134 UNIT 1 PREHISPANIC MESOAMERICA
Mesoamerican Semiperipheries
Societies that help mediate unequal relations between core and periphery form the
semiperiphery. According to world-system theory, semiperipheral units tend to be
innovative in the development of social institutions, in part because they assimilate
cultural patterns from both core and peripheral peoples. Within the Mesoamerican
world-system, the societies that specialized in arranging and promoting trade be-
tween foreign peoples can be seen as the key semiperipheral units. Zones where
open trade takes place are often referred to as “ports of trade,” although “interna-
tional trade centers” have been suggested as more appropriate terms (Smith and
Berdan 2003:12). In the Mesoamerican trading centers, exotic religious cults often
flourished and served to attract pilgrims from near and far. Trade and religion went
together especially well in the Mesoamerican semiperiphery.
Most of the Mesoamerican semiperipheral zones were located away from the
core centers, in some cases on the borders between different core zones and in most
cases adjacent to large peripheral areas. Thus, for example, the famous international
trade center in the southern Gulf Coast of Mexico was situated near the boundaries
of the Aztec empire to the west and the Mayan core states to the east. In contrast, the
Casas Grandes trading center (destroyed around A.D. 1350) was located far to the
north of the Mesoamerican core zones but near important peripheral peoples of
that area. The monumental architecture of Casas Grandes included workshops, ware-
houses, a large marketplace, apartment buildings, and a ball court. Local products
such as painted ceramics, copper ornaments, and exotic feathers attracted traders
from afar, who in turn brought to Casas Grandes luxury items such as turquoise and
other rare stones desired in the Mesoamerican core zones. A cult dedicated to the
Quetzalcoatl deity apparently existed at Casas Grandes, perhaps making it a “holy
city.”
A few semiperipheral societies may have existed within the core zones them-
selves, although surrounded by powerful core states it was no doubt difficult for them
to maintain political independence. Most of them, in fact, were incorporated into em-
pires and thus lost or radically altered their ability to mediate relations between core
and periphery. For example, Tlatelolco, a merchant city-state that maintained con-
siderable independence even within the Aztec empire, eventually was subjected to the
full weight of Aztec rule (in A.D. 1473).
We turn now to the main semiperipheral zones of Mesoamerica and their indi-
vidual trade centers (see the map in Figure 3.1).Gulf Coast. The area of the present-day Mexican state of Tabasco was the
setting for the largest and most important semiperipheral zone in Mesoamerica.
This international trade zone was situated on a major transportation route where
the Grijalva, Usumacinta, and Candelaria rivers and numerous lagoons made
travel by canoe highly efficient. A series of small city-states in the area functioned
as trade centers, beginning with Coatzacoalco to the west and extending eastward
to Xicalanco and beyond that to Champoton (Campeche). Foreign merchants
visited these trade centers from all directions: Aztecs from Central Mexico, Tzotzil