Market of Tlatelolco

Bringing Goods and Tribute to Tenochtitlan

Before the arrival of the Spanish, there were no animals in the Americas that could be tamed and made to carry heavy loads the way horses, oxen, and camels were back in Africa, Asia, and Europe. As a result, all goods and tribute had to be carried to Tenochtitlan on foot. This task was usually given to slaves or conquered people. People in early Mexico used a strap that was fitted around the forehead to help them carry heavy loads. Notice the girl's toy dog. Because they had no work animals, the Aztecs never invented wheeled vehicles. Wheels were only used for toys like this one.

Buying Maize

Maize (corn) was the main crop of the Aztec empire. It was eaten everyday, usually as tortillas (flat bread) or as a watery soup called atole. The Aztecs grew a variety of maize that came in many different colors including purple and red, that each had their own flavor. In this scene, a woman is buying maize with cacao beans. Cacao was highly valued and so cacao beans were often used like money.

Socializing in the Market

Besides being a place to purchase goods, marketplaces also offered a chance for people to socialize, exchange news, share jokes and riddles, and enjoy the performances of street entertainers. All social classes regularly went to the market from high status nobles to ordinary commoners and enslaved people.Here a noble woman is offered gifts by a variety of admirers, including being offered the severed arm of an enemy by an elite Aztec warrior.

Temple Pyramid

The temple shown here is identical to the Templo Mayor, the main temple in the center of the Sacred Precinct in the center of Tenochtitlan. The blue temple on the left is for the rain god Tlaloc and the red temple on the right is for the war god Huitztilopochtili. The blood on the steps represents the Aztec religious practice of human sacrifice.

Aztec Medicine

Here a young boy held by his mother undergoes an examination by a healer while the woman in the stall in front of them sells medical herbs and medicines. Healers would perscribe rememdies like special herbs and ritual washing to deal with sickness. Both men and women could be healers. Food was not the only kind of item sold in Aztec marketplaces. Crafts people or skilled workers like healers would have stalls in the own sections of the market where they would sell their goods and services.

Mountainous Geography

Tenochtitlan was located in the Valley of Mexico. A valley is an area of land surrounded by mountains. Many of the mountains surrounding the Valley of Mexico are volcanoes. The ash from these volcanoes made the land in the Valley of Mexico very fertile. The volcanoes also provided obsidian, a sharp volcanic rock used for makling weapons and tools.

The Sacred Precinct

In the background of the painting can be seen the Sacred Precinct, the central district of Tenochtitlan with the Templo Mayor at its heart. Notice the wide causeway with its wooden drawbridges leading straight to the Sacred Precinct as well as the rows of chinampas on the outer edges of the city connected by canals that acted for canoes the way that paved roads do for cars in a modern city.

Collecting Tribute

The Aztec empire grew wealthy from the tribute it collected from its conquered subjects. Tribute is payment in money or goods that a weaker group makes to a stronger group in exchange for not being attacked. The Aztecs were able to force their subjects to pay heavy tribute, because they had the most powerful army. War was so important to the Aztec empire that every Aztec boy trained to be a warrior along with whatever other job they also learned to do.

Market Officials

Aztec markets were highly organized. Prices were set by government officials called tianquiztli. These officials were also responsible for settling disputes, punishing thieves, and making sure that weights and measures used were accurate. If a dispute arose, a group of three judges would hear the case and render a decision to settle it.

The Market of Tlatelolco

This painting was created by Mexican artist Diego Rivera in 1945. Titled "The Great CIty of Tenochtitlan Seen from Tlatelolco Market" it shows a scene at the marketplace of Tlatelolco, the largest market in the Aztec Empire. Between 40,000-60,000 people came to this market everyday. Behind the people in the market can be seen the Aztec capital city of Tenochtitlan on Lake Texcoco with the mountains surrounding the Valley of Mexico in the distant background. Today, Taltelolco is a district of Mexico City, which was built on the ruins of Tenochtitlan following the conquest of the Aztec Empire by the Spanish in the early 1500s.

Snacks at the Market

A food vendor cooks food over a ceramic vessel shaped like the head of the rain god Tlaloc. Aztec markets were filled with food vendors selling snacks to hungry marketgoers. A favorite snack was the axayacatl fly. These were caught on the lake, chopped up, rolled into balls, and cooked in hot salty water.

Tlaloc Vessel

Petate Mats

Petate is a kind of woven mat made from the fibers of the petate palm. These mats were used as beds for sleeping and drying food on to avoid it touching the ground. The men carrying these large petate rolls are slaves, which is shown by their simple white loin clothes.

Organizing the Market

Aztec markets were highly organized with vendors being grouped according to what they sold. The pochteca were a special group of merchants who specialized in selling luxury goods from distant areas of the empire. They also acted as spies and informers who would reprot to the Aztec goveernment if any conquered tribes in the empire were planning to rebel.Here in the paint, these vendors are all selling pottery and are thus grouped together separately from the food vendors below them.