Pochteca
Encyclopedia
Pochteca were professional, long-distance traveling merchants in the Aztec
Empire. They were a small, but important class as they not only facilitated commerce, but also communicated vital information across the empire and beyond its borders. The trade or commerce was referred to as pochtecayotl. The pochteca also traveled outside the empire to trade with neighboring lands throughout Mesoamerica
. Because of their extensive travel and knowledge of the empire, pochteca were often employed as spies.
, below the noble class. The pochteca were responsible for providing the materials that the noble class used to display their wealth. These materials were often obtained from foreign sources. The pochteca also acted as agents for the nobility by selling the surplus tribute that had been bestowed on the noble and warrior elite. The pochteca traded the excess tribute (food, garments, feathers and slaves) in the marketplace or carried it to other areas to exchange for trade goods.
Due to the success of the pochteca, many of these merchants became as wealthy as the noble class, but were obligated to hide this wealth from the public. Trading expeditions often left their districts late in the evening, and their wealth was only revealed within their private guildhalls. Although politically and economically powerful the pochteca strove to avoid undue attention. The merchants followed their own laws in their own calpulli, venerating their god, Yacatecuhtli
, “The Lord Who Guides”, an aspect of Quetzalcoatl
. Eventually the merchants were elevated to the rank of the warriors of the military orders.
The markets were part of a complex interlocking system. In the Valley there were four levels of market:
Some of the cities were famous for specialized markets:
The highest official of the pochteca in Tenochtitlán was the Pochtecatlailotlac, the Merchant-Arbiter who also sat as one of the judges in the Tlacxitlan, the highest court of law.
Each of these cities included a merchant district and a market, the tianquiztli, though the greatest market was the tianquizco in Tlatelolco
, the fifth campan of Tenochtitlán. Tlatelolco
included seven calpulli inhabited by the pochteca: Pochtlan, Ahhuachtlan, Atlauhco, Acxotlan, Tepetitlan, Itztolco and Tzommolco. Each of the pochteca calpulli were governed by the Pochtecatlatoque – the Merchant Speakers or Leaders. Those of the Pochtlan and Acxotlan districts had special titles:
Each of the Pochtecatlatoque were aided by the pochtecatlatoque. The pochtecatlatoque were the elder of the pochteca, and were no longer travelers, but rather acted as administrators, overseeing young pochteca and administering the marketplace.
The volume of trade passing through the great tianquizco of Tlatelolco
was unsurpassed in Mesoamerica
. It served not merely to distribute goods but as the great clearing house of the Empire. Such was the organisation required to manage this massive entrepreneurial center that the Aztec
state founded special institutions and officials to oversee it.
The pochteca were divided into the following types:
Within these groups there were also:
Aztec
The Aztec people were certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who dominated large parts of Mesoamerica in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, a period referred to as the late post-classic period in Mesoamerican chronology.Aztec is the...
Empire. They were a small, but important class as they not only facilitated commerce, but also communicated vital information across the empire and beyond its borders. The trade or commerce was referred to as pochtecayotl. The pochteca also traveled outside the empire to trade with neighboring lands throughout Mesoamerica
Mesoamerica
Mesoamerica is a region and culture area in the Americas, extending approximately from central Mexico to Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, within which a number of pre-Columbian societies flourished before the Spanish colonization of the Americas in the 15th and...
. Because of their extensive travel and knowledge of the empire, pochteca were often employed as spies.
Status in Aztec Society
Pochteca occupied a high status in Aztec societyAztec society
Pre-Columbian Aztec society was a highly complex and stratified society that developed among the Aztecs of central Mexico in the centuries prior to the Spanish conquest of Mexico, and which was built on the cultural foundations of the larger region of Mesoamerica...
, below the noble class. The pochteca were responsible for providing the materials that the noble class used to display their wealth. These materials were often obtained from foreign sources. The pochteca also acted as agents for the nobility by selling the surplus tribute that had been bestowed on the noble and warrior elite. The pochteca traded the excess tribute (food, garments, feathers and slaves) in the marketplace or carried it to other areas to exchange for trade goods.
Due to the success of the pochteca, many of these merchants became as wealthy as the noble class, but were obligated to hide this wealth from the public. Trading expeditions often left their districts late in the evening, and their wealth was only revealed within their private guildhalls. Although politically and economically powerful the pochteca strove to avoid undue attention. The merchants followed their own laws in their own calpulli, venerating their god, Yacatecuhtli
Yacatecuhtli
In Aztec mythology, Yacatecuhtli or Yiacatecuhtli was the patron god of commerce and travelers, especially merchant travelers. His symbol is a bundle of staves....
, “The Lord Who Guides”, an aspect of Quetzalcoatl
Quetzalcoatl
Quetzalcoatl is a Mesoamerican deity whose name comes from the Nahuatl language and has the meaning of "feathered serpent". The worship of a feathered serpent deity is first documented in Teotihuacan in the first century BCE or first century CE...
. Eventually the merchants were elevated to the rank of the warriors of the military orders.
Organization
The pochteca were organised into twelve guilds, each based in one of the urban centers of the Valley of México:- Tenochtitlán
- TlatelolcoTlatelolco (altepetl)Tlatelolco was a pre-Columbian Nahua altepetl in the Valley of Mexico. Its inhabitants were known as Tlatelolca. The Tlatelolca were a part of the Mexica ethnic group, a Nahuatl speaking people who arrived in what is now central Mexico in the 13th century...
- Huitzilopocho
- CuautitlánCuautitlánCuautitlán is a city and municipality in the State of Mexico, just north of the northern tip of the Federal District within the Greater Mexico City urban area. The city has engulfed most of the municipality, making the two synonymous...
- AzcapotzalcoAzcapotzalcoAzcapotzalco is one of the 16 delegaciones into which Mexico's Federal District is divided. Azcapotzalco is in the northwestern part of Mexico City...
- Mixcoac
- Texcoco
- Huexotla
- Cóatlichan
- OtompanOtompanOtompan or Otumba was a pre-Columbian altepetl or city-state in the upper Teotihuacan Valley...
- XochimilcoXochimilcoXochimilco is one of the sixteen delegaciones or boroughs within Mexican Federal District. The borough is centered on the formerly independent city of Xochimilco, which was established on what was the southern shore of Lake Xochimilco in the pre-Hispanic period...
- ChalcoChalcoAluminum Corporation of China Limited, also known as Chalco , is a multinational aluminum company headquartered in Beijing, People's Republic of China...
The markets were part of a complex interlocking system. In the Valley there were four levels of market:
- The great market of TlatelolcoTlatelolco (altepetl)Tlatelolco was a pre-Columbian Nahua altepetl in the Valley of Mexico. Its inhabitants were known as Tlatelolca. The Tlatelolca were a part of the Mexica ethnic group, a Nahuatl speaking people who arrived in what is now central Mexico in the 13th century...
which met daily. - The markets of Texcoco and Xochimilco.
- The Macuiltianquiztli - every five-days markets of the city-states Huitzilopocho, Cuautitlán, Azcapotzalco, Mixcoac, Huexotla, Cóatlichan, Otompan and Chalco.
- The markets of the smaller towns and villages.
Some of the cities were famous for specialized markets:
- Texcoco sold ceramics and clothing.
- Acolman specialised in dogs and food animals
- Tepepulco sold birds, important for their feathers.
- Azcapotzalco was a trading hub and controlled all major markets and trade routes.
The highest official of the pochteca in Tenochtitlán was the Pochtecatlailotlac, the Merchant-Arbiter who also sat as one of the judges in the Tlacxitlan, the highest court of law.
Each of these cities included a merchant district and a market, the tianquiztli, though the greatest market was the tianquizco in Tlatelolco
Tlatelolco (altepetl)
Tlatelolco was a pre-Columbian Nahua altepetl in the Valley of Mexico. Its inhabitants were known as Tlatelolca. The Tlatelolca were a part of the Mexica ethnic group, a Nahuatl speaking people who arrived in what is now central Mexico in the 13th century...
, the fifth campan of Tenochtitlán. Tlatelolco
Tlatelolco (altepetl)
Tlatelolco was a pre-Columbian Nahua altepetl in the Valley of Mexico. Its inhabitants were known as Tlatelolca. The Tlatelolca were a part of the Mexica ethnic group, a Nahuatl speaking people who arrived in what is now central Mexico in the 13th century...
included seven calpulli inhabited by the pochteca: Pochtlan, Ahhuachtlan, Atlauhco, Acxotlan, Tepetitlan, Itztolco and Tzommolco. Each of the pochteca calpulli were governed by the Pochtecatlatoque – the Merchant Speakers or Leaders. Those of the Pochtlan and Acxotlan districts had special titles:
- The Tlailotlac of Pochtlan was the arbiter in mercantile affairs, overseeing the commerce of the Pochteca Teucnehnenqueh, the ‘travelling lords’. Elderly experience merchants, the Pochtecahuehuetqueh, helped him manage the mercantile concerns of the district.
- The Acxoteca of Acxotlan was the Merchant-General of the Naualoztomeca, the ‘disguised merchants’.
Each of the Pochtecatlatoque were aided by the pochtecatlatoque. The pochtecatlatoque were the elder of the pochteca, and were no longer travelers, but rather acted as administrators, overseeing young pochteca and administering the marketplace.
The volume of trade passing through the great tianquizco of Tlatelolco
Tlatelolco (altepetl)
Tlatelolco was a pre-Columbian Nahua altepetl in the Valley of Mexico. Its inhabitants were known as Tlatelolca. The Tlatelolca were a part of the Mexica ethnic group, a Nahuatl speaking people who arrived in what is now central Mexico in the 13th century...
was unsurpassed in Mesoamerica
Mesoamerica
Mesoamerica is a region and culture area in the Americas, extending approximately from central Mexico to Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, within which a number of pre-Columbian societies flourished before the Spanish colonization of the Americas in the 15th and...
. It served not merely to distribute goods but as the great clearing house of the Empire. Such was the organisation required to manage this massive entrepreneurial center that the Aztec
Aztec
The Aztec people were certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who dominated large parts of Mesoamerica in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, a period referred to as the late post-classic period in Mesoamerican chronology.Aztec is the...
state founded special institutions and officials to oversee it.
- The Pochtecatlailotlac, the ‘first of the merchants’ was the effective governor of TlatelolcoTlatelolco (altepetl)Tlatelolco was a pre-Columbian Nahua altepetl in the Valley of Mexico. Its inhabitants were known as Tlatelolca. The Tlatelolca were a part of the Mexica ethnic group, a Nahuatl speaking people who arrived in what is now central Mexico in the 13th century...
, answering to the Huey Tlatoani and accounted a magistrate of the Teuctlahtohqueh, the imperial judges. - The Tianquizpan Tlayacanqui, the Marketplace Judges, oversaw the enactment of pochteca laws and sentenced any thieves caught within the confines of the tianquizco. The Pochteca Tlahtocan commercial court had three levels and between three and five judges would sit in court each market day.
- The omnipresent Tianquiztlacanqui administered the day-to-day running of the market, checking for compliance with the laws and looking out for fraudulent dealing. They also ensured the payment of the imperialEmpireThe term empire derives from the Latin imperium . Politically, an empire is a geographically extensive group of states and peoples united and ruled either by a monarch or an oligarchy....
trade tax, the pochtecatequitl, enforced on all sales.
Types of Pochteca
The professional merchants were classified into the following roles:- The importers: pochteca and oztomeca.
- The wholesalers, the tlaquixtiani.
- The retailers, the tlanecuilo.
The pochteca were divided into the following types:
- The Pochteca Teucnehnenqueh, the pochteca trading on behalf of the nobility. They were considered the higher rank of pochteca, carrying out some private trade as well.
- The Pochteca Naualoztomeca, the ‘disguised merchants’, seeking after rare goods often on their own behalf but also as spies for the state. A oztomecatl (plural oztomeca) was a merchant-guard or vanguard-merchant seeking out new markets and resources and goods of interest to Tenochtitlán. Senior warrior-merchants were known as Teyahualonime, with a merchant-general given the title of Acxotecatl. Often the trade performed by these warrior-merchants was a precursor of military conquest.
Within these groups there were also:
- The Tecouanime, the slave merchants. These people were often referred to as the richest of merchants, as they played a central role in bathing the slaves used for sacrificial victims.
- The Iyahqueh, merchants based in outlying trade stations and depots, supporting the long trade routes.
- The Tlanamacani, salesmen acting as agents for the pochteca guilds.
Lesser Traders
The Tlanecuilo or Tlanecuiloani, the regional traders and pedlars were not part of the pochteca guilds but were an important part of market commerce. They traded in foodstuffs and utilitarian goods rather than the luxuries carried by the pochteca and frequently specialised in specific items, such as:- The Huauhnamacac traders who sold the seeds of amaranthAmaranthAmaranthus, collectively known as amaranth, is a cosmopolitan genus of herbs. Approximately 60 species are recognized, with inflorescences and foliage ranging from purple and red to gold...
(pigweed). In several ceremonies images of the gods (notably HuitzilopochtliHuitzilopochtliIn Aztec mythology, Huitzilopochtli, also spelled Uitzilopochtli , was a god of war, a sun god, and the patron of the city of Tenochtitlan. He was also the national god of the Mexicas of Tenochtitlan.- Genealogy :...
) were made with amaranthAmaranthAmaranthus, collectively known as amaranth, is a cosmopolitan genus of herbs. Approximately 60 species are recognized, with inflorescences and foliage ranging from purple and red to gold...
mixed with honey to be eaten by the people. - The Iztanamacaque, sellers of salt.
- The Tlacemanqui traders who sold items, including silver and gold.
- The Tlanamacac producer-sellers who came to the markets to sell their produce.