and cakes made of eggs.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Hernan
‘Portrait of Hernan Cortes’ by an unknown artist. (1525)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

AZTEC ECONOMY – CHOCOLATE<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

While many goods were traded at the markets, one of the most significant was the cacao bean, which is used to make chocolate.\u00a0\u00a0\u200bIn fact, chocolate had a long history of use by Mesoamerican people dating back over thousands of years.\u00a0 The cacao bean (of which chocolate is made from) is native to Mesoamerican and as such, was an important resource for many different Mesoamerican people, including: Olmec<\/a>, Mayan, and Aztec.\u00a0 For example, the word chocolate comes from the Nahuatl (language of the Aztec<\/a>) word \u2018chocol\u0101tl\u2019.\u00a0 When the Spanish conquistadors arrived<\/a> in Aztec territory in 1519, they noted that the Aztec emperor Moctezuma II<\/a> and other nobles would consume a chocolate drink.\u00a0 The chocolate drink was mixed with spices and maize.\u00a0 Moctezuma II was said to drink dozens of cups of it each day.\u00a0 Chocolate was surprising for the Spanish, since the cacao bean had only ever grown in the New World prior to the arrival of Europeans in the 15th and 16th centuries.\u00a0 Eventually, the Spanish took the cacao bean back to Europe with them and it has since spread worldwide.\u00a0 Europeans were the ones who added sugar to the chocolate drink that led to modern forms of hot chocolate.\u00a0 Beyond use as a drink, the cacao bean was also an important factor in the Aztec economy.\u00a0 For the Aztecs the cacao beans were viewed as a gift from the god Quetzalcoatl<\/a> and were held in high value.\u00a0 As a result, the cacao bean was used as a form of currency in the Aztec Empire.\u00a0 For instance, Aztec traders and merchants would use it to carry out the exchange of goods in the different markets across the Aztec Empire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Quetzalcoatl\"
Quetzalcoatl, the Aztec god, from the Codex Magliabechiano.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Aztec economy was an important aspect of the overall Aztec Empire. In general, it was driven primarily by agriculture, trade and tribute from other Mesoamerican societies. The strength of the Aztec economy was a contributing factor to the power and influence of the Aztec Empire.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5690,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":48,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41,80],"tags":[77,15,79],"class_list":["post-2405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aztec-empire","category-mesoamerica","tag-aztec-empire","tag-history","tag-mesoamerica"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2405"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2405\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5771,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2405\/revisions\/5771"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}