History of Mexico I, The Trade in Mesoamerica.

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Trade in Mesoamerica
This city has many squares,
where there is a continuous market and I try to buy and sell.
It has another square as large as twice the city of Salamanca,
all surrounded by portals around, where there is daily
over sixty thousand souls buying and selling;
where all the kinds of goods that can be found in all lands are located...
(Cortés in Hassig, 1990:11)

During their development, the most important pre-Hispanic trading cities,

they received influence from other contemporary peoples and in turn, transmitted
knowledge, disseminated materials and influenced in various ways others
cultures of their time. This interaction operated first on its surrounding surface
closer, but as they became stronger, they widened more and more
their trade routes, becoming the most important cities of their
area of influence.
Population growth, territorial expansion, complexity of institutions
and an intense commercial activity brought with it a wide network of roads that
they had to cross all of Mesoamerica, including some geographical areas of
Aridamérica.
Pre-Hispanic metropolises developed significant commercial activity:
exchange of products, raw materials, acquisition of goods for common use
and food consumption, as well as products to meet the needs of the
groups in power and the requirements of religious activities;
As a consequence of trade, political, religious, and relationships arrived.
scientific.
Through various trade and exchange routes, groups of
different social strata: merchants, military personnel, priests, delegations
diplomatic policies or missions, scholars, astronomers, mathematicians, artists
artisans, rulers, porters and other servants, and with them their traditions
and customs.
One of the oldest trade and exchange relationships established in
Mesoamerica originated between Monte Albán, in the Valley of Oaxaca, and Teotihuacán.
in the Valley of Mexico, during the period known as the Preclassic1. A
difference between the harassment that Zapotec rulers inflicted on their
less important nearby provinces, with the inhabitants of the 'City of'
the Gods" established diplomatic relations and maintained peace between themselves
while both were expanding against weaker ethnic groups.
1 The Preclassical or Formative period encompasses approximately from 2300 B.C. to 100.
.C.; it is the period during which the basic patterns were formed
Mesoamericans who gave rise to the great civilizations.

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According to Flannery2:

The rulers dedicated a large part of the time prior to their investiture to organizing the
support from its neighboring states, this explains the fact that the nobles of Teotihuacán
they appear sculpted on four of the steles placed on the southern platform of Monte
Albanian

The relationships between the two cultures were established in both directions, according to
they check the materials such as ceramics, semi-precious stones,
some minerals and some traditions such as funerary systems and
knowledge such as: writing, astronomy, the idea of the cosmos, and religion.
The initial phases of the city of Monte Albán represent an increase in its
agricultural production as a result of changes in the cropping system that from
a harvest per year changed to two in the same span of time, thus it
I doubled the need for labor and reduced the time to maintain the
self-sufficiency at home: increasing exchanges for supply
goods and developing a regional system to facilitate exchange. The
stronger evidence of such exchange is the specialization in production of
ceramics and the increase of its distribution in surrounding spheres.
Through the Zapotec neighborhood established in Teotihuacan3, it was channeled to Oaxaca
obsidian knives, produced in large quantities in the city that
found located near large deposits of that raw material, in
reimbursement Monte Albán channeled mica4Many other populations in the Valley of
Oaxaca served as tribute payers, investing a large part of their wealth in the Zapotec city.
human and agricultural potential, others served, sometimes through pacts and other times
as many through military means, as intermediaries5in the import of oysters
spiny shells, mother-of-pearl, snails, and more than 40 marine species of which
they obtained ornaments such as beads and pendants for the elite.

FLANNERY, Kent, (1996). The Zapotec Civilization, Mexico, Fondo de Cultura

Economic.

One of the facts derived from good diplomatic relations between

Monte Albán and Teotihuacán was the establishment, in the latter, of a neighborhood
Zapoteca residential area. That 'Oaxaca neighborhood' covered one to two hectares.
in the western suburbs of Teotihuacán, approximately three
kilometers from the city.

Mica is a mineral characterized by its easy wear in thin layers.

flexible, elastic, and very shiny sheets.

A representative case of intermediate cities is the city of

Ejutla, located along one of the main routes between Monte Albán and the
Pacific Ocean.

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Some of the houses in the city were dedicated to the production of ceramics.
using vaulted underground ovens to produce two types of utilitarian pottery;
lacking spaces to store agricultural products, the presence of
these ovens indicate that part of the population spent more time on the
artisan production that to agriculture.
For Flannery, Monte Albán was planned from its beginnings to be integrated.
for public buildings, administrative buildings, temples, worship palaces, courts,
water storage and distribution works and market, was surrounded by others
cities, considered secondary, that served as commercial centers
regional for a period of half a millennium from 200 to 700 A.D.
The city reached its "golden age" and maintained control over the Isthmus of
Tehuantepec6substantially around 1400 A.D. they entered into dispute with the
Mixtecs for their intervention. This route that departs from the central valleys of Oaxaca
towards the Mixteca region, which passes through Cholula, Teotihuacán, and Tula, had been
used a long time ago.
During its peak, the Valley of Oaxaca with Monte Albán
head housed approximately 100,000 inhabitants, after which it began its
decadence, around 800 A.D.
The area of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec restricted and channeled any movement.
from the Valley of Mexico to Guatemala around 1800 BC. The evidence of
contacts between these regions are found in the remains discovered in
Chiapas: Obsidian from Pachuca, Hidalgo; Orizaba, Veracruz and Zinapécuaro
Michoacán also has clay figures identical to those in La Venta in
Tabasco and San Lorenzo Tenochtitlan in Veracruz, its origin can be traced back to the
Olmec culture that moved from their places of origin to create them or
direct its manufacturing in the Mexican southeast where the Maya culture developed.
In this geographical area, there were important communication routes, one flowed
parallel to the Gulf of Mexico in present-day Tabasco, two in Chiapas by the waterways
from the Grijalva River and along the Pacific coast between the sea and the Sierra Madre.

In the Yucatán peninsula, they used artificial causeways as communication routes.

the central lowlands took advantage of the riverbeds, where they could travel
long distances carrying heavy loads... The canoes were suitable for the
river navigation... they had specialized oars for different types of
water depth, for example, the long-handled ones were used to propel the
vessel touching the bottom of the shallow channels, while the shorter ones
they helped in calm or turbulent but deep currents" (Aizpuru, 2012:107)

The Isthmus of Tehuantepec was a plain crossed by numerous rivers that

Zapotecs used as a passage for the tax products of Soconusco.

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For the Classic period7in this Mayan area the territories were organized into
city-states, each with its ruling dynasty and a continuous condition
of war between them. The territories range between 1000 and 5000 km2and the borders
about 50 km in length, that is one or two days, furthermore, the units
Topographical features were arranged without any other obstacles than the jungle and the river.
Usumacinta that divided the territory, each political unit must have had
sufficient paths to communicate with the territories they dominated.
Kilometers of jungle were traveled to make war or to contract.
marriages, the region of Petén and Lacandonia had more than 460 km of
calm, deep, and wide waters for canoe communication made up
by the rivers: Usumacinta, Passion Chixoy, Lower Lacanjá, Lacantún and Jatate
inferior, as well as terrestrial routes of the jungle between the classic Maya states.

Some towns speaking languages of the Mayan family: chontal, chol, chortí and
Yucatecans traded among themselves, although there were Nahua colonies in this territory.
(in Tabasco and Honduras) and even more importantly pochtecah merchants8
settled especially in Xicalango, where they occupied an entire neighborhood and in
Naco on the banks of the Chamelecón River; the influence of people and goods
Central America was reached through the bridge that Honduras represented.
presence of pochtecah merchants, especially in the cacao regions
it indicates that they set the prices and with this, the profits of the rest of
merchants.
The Valley of Mexico, Yucatán, Central and South America were convergence points of
the maritime routes of long-distance trade practiced by the pochtecah
through protected waters of estuaries, lagoons, and open sea between the Gulfs and
land by the relay point of Acalán, which redistributed the currents
commercials of the Valley of Mexico in the Gulf of Mexico and in Honduras to
through river routes.
Both Gulfs had trading ports.9Xicalango in the Gulf
from Mexico and Nito and Naco in the Gulf of Honduras, where trade was conducted, about
everything: cacao, slaves, cotton blanket, precious stones, feathers and obsidian.

7 The period of maximum cultural development, called Classical, occurred between 300 and
900 years after Christ, and in it they achieved consolidation and the
improvement of their material, intellectual, and artistic creations.

The pochtecah were hereditary merchants, organized as guilds and

they occupied separate neighborhoods in the city, at least in Tenochtitlan.
Tlatelolco... It has been suggested that the pochtecah originated during the time
of Teotihuacan, although its continuity has been discussed... In his seminal work
about the pochtecah, Acosta Saignes suggests a Toltec origin” (Hassig,
1990:125).

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State powers protected the exchange ports because that is where

they regularly sought precious goods and raw materials,
systematic.
The market consisted of various goods: huipiles, multicolored loincloths,
wooden macanas or swords inlaid with stones, copper hatchets,
bells, platters, and crucibles for melting copper, razors, knives of
copper, stone axes with wooden handles, salt, slaves, honey, wax, grains of
cocoa and raw materials. Importing mainly luxury goods and tools.
The pochtecah of the highlands predominantly sold: beautifully made suits.
decorations, gold earrings, crystal, obsidian, and copper, bells and copper needles,
knives and obsidian blades, lancets, cochineal, alum, rabbit hair and
slaves10In exchange for this, they received manufactured jade, green stones,
red shells, turtle leaves11, feathers, jaguar and puma skins.
Around the year 1000, the exchanges of cocoa between Yucatán began.
Tabasco and Honduras, through bartering at fixed rates, likely of cocoa.
against salt and luxury cotton blankets, cocoa had interior functions
only, however by the year 1250 work with slaves begins in
the cocoa plantations, from this date, the transactions between countries
he should have paid attention to the equivalence of the cocoa12.

Cocoa was exchanged for all goods, except for land and labor.
the most important merchants of the commercial hierarchy acted as judges
at the markets, they set the prices, maintained the order of transactions and
they imposed punishments for theft and usury, with penalties that even reached up to the
death.
Some known equivalents for cocoa are the following:

In these exchange ports, considered foreign territory, the

merchants stored their goods and sold them wholesale, without
any intervention from the local population.

10 Including men, women, and children.

11 Plant whose leaf was used to prepare chocolate.

Cocoa became a symbol of social status and a means of reserve.

At that time, it was accumulated for ritual purposes and for trading at the same time.
differentiated the social estates, a class is the one that drinks chocolate because
he can do it, that is to say, because he has reserves not only to cover his
needs, but also to cover the market and another class is deprived of it
because he uses it as a means of change.

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4 ears of corn = 1 grain (Yucatán), 1 munzapote fruit = 4 grains (Nicaragua), 1
8-10 grains (Nicaragua)
100 grains (Mexico), 1 canoe of fresh water = 100 grains (Mexico), 1 slave = 3,000-4
000 grains (Mexico), 1 slave = 100 grains (Nicaragua)13.

In this way, the provinces specialized in the production and exchange of

hundreds of products, namely: exporters of cotton blankets, of slaves,
of salt, of copal, commercial enclaves and boat manufacturers; it is of
the case of Cozumel draws attention14which served as a commercial region and temple;
from Campeche, Tabasco y surrounding places had continuous
pilgrimages to visit the local priest and listen to his predictions.
The slave trade, besides its economic importance, could have been the knot of the
relationship between pochtecah and itzá15. The main market was located in Xicalango and in
Azcapotzalco in the Valley of Mexico, that is, at the extreme points of the
commercial organization.
In the year 1428, during the Late Postclassic period16, Azcapotzalco was
defeated by the triple alliance of Tenochtitlan-Tlatelolco-Tlacopán that practiced,
intensive irrigation agriculture obtaining a surplus, thanks to the
use of continuously cultivated chinampas, combining and rotating crops, use
from sowing and fertilizers, obtained from it: corn, chili, fruits, tomato,
amaranth, beans, and flowers.
Central America carried out its basic transport by means of tlamemes.17these
constituted a separate occupational group, probably hereditary, that from
childhood was trained to devote their whole life to the work of portering. It seems

13 PENICHE, Piedad (1990). Priests and Merchants, Mexico, Fund of

Economic Culture.

14 "If, as in the case of Delphi in Greece, the Itzaes had established a

ritual of offerings based on precise payments, the temples could have
to have great wealth, with which the other pole of the
commercial activity: banking" (Peniche, 1990:194)

15 "The book of Tizimin says that the Itzaes arrived at Chichen Itza in katún 8"
Ahau, for us the one that took place between the years 672-692 A.D. says
also that about 80 years later "the mats were arranged," which means
to say that, during the years 752-772, the government of the communities was
organized... they were given names both to the towns and to the cenotes
(Peniche, 1990:147).

The late postclassic period 1300-1521 is characterized by a predominance

militarist in all aspects of life, the most important rites revolve around
tones to the capture of prisoners and human sacrifice.

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 History of Mexico I, The Trade in Mesoamerica.
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it has probably not been easy to enter the ranks of the tlamemes due to their low
social condition or due to its increasing demand. Local chieftains contributed the
necessary items for carrying within their district and these transported up to
the following where they were relieved, also transported the products of the tribute,
war material, goods of the pochtecah, personal belongings of the
nobility and materials for public works.
"The load was only about two arrobas."18and the journey of about five leagues19; but
they often made journeys of 80 to 100 leagues through mountains and ravines with her
extremely harsh" (Clavijero, 2009:336).

The role of the tlamemes cannot be understood without a system of roads; in

Mexico and beyond its borders there was a great variety of them:
ohtli, path in general sense; ochpantli, main road, wide but difficult, with
swamps, muddy places and curves; shortcut, which also goes straight when others
curvean; ichtacaohtli, secret path which very few know; icxiohtli small trail
and narrow, rarely traveled, ohquetzalli, new road and ohcolli, old road
1990:39).

The main roads connected nearby cities, for example Tlaxcala,

Cholula, Huexotzinco, Texmelucan, Chalco, Atenco, and Tlalmanalco, other roads
they served for pedestrian traffic, they were characterized by being steep and difficult,
with closed curves, which did not concern those who were walking.
In building roads, the importance was not in the direct connection of points.
Cardinals, on the contrary, the roads used to pass through the maximum possible number.
of cities, thus reflecting the predominance of local traffic over the large ones
distances.
Another means of transportation used for commerce in the Valley of Mexico
it was done using canoes propelled by paddles, poles, and sails, and their
transcendence had an impact on the creation of ports in Tenochtitlan, Texcoco,
Chimalhuacán and other cities on the periphery of the lake.
Since thousands of canoes entered the city daily, canals were built.
straight and organized to ensure the flow of traffic. The markets of the city

17 The tlamemes or tamemes were human bearers who carried on their

backs of woven rush containers called petlacalli on stands
sustained by mecapales and covered by leather to protect the contents.

Although its value varies, we can estimate the measure at about 12.5 kg.

The league expresses the distance that a person can walk on foot during
one hour; that is to say, it is a travel measure, depending on the type of terrain
predominant in each country or according to state convenience, the
The word 'league' covers distances ranging from 4 to 7.km.

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 History of Mexico I, The Trade in Mesoamerica.
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they were adjacent to the channels to allow so easy supply… The traffic was
predominantly to Tenochtitlan and consisted largely of food and other
provisions but Tenochtitlán-Tlatelolco also served as a market, for which the
canoes went in both directions... Canoe traffic was not only cheaper, but also
in many cases the water route was shorter than the dirt roads" (Hassig,
1990:69).

The cargo in canoes was mostly large volume products:

personas, piedras, arena, madera, maíz, granos, sal, carne, pescado, fruta, flores,
legumes; to ensure the good condition of some products frequently
it was traveled at night.

The rafts described by Clavijero in his Ancient History of Mexico were some
square boards of otate or solid canes well tied on some gourd-shaped objects;
Passengers sat on her and were taken from one side of the river to the other,
the bridges were made of stone beams or nets.
All products used to be sold in places established for that purpose.
called tianguis, these were established in a planned manner with items that
they sold in separate sections, in Tenochtitlan they started in the morning and
they ended up at night.
In all the places of the Mexican empire... there was a market every day; but the greatest
It was generally every five days. The places not far from each other had this renowned
market or fair on different days to not harm each other. In the capital, it
celebrated on the 3rd, 8th, 13th, and 18th days of each month..." (Clavijero, 2009:331).

Officials patrolled the market to ensure honesty.

transactions, the quality and the prices; a court was always present to
resolve business disputes and make determinations; objects were sold for
account and measure, not by weight, the currency varied in several periods, being this:
cocoa, cotton blankets, feathers, gold dust, and copper axes with values
standardized.
The market served as a place for distribution and exchange that allowed for the
population to stock up on certain products and exchange some for others,
In it we found people who carried products of their own work like the
lapidaries, ceramicists, vegetable sellers, herbalists, hunters,
plume workers, goldsmiths, among others.

A crowd of Mexicans were engaged in commerce, whether occasionally or

permanent: peasants who sold their corn, their vegetables, their birds at the market;
women who, on the street, offered all kinds of dishes and stews; fabric merchants, in
sandals, in leathers, in drinks, in vessels, in ropes, in pipes, in various utensils;
fishermen who brought fish, frogs, and crustaceans from the lake every day
(Soustelle, 2013:70).

Those small and medium-sized traders did not form a class.

specific to the population. The title of depot, merchants, was reserved for

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the members of the powerful organizations that had the burden and the monopoly
of foreign trade. The pochteca, Aztecs, extended as far as Guatemala, in
the south, and even in the Chaco Canyon in New Mexico, in the north; they preserved
well-defined roads and maintained separate inns; their staff formed a
social group apart; the organization of caravans and exchange with foreigners
were part of their job.
They usually traveled in caravans for their greater safety; each one carried
a smooth black staff, according to them, was the image of their god Iyacateuctli, with which they
they felt secure in the dangers of the road. Once they arrived at an inn, they gathered and
they tied the staffs and paid them homage, and at night, two or three times, they were taken out
blood in honor of his god. All the time the merchant was away from his home, his
Women and children did not wash their heads even if they washed their bodies, except every 80 days.
thus to show the pain of their absence as well as to achieve reconciliation through that kind of penance
the protection of the gods” (Clavijero, 2009:334).

The pochtecah traded in manufactured goods and products from the Valley of
Mexico, cotton hats, gold crowns, necklaces, rings, and crystal earrings
obsidian, tinplate objects, obsidian knives, needles, products of
lake, feathers, turquoise, jade, amber, and skins. This type of trade was of a character
closed, the pochtecah imported raw goods and in Tenochtitlan they were
crafted by artisans and exported again to the rest of Mexico.
The pochtecah also served the king, recognizing new territories in order to
to undertake conquests and evidently new routes for trade, thus, the
the relationships between nobility and merchants were very close, the latter did not
they were obligated to provide military service or tribute labor, at most tribute in
species.
The social rise of the pochteca was evident, their children had the right to attend the
calmecac, they could perform sacrifices of slaves bought for the gods, their
God was worshipped alongside other deities and had a hymn consecrated.
special. Even highborn gentlemen would marry the daughters of
the merchants or at least took them as secondary wives
Although Tenochtitlan was organized under Mesoamerican guidelines
pre-existing, reorganized and increased the efficiency of transport, production and
organization of internal and long-distance trade.
Her culture, so suddenly annihilated, is part of those from which one can
humanity to be proud of having created. It must occupy a place in the heart and the
spirit of those who, like us, make a common heritage of all values
conceived by our species in all times and places; it must be part of
our most treasured items, however rare. From time to time, in the infinity of time and in
In the midst of a vast indifference from the world, some men gathered in society give
origin to something that surpasses them: to a civilization. They are the creators of cultures. And the
Indians of Anáhuac, at the foot of their volcanoes, on the shores of their lagoons, can be counted.
among those men. (Soustelle, 2003:243).

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References
AIZPURU, Pilar, (2012). History of Daily Life in Mexico, Mexico, Fondo de Cultura
Economic.
Francisco Clavijero
ESCALANTE, Pablo (2004). New Minimal History of Mexico, Mexico, El Colegio de
Mexico.
FLANNERY, Kent, (1996). The Zapotec Civilization, Mexico, Fondo de Cultura
Economic.
HASSIG, Ross (1990). Trade, Tribute and Transport, Mexico, Alianza.
PENICHE, Piedad (1990). Priests and Merchants, Mexico, Cultural Fund
Economic.
SOUSTELLE, Jacques, (2003). The daily life of the Aztecs on the eve of
conquest, Mexico, Economic Culture Fund.

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