CHAPTER 2 LATE POSTCLASSIC MESOAMERICA 95gardens near the cities, obtained essential goods from the central markets. Tribute
payers residing in more distant places also acquired food, raw materials, and other
necessary goods in local and regional markets. The full-time Aztec merchants ex-
changed a wide variety of goods in both regional markets and distant ports, appar-
ently providing for their own subsistence needs in local markets. Rights to land,
slaves, carriers, and luxury items all circulated to some extent in the markets, al-
though always within limits laid down by the ruling class.
The main tribute takers formed a nobility (pipiltin) whose status could be in-
herited from either parent (or both). Nevertheless, some tribute rights were specif-
ically attached to administrative offices, and others may have been purchased (that
is, were personal property). Many of the lands, tributary goods, and labor services
were grants from the king and other high officials to noblemen and, in a few cases,
to commoners of high achievement (quauhpipiltin) in war or other state activities. The
tribute payers were hereditary commoners (macehualtin) who formed the bulk of the
lower-class residents of the town and country wards (calpulli). They were “free” arti-
sans and peasants, subject to the demands of public officials, including the priests,
noble houses, and perhaps, in some cases, private landlords. Some commoners were
so closely tied to certain parcels of land that as tenants, they were included in any
transferral of these lands. Students of Aztec society have determined that a sharp di-
vision did not exist between free and tenant commoners, at least for the last decades
of the precontact period. Virtually all lands, including those within the calpulli dis-
tricts, came under control of the noble class, and the internal organization of com-
moner wards and hamlets fell under the direct authority of these nobles.
Free commoners could sell themselves as slaves (tlacotin), but they were also sub-
ject to being made slaves for criminal acts or capture in warfare. Slavery was not rare,
and a thriving slave trade existed in Central Mexico. Slaves did not pay tributes, but
their labor and subsistence were subject to direct control by the overlords. Com-
moners as well as nobility could own slaves. Slaves could even have other slaves sub-
ject to them, and they could marry and procreate children free of slave status. The
carriers (tlameme), so critical to a commercialized world without draft animals, were
in some cases hired laborers, but many of them must have been slaves or tenant com-
moners who were assigned this onerous service obligation.
The full-time merchants (pochteca) and artisans (tolteca) were also subject to trib-
ute and payments, but of commodities and services rather than subsistence goods or
manual labor. They could achieve a rank just below noble status, which allowed them
to own private property, accumulate wealth, wear fine clothing, and carry out rituals
involving human sacrifice. Nevertheless, the professional merchants were carefully
supervised by the ruling class, and were required to demonstrate public humility and
obeisance in the presence of true nobility.
Aztec Politics. The basic political unit of the Aztecs was the city state (altepetl),
whereas the emerging empires were greatly enlarged versions of this unit. It is
estimated by Aztec scholars (Smith 2003:148) that there were some fifty city states in
the central basin of Mexico alone, and another four-hundred-and-fifty outside the