Aztec society
Encyclopedia
Pre-Columbian Aztec society was a highly complex
and stratified
society
that developed among the Aztec
s 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
. Politically, the society was based around the independent city-state, called an altepetl
, composed of smaller divisions (calpulli
), which were again usually composed of one or more extended kinship groups. Socially, the society depended on a rather strict division between nobles and free commoners, both of which were themselves divided into elaborate hierarchies of social status, responsibilities, and power. Economically the society was dependent on agriculture, and also to a large extent on warfare. Other economically important factors were commerce, long distance and local, and a high degree of trade specialisation.
, the first waves of tribes speaking the forefather language of the Nahuan
languages migrated south into Mesoamerica. They were nomadic hunter-gatherer
s and arrived in a region that was already populated by complex societies
at a highly advanced technological level. Under the influence of classic
Mesoamerican civilizations such as the Teotihuacan
os, the Maya
, the Totonac
s and the Huastec
s the proto-Aztecs became sedentary agriculturalists and achieved the same levels of technology as their neighbouring peoples. They held on to their language, many of the" were developed as a synthesis between Mesoamerican societies and Aztec traditions, although today it cannot easily be discerned which parts come from where. Aztec society was not isolated from the larger Mesoamerican context, and in fact, most aspects of it were similar in structure to what existed in the surrounding societies.
. He defines "Aztec" as including all the Nahuatl
speaking peoples of central Mexico, that is in opposition to a definition restricting the term "Aztec" to cover the inhabitants of Tenochtitlan or the parties in the Aztec Triple Alliance
. This definition is referring to specific circumstances of one particular Aztec group it will be done with the ethnonym referring specifically to that group e.g. Mexica
for the inhabitants of Mexico-Tenochtitlan, Tlaxcaltec
s for those from Tlaxcallan
and so on.
. Important among these are the Florentine Codex
, a 12 volume ethnographic description of precolumbian Aztec society compiled by Bernardino de Sahagún
, the chronicle of Diego Durán
, and the descriptions of the first conquistadors such as those of Hernán Cortés
himself and of Bernal Díaz del Castillo
. In recent decades the archaeological study of precolumbian Aztec civilization has also unearthed important information about Aztec society which has led to a deeper understanding particularly of social structures and trade.
who specialises in the historical description of the Nahua, Aztec society was characterized by a "tendency to create larger wholes by the aggregation of parts that remain relatively separate and self-contained brought together by their common function and similarity". This understanding entails a social stratification that is built from the bottom – up, rather than from the top – down. Aztec hierarchy by this understanding was not of the type "where a unit of one type – the capital – controls subordinate units of another type" but instead a type where the main unit is composed out of several constituent parts.
. Prestigious lineages also traced their kin back through ruling dynasties, preferably ones with a Toltec
heritage. The extended family group was also the basic social unit
and living patterns were largely determined by family ties, because networks of family groups settled together to form calpollis. Lineage was traced through both the maternal and paternal lines, although with a preference for paternal lineage.
calpōlli meaning "big house") was a political unit composed of several interrelated family groups. The exact nature of the calpolli is not completely understood and it has been variously described as a kind of clan, a town, a ward, a parish or an agriculture based cooperative. In Nahuatl another word for calpolli was tlaxilacalli – "a partition of houses".
The calpolli was centered around the local chief (calpōleh), to whom its members were normally related and he provided the calpolli members with lands for cultivation (calpōllālli) or with access to non-agricultural occupations in exchange for tribute and loyalty.
The calpolli also ran a temple where the adoration of the deity of the calpolli was performed and a school called the Telpochcalli where young men were trained, mostly in martial arts. In some Aztec citystates calpollis were specialised in a trade, which was practiced by all of its members, and these calpollis functioned something like a medieval trade guild. This was the case in Otompan
and in Texcoco and Tlatelolco
. Other calpollis were composed of immigrant groups from other areas of Mesoamerica who settled together in a there is evidence that Tenochtitlan had calpollis composed of Otomi
s, Mixtec
s and Tlapanec
s.
(from Nahuatl āltepētl "water-mountain") was a citystate composed of several calpollis and ruled by a tlatoani
. The altepetl was the unit that held sway over a given territory and defended and possibly expanded it by military might. The tlatoani was the head of the most influential calpolli, often because of having the most prestigious lineage. The word altepetl, however, did not only refer to the area but also to its population, and altepetl affiliation is thought to have been the primary criteria for ethnic divisions in Mesoamerica – rather than linguistic affinities.
, Tizatlan
, Quiyahuiztlan and Tepeticpac
, which is normally thought of as a single state although it had four independent rulers and a certain level of internal competition. Another is the so-called Aztec Triple Alliance
between Tlacopan
, Texcoco and Tenochtitlan which was originally formed to end the dominance of the altepetl Azcapotzalco
and which eventually achieved political hegemony in the greater part of Mesoamerica and has become known to posterity as the Aztec empire.
h long distance traders were considered commoners, but at the same time held a number of privileges comparable to those of the lesser nobility.
Until the age of fourteen, the education of children was in the hands of their parents, but supervised by the authorities of their calpulli
. Periodically they attended their local temples, to test their progress.
Part of this education involved learning a collection of sayings, called huehuetlatolli ("The sayings of the old"), that embodied the Aztecs' ideals. It included speeches and sayings for every occasion, the words to salute the birth of children, and to say farewell at death. Fathers admonished their daughters to be very clean, but not to use makeup, because they would look like ahuianis. Mothers admonished their daughters to support their husbands, even if they turn out to be humble peasants. Boys were admonished to be humble, obedient and hard workers. Judged by their language, most of the huehuetlatolli seemed to have evolved over several centuries, predating the Aztecs and most likely adopted from other Nahua cultures.
Children were taught at home until about 15 years of age, but all Aztec children, boys and girls, were expected to attend school for some time when they were between 10 and 20 years old. Boys and girls went to school at age 15. Probably this was one of the first societies that required education for all its members, without regard of gender or social status.
There were two types of schools: the telpochcalli, for practical and military studies, and the calmecac
, for advanced learning in writing, astronomy, statesmanship, theology, and other areas. The two institutions seem to be common to the Nahua people, leading some experts to suggest that they are older than the Aztec culture.
Each calpulli specialized in some handicrafts, and this was an important part of the income of the city. The teaching of handicraft was highly valued.
The healers (tizitl) had several specialities. Some were trained to just inspect and classify medicinal plants, others were trained in the preparation of medicines that were sold in special places (tlapalli). More than a hundred preparations are known, including deodorants, remedies for smelly feet, dentifric paste etc. Also there were tizitl specialized in surgery, digestive disease, teeth and nose, skin diseases, etc.
Aztec teachers (tlamatimine) propounded a spartan regime of education – cold baths in the morning, hard work, physical punishment, bleeding with maguey thorns and endurance tests – with the purpose of forming a stoical people.
There is contradictory information about whether calmecac was reserved for the sons and daughters of the pillis; some accounts said they could choose where to study. It is possible that the common people preferred the telpochcalli, because a warrior could advance more readily by his military abilities; becoming a priest or a tlacuilo was not a way to rise rapidly from a low station.
Girls were educated in the crafts of home and child raising. They were not taught to read or write. Some of them were educated as midwives and received the full training of a healer; they were also called tizitl. Female tizitl would treat women throughout their reproductive life. They would admonish young wives, and after the second month of pregnancy, they began to watch for any problems. They preferred to save the woman's life over that of a fetus, resorting to embryotomy. Because of this, their work, called temiuxiuliztli, has sometimes been translated as "obstetrics" (Medicine in Mexico, before the Discovery. Dr. Manuel Valdez 1992). All women were taught to be involved "in the things of god"; there are paintings of women presiding over religious ceremonies, but there are no references to female priests.
There were also two other opportunities for those few who had talent. Some were chosen for the house of song and dance, and others were chosen for the ball game. Both occupations had high status.
The long distance trade was carried out by merchants called pochteca, who were defined by their positions within the system. These professional merchants occupied a high status in Aztec society, 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. Due to the success of the pochteca, many of the merchants became as wealthy as the noble class, but were obligated to hide this wealth from the public. The pochteca were an advanced group who reported to 12 locations throughout the Empire, where the high officials were located.
The highest officials of the pochteca were 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 second group of pochteca was the slave traders, known as the tlatlani. These people were often referred to as the richest of merchants, as they played a central role in capturing the slaves used for sacrificial victims.
The third group of long distance traders was the tencunenenque, who worked for the rulers by carrying out personal trade.
A group of trader spies, known as the naualoztomeca, made up the last group of pochteca. The naualoztomeca were forced to disguise themselves as they traveled, as they sought after rare goods. The naualoztomeca were also used for gathering information at the markets and reporting the information to the higher levels of pochteca.
All trade throughout the Aztec Empire was regulated by officers who patrolled the markets to ensure that the buyers were not being cheated by the merchants. Because markets were so numerous, in large cities reaching upwards of 20,000 people, the organization was crucial, and the Aztecs were able to create a successful market due to the success of enforcing the laws of the empire.
In the valleys of the empire, irrigation
farming was used. Dams diverted water from natural springs to the fields. This allowed for harvests to be successful on a regular basis. The prosperity of a field was not dependent upon the rain. Irrigation systems had been in place long before the Aztecs. However, they built canal
systems that were longer and much more elaborate than any previous irrigation systems. They even managed to divert a large portion of the Cuauhtitlan River to provide irrigation to large areas of fields. The network of canals was a very complex and intricate system.
In the swampy regions along Lake Xochimilco
, the Aztecs implemented yet another method of crop cultivation. They built what are called chinampa
s. Chinampas are areas of raised land, created from alternating layers of mud from the bottom of the lake, and plant matter/other vegetation. These “raised beds” were between 2 and 4 meters wide, and 20 to 40 meters long. They rose about 1 meter above the surface of the water, and were separated by narrow canals, which allowed farmers to move between them by canoe. The chinampas were extremely fertile pieces of land, and yielded, on average, seven crops annually. In order to plant on them, farmers first created “seedbeds,” or reed rafts, where they planted seeds and
allowed them to germinate. Once they had, they were re-planted in the chinampas. This cut the growing time down considerably.
The Aztecs are credited with domestication of the subspecies of Wild turkey
, Meleagris gallopavo, which is native to this region. by john zingwini
Complex society
In anthropology and archaeology, a complex society is a social formation that is otherwise described as a formative or developed state. The main criteria of complexity are:...
and stratified
Social stratification
In sociology the social stratification is a concept of class, involving the "classification of persons into groups based on shared socio-economic conditions ... a relational set of inequalities with economic, social, political and ideological dimensions."...
society
Society
A society, or a human society, is a group of people related to each other through persistent relations, or a large social grouping sharing the same geographical or virtual territory, subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations...
that developed among 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...
s of central Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
in the centuries prior to the Spanish conquest of Mexico
Spanish conquest of Mexico
The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire was one of the most important campaigns in the Spanish colonization of the Americas. The invasion began in February 1519 and was acclaimed victorious on August 13, 1521, by a coalition army of Spanish conquistadors and Tlaxcalan warriors led by Hernán Cortés...
, and which was built on the cultural foundations of the larger region of 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...
. Politically, the society was based around the independent city-state, called an altepetl
Altepetl
The altepetl, in Pre-Columbian and Spanish conquest-era Aztec society, was the local, ethnically based political entity. The word is a combination of the Nahuatl words ā-tl, meaning water, and tepē-tl, meaning mountain....
, composed of smaller divisions (calpulli
Calpulli
In precolumbian Aztec society a Calpulli was the designation of an organizational unit below the level of the Altepetl "citystate"...
), which were again usually composed of one or more extended kinship groups. Socially, the society depended on a rather strict division between nobles and free commoners, both of which were themselves divided into elaborate hierarchies of social status, responsibilities, and power. Economically the society was dependent on agriculture, and also to a large extent on warfare. Other economically important factors were commerce, long distance and local, and a high degree of trade specialisation.
Mesoamerica
In the middle of the first millennium CECommon Era
Common Era ,abbreviated as CE, is an alternative designation for the calendar era originally introduced by Dionysius Exiguus in the 6th century, traditionally identified with Anno Domini .Dates before the year 1 CE are indicated by the usage of BCE, short for Before the Common Era Common Era...
, the first waves of tribes speaking the forefather language of the Nahuan
Nahuatl
Nahuatl is thought to mean "a good, clear sound" This language name has several spellings, among them náhuatl , Naoatl, Nauatl, Nahuatl, Nawatl. In a back formation from the name of the language, the ethnic group of Nahuatl speakers are called Nahua...
languages migrated south into Mesoamerica. They were nomadic hunter-gatherer
Hunter-gatherer
A hunter-gatherer or forage society is one in which most or all food is obtained from wild plants and animals, in contrast to agricultural societies which rely mainly on domesticated species. Hunting and gathering was the ancestral subsistence mode of Homo, and all modern humans were...
s and arrived in a region that was already populated by complex societies
Complex society
In anthropology and archaeology, a complex society is a social formation that is otherwise described as a formative or developed state. The main criteria of complexity are:...
at a highly advanced technological level. Under the influence of classic
Mesoamerican chronology
Mesoamerican chronology divides the history of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica into several periods: the Paleo-Indian , the Archaic , the Preclassic , the Classic , and the Postclassic...
Mesoamerican civilizations such as the Teotihuacan
Teotihuacan
Teotihuacan – also written Teotihuacán, with a Spanish orthographic accent on the last syllable – is an enormous archaeological site in the Basin of Mexico, just 30 miles northeast of Mexico City, containing some of the largest pyramidal structures built in the pre-Columbian Americas...
os, the Maya
Maya civilization
The Maya is a Mesoamerican civilization, noted for the only known fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas, as well as for its art, architecture, and mathematical and astronomical systems. Initially established during the Pre-Classic period The Maya is a Mesoamerican...
, the Totonac
Totonac
The Totonac people resided in the eastern coastal and mountainous regions of Mexico at the time of the Spanish arrival in 1519. Today they reside in the states of Veracruz, Puebla, and Hidalgo. They are one of the possible builders of the Pre-Columbian city of El Tajín, and further maintained...
s and the Huastec
Huastec
The Huastec or Téenek , are an indigenous people of Mexico, historically based in the states of Hidalgo, Veracruz, San Luis Potosí and Tamaulipas concentrated along the route of the Pánuco River and along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico.There are approximately 66,000...
s the proto-Aztecs became sedentary agriculturalists and achieved the same levels of technology as their neighbouring peoples. They held on to their language, many of the" were developed as a synthesis between Mesoamerican societies and Aztec traditions, although today it cannot easily be discerned which parts come from where. Aztec society was not isolated from the larger Mesoamerican context, and in fact, most aspects of it were similar in structure to what existed in the surrounding societies.
Aztecs
The definition of the term "Aztec" which will be applied here is that of Michael E. SmithMichael E. Smith
Michael Ernest Smith is an American archaeologist working primarily with Aztec and general Mesoamerican archaeology. He has written numerous scholarly articles about central Mexican archaeology as well as several books about the Aztecs, among them a widely used textbook...
. He defines "Aztec" as including all the Nahuatl
Nahuatl
Nahuatl is thought to mean "a good, clear sound" This language name has several spellings, among them náhuatl , Naoatl, Nauatl, Nahuatl, Nawatl. In a back formation from the name of the language, the ethnic group of Nahuatl speakers are called Nahua...
speaking peoples of central Mexico, that is in opposition to a definition restricting the term "Aztec" to cover the inhabitants of Tenochtitlan or the parties in the Aztec Triple Alliance
Aztec Triple Alliance
The Aztec Triple Alliance, or Aztec Empire began as an alliance of three Nahua city-states or "altepeme": Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, and Tlacopan...
. This definition is referring to specific circumstances of one particular Aztec group it will be done with the ethnonym referring specifically to that group e.g. Mexica
Mexica
The Mexica were a pre-Columbian people of central Mexico.Mexica may also refer to:*Mexica , a board game designed by Wolfgang Kramer and Michael Kiesling*Mexica , a 2005 novel by Norman Spinrad...
for the inhabitants of Mexico-Tenochtitlan, Tlaxcaltec
Tlaxcaltec
The Tlaxcalteca were an indigenous group of Nahua ethnicity that inhabited the Kingdom of Tlaxcala located in what is now the Mexican state of Tlaxcala.-Pre-hispanic history:...
s for those from Tlaxcallan
Tlaxcala (Nahua state)
Tlaxcala was a pre-Columbian city state of central Mexico.Tlaxcala was a confederation of four altepetl — Ocotelolco, Quiahuiztlan, Tepeticpac and Tizatlan — which each took turns providing a ruler for Tlaxcala as a whole.-History:Tlaxcala was never conquered by the Aztec empire, but was...
and so on.
Sources
The sources for information about Aztec society are primarily documents written in the Spanish language in the first century after the Spanish conquestSpanish conquest of Mexico
The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire was one of the most important campaigns in the Spanish colonization of the Americas. The invasion began in February 1519 and was acclaimed victorious on August 13, 1521, by a coalition army of Spanish conquistadors and Tlaxcalan warriors led by Hernán Cortés...
. Important among these are the Florentine Codex
Florentine Codex
The Florentine Codex is the common name given to a 16th century ethnographic research project in Mesoamerica by Franciscan friar Bernardino de Sahagún. Bernardino originally titled it: La Historia General de las Cosas de Nueva Espana...
, a 12 volume ethnographic description of precolumbian Aztec society compiled by Bernardino de Sahagún
Bernardino de Sahagún
Bernardino de Sahagún was a Franciscan friar, missionary priest and pioneering ethnographer who participated in the Catholic evangelization of colonial New Spain . Born in Sahagún, Spain, in 1499, he journeyed to New Spain in 1529, and spent more than 50 years conducting interviews regarding Aztec...
, the chronicle of Diego Durán
Diego Durán
Diego Durán was a Dominican friar best known for his authorship of one of the earliest Western books on the history and culture of the Aztecs, The History of the Indies of New Spain, a book that was much criticized in his lifetime for helping the "heathen" maintain their culture.Also known as the...
, and the descriptions of the first conquistadors such as those of Hernán Cortés
Hernán Cortés
Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro, 1st Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca was a Spanish Conquistador who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of mainland Mexico under the rule of the King of Castile in the early 16th century...
himself and of Bernal Díaz del Castillo
Bernal Díaz del Castillo
Bernal Díaz del Castillo was a conquistador, who wrote an eyewitness account of the conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards for Hernán Cortés, himself serving as a rodelero under Cortés.-Early life:...
. In recent decades the archaeological study of precolumbian Aztec civilization has also unearthed important information about Aztec society which has led to a deeper understanding particularly of social structures and trade.
Political organization
According to ethnohistorian James LockhartJames Lockhart (historian)
James Marvin Lockhart is a U.S. historian specializing in the history of colonial Latin America.Born in Huntington, West Virginia, Lockhart attended West Virginia University and the University of Wisconsin–Madison . He is an expert in the study of historical sources in the Nahuatl language and...
who specialises in the historical description of the Nahua, Aztec society was characterized by a "tendency to create larger wholes by the aggregation of parts that remain relatively separate and self-contained brought together by their common function and similarity". This understanding entails a social stratification that is built from the bottom – up, rather than from the top – down. Aztec hierarchy by this understanding was not of the type "where a unit of one type – the capital – controls subordinate units of another type" but instead a type where the main unit is composed out of several constituent parts.
Family and lineage
Family and lineage were the basic units of Aztec society. Ones lineage determined ones social standing, and noble lineages were traced back to the mythical past, as the nobles were said to be descended from the god QuetzalcoatlQuetzalcoatl
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...
. Prestigious lineages also traced their kin back through ruling dynasties, preferably ones with a Toltec
Toltec
The Toltec culture is an archaeological Mesoamerican culture that dominated a state centered in Tula, Hidalgo in the early post-classic period of Mesoamerican chronology...
heritage. The extended family group was also the basic social unit
Social unit
Social unit is a term used in sociology, anthropology, ethnology, and also in animal behaviour studies, zoology and biology to describe a social entity which is part of and participates in a larger social group or society....
and living patterns were largely determined by family ties, because networks of family groups settled together to form calpollis. Lineage was traced through both the maternal and paternal lines, although with a preference for paternal lineage.
Calpolli
The calpolli (from NahuatlNahuatl
Nahuatl is thought to mean "a good, clear sound" This language name has several spellings, among them náhuatl , Naoatl, Nauatl, Nahuatl, Nawatl. In a back formation from the name of the language, the ethnic group of Nahuatl speakers are called Nahua...
calpōlli meaning "big house") was a political unit composed of several interrelated family groups. The exact nature of the calpolli is not completely understood and it has been variously described as a kind of clan, a town, a ward, a parish or an agriculture based cooperative. In Nahuatl another word for calpolli was tlaxilacalli – "a partition of houses".
The calpolli was centered around the local chief (calpōleh), to whom its members were normally related and he provided the calpolli members with lands for cultivation (calpōllālli) or with access to non-agricultural occupations in exchange for tribute and loyalty.
The calpolli also ran a temple where the adoration of the deity of the calpolli was performed and a school called the Telpochcalli where young men were trained, mostly in martial arts. In some Aztec citystates calpollis were specialised in a trade, which was practiced by all of its members, and these calpollis functioned something like a medieval trade guild. This was the case in Otompan
Otumba
Otumba may refer to:*Otumba, Mexico State, a municipality in the State of Mexico, Mexico*Otumba de Gómez Farías, a town and the municipal seat of Otumba municipality, State of Mexico*Otompan, a pre-Columbian altepetl...
and in Texcoco and 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...
. Other calpollis were composed of immigrant groups from other areas of Mesoamerica who settled together in a there is evidence that Tenochtitlan had calpollis composed of Otomi
Otomi people
The Otomi people . Smaller Otomi populations exist in the states of Puebla, Mexico, Tlaxcala, Michoacán and Guanajuato. The Otomi language belonging to the Oto-Pamean branch of the Oto-Manguean language family is spoken in many different varieties some of which are not mutually intelligible.One of...
s, Mixtec
Mixtec
The Mixtec are indigenous Mesoamerican peoples inhabiting the Mexican states of Oaxaca, Guerrero and Puebla in a region known as La Mixteca. The Mixtecan languages form an important branch of the Otomanguean language family....
s and Tlapanec
Tlapanec people
The Tlapanec people is an ethnic group indigenous to the Mexican state of Guerrero.Their language, Me'phaa, is a part of the Oto-Manguean language family. The now extinct Subtiaba language of Nicaragua was a closely related language...
s.
Altepetl
The altepetlAltepetl
The altepetl, in Pre-Columbian and Spanish conquest-era Aztec society, was the local, ethnically based political entity. The word is a combination of the Nahuatl words ā-tl, meaning water, and tepē-tl, meaning mountain....
(from Nahuatl āltepētl "water-mountain") was a citystate composed of several calpollis and ruled by a tlatoani
Tlatoani
Tlatoani is the Nahuatl term for the ruler of an altepetl, a pre-Hispanic state. The word literally means "speaker", but may be translated into English as "king". A is a female ruler, or queen regnant....
. The altepetl was the unit that held sway over a given territory and defended and possibly expanded it by military might. The tlatoani was the head of the most influential calpolli, often because of having the most prestigious lineage. The word altepetl, however, did not only refer to the area but also to its population, and altepetl affiliation is thought to have been the primary criteria for ethnic divisions in Mesoamerica – rather than linguistic affinities.
Alliances and political hegemony
Altepetl states would normally strive towards dominating neighboring altepetl through warfare. In this way, weak altepetl would become subjugated by stronger ones to whom they then paid tribute. This often lead to the formation of alliances between subordinate altepetl in order to overthrow a dominant altepetl. Some alliances were short-lived, or ad-hoc and others were long term relationships where a group of altepetl would converge to form what was sometimes almost a single political entity. One example of a long term alliance between independent city-states would be that between the four altepetl of Tlaxcallan, OcotelolcoOcotelolco
Ocotelolco , in pre-Columbian Mexico, was one of the four independent polities that constituted the confederation of Tlaxcallan. It was the second of the four altepetl to be founded, but at the time of the Spanish conquest of Mexico it was, along with Tizatlan, the most powerful of the four allied...
, Tizatlan
Tizatlan
Tizatlan, in precolumbian Mexico, was one of the four independent polities that constituted the confederation of Tlaxcallan. It was the third of the four altepetl to be founded, but at the time of the Spanish conquest of Mexico it was, along with Ocotelolco, the most powerful of the four allied...
, Quiyahuiztlan and Tepeticpac
Tepeticpac
Tepeticpac was one of the four altepetl that made up the confederation of Tlaxcala. It was the northwest-most altepetl, located west of the river Atzompa and north of Quiahuiztlan in present-day Mexico.-References:...
, which is normally thought of as a single state although it had four independent rulers and a certain level of internal competition. Another is the so-called Aztec Triple Alliance
Aztec Triple Alliance
The Aztec Triple Alliance, or Aztec Empire began as an alliance of three Nahua city-states or "altepeme": Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, and Tlacopan...
between Tlacopan
Tlacopan
Tlacopan , also called Tacuba, was a Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican city-state situated on the western shore of Lake Texcoco.Founded by Tlacomatzin, Tlacopan was a Tepanec kingdom subordinate to nearby Azcapotzalco...
, Texcoco and Tenochtitlan which was originally formed to end the dominance of the altepetl Azcapotzalco
Azcapotzalco
Azcapotzalco is one of the 16 delegaciones into which Mexico's Federal District is divided. Azcapotzalco is in the northwestern part of Mexico City...
and which eventually achieved political hegemony in the greater part of Mesoamerica and has become known to posterity as the Aztec empire.
Social organization
The most basic social division in Aztec society was that between nobles (Nahuatl pīpiltin) and commoners (Nahuatl mācehualtin). Nobles held a large number of privileges not shared by the commoners most importantly the right to receive tribute from commoners on their land. Commoners on the other hand were free to own and cultivate land and to manage their own possessions, while still completing the services required by their lords and their calpolli, such as tribute payment and military service. Mobility between the two social layers was difficult, but in practice both the commoner and noble groups were structured into finer hierarchies and a high degree of social mobility was possible within a given layer. For example the pochtecaPochteca
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...
h long distance traders were considered commoners, but at the same time held a number of privileges comparable to those of the lesser nobility.
Education
The Mexicanana, the founders and dominant group of the Aztec Empire, were one of the first people in the world to have mandatory education for nearly all children, regardless of gender, rank, or station.Until the age of fourteen, the education of children was in the hands of their parents, but supervised by the authorities of their calpulli
Calpulli
In precolumbian Aztec society a Calpulli was the designation of an organizational unit below the level of the Altepetl "citystate"...
. Periodically they attended their local temples, to test their progress.
Part of this education involved learning a collection of sayings, called huehuetlatolli ("The sayings of the old"), that embodied the Aztecs' ideals. It included speeches and sayings for every occasion, the words to salute the birth of children, and to say farewell at death. Fathers admonished their daughters to be very clean, but not to use makeup, because they would look like ahuianis. Mothers admonished their daughters to support their husbands, even if they turn out to be humble peasants. Boys were admonished to be humble, obedient and hard workers. Judged by their language, most of the huehuetlatolli seemed to have evolved over several centuries, predating the Aztecs and most likely adopted from other Nahua cultures.
Children were taught at home until about 15 years of age, but all Aztec children, boys and girls, were expected to attend school for some time when they were between 10 and 20 years old. Boys and girls went to school at age 15. Probably this was one of the first societies that required education for all its members, without regard of gender or social status.
There were two types of schools: the telpochcalli, for practical and military studies, and the calmecac
Calmecac
The Calmecac was a school for the children of Aztec nobility in the Late Postclassic period of Mesoamerican history, where they would receive rigorous religious and military training. The calmecac is to be contrasted with the Tēlpochcalli where mostly commoners received military training...
, for advanced learning in writing, astronomy, statesmanship, theology, and other areas. The two institutions seem to be common to the Nahua people, leading some experts to suggest that they are older than the Aztec culture.
- The telpochcalli or House of the Young, taught history, religion, military fighting arts, and a trade or craft (such as agriculture or handicrafts). Some of the telpochcalli students were chosen for the army, but most of them returned to their homes.
- The calmecac, attended mostly by the sons of pillis, was focused on turning out leaders (tlatoque), priests, scholars/teachers (tlatimini), healers (tizitl) and codex painters (tlacuilos). They studied rituals, ancient and contemporary history, literacy, calendrics, some elements of geometry, songs (poetry), and, as at the telpochcalli, military arts.
Each calpulli specialized in some handicrafts, and this was an important part of the income of the city. The teaching of handicraft was highly valued.
The healers (tizitl) had several specialities. Some were trained to just inspect and classify medicinal plants, others were trained in the preparation of medicines that were sold in special places (tlapalli). More than a hundred preparations are known, including deodorants, remedies for smelly feet, dentifric paste etc. Also there were tizitl specialized in surgery, digestive disease, teeth and nose, skin diseases, etc.
Aztec teachers (tlamatimine) propounded a spartan regime of education – cold baths in the morning, hard work, physical punishment, bleeding with maguey thorns and endurance tests – with the purpose of forming a stoical people.
There is contradictory information about whether calmecac was reserved for the sons and daughters of the pillis; some accounts said they could choose where to study. It is possible that the common people preferred the telpochcalli, because a warrior could advance more readily by his military abilities; becoming a priest or a tlacuilo was not a way to rise rapidly from a low station.
Girls were educated in the crafts of home and child raising. They were not taught to read or write. Some of them were educated as midwives and received the full training of a healer; they were also called tizitl. Female tizitl would treat women throughout their reproductive life. They would admonish young wives, and after the second month of pregnancy, they began to watch for any problems. They preferred to save the woman's life over that of a fetus, resorting to embryotomy. Because of this, their work, called temiuxiuliztli, has sometimes been translated as "obstetrics" (Medicine in Mexico, before the Discovery. Dr. Manuel Valdez 1992). All women were taught to be involved "in the things of god"; there are paintings of women presiding over religious ceremonies, but there are no references to female priests.
There were also two other opportunities for those few who had talent. Some were chosen for the house of song and dance, and others were chosen for the ball game. Both occupations had high status.
Trade and commerce
Prior to the fall of the Aztec, the Aztec people had a stable economy driven by a successful trade market. The markets, which were located in the center of many communities, were well organized and diverse in goods, as noted by the Spanish conquistadors upon their arrival. The regional merchants, known as tlanecuilo tended to barter utilitarian items and foodstuffs, which included gold, silver, and other precious stones, cloth and cotton, animal skins, both agriculture and wild game, and woodwork. The trade market of the Aztec people was not only important to commerce, but also to the socialization, as the markets provided a place for the people to exchange information within their regions. This type of trade market was used primarily for locally produced goods, as there was not much traveling needed to exchange goods at the market. With no domestic animals as an effective way to transport goods, the local markets were an essential part of Aztec commerce. However, the Aztec nobility obtained much of their merchandise from neighboring highland basins, distant places within the empire, and from land beyond the empire therefore creating the need for a long distance trade organization.The long distance trade was carried out by merchants called pochteca, who were defined by their positions within the system. These professional merchants occupied a high status in Aztec society, 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. Due to the success of the pochteca, many of the merchants became as wealthy as the noble class, but were obligated to hide this wealth from the public. The pochteca were an advanced group who reported to 12 locations throughout the Empire, where the high officials were located.
The highest officials of the pochteca were 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 second group of pochteca was the slave traders, known as the tlatlani. These people were often referred to as the richest of merchants, as they played a central role in capturing the slaves used for sacrificial victims.
The third group of long distance traders was the tencunenenque, who worked for the rulers by carrying out personal trade.
A group of trader spies, known as the naualoztomeca, made up the last group of pochteca. The naualoztomeca were forced to disguise themselves as they traveled, as they sought after rare goods. The naualoztomeca were also used for gathering information at the markets and reporting the information to the higher levels of pochteca.
All trade throughout the Aztec Empire was regulated by officers who patrolled the markets to ensure that the buyers were not being cheated by the merchants. Because markets were so numerous, in large cities reaching upwards of 20,000 people, the organization was crucial, and the Aztecs were able to create a successful market due to the success of enforcing the laws of the empire.
Agriculture
The pre-conquest Aztecs were an empire that prospered agriculturally, and they did so without the wheel or domestic beasts of burden. They had four main methods of agriculture that were quite successful. The earliest, most basic form of agriculture implemented by the Aztecs is known as “rainfall cultivation.” The Aztecs also implemented terrace agriculture in hilly areas, or areas that could not be used for normal farming. Terracing allowed for an increased soil depth and impeded soil erosion. The terraces were built by piling up a wall of stones parallel to the contour of the hillside. Dirt was then filled in, creating viable, flat farmland. There were three types of terrace agriculture, each one used for specific circumstances. The three types were; hillslope contour terraces (steeper slopes), semi-terraces (gentle slopes, walls were made with Maguey plants rather than stones), and cross-channel terraces. Terracing was used mostly in the highlands of the Aztec empire.In the valleys of the empire, irrigation
Irrigation
Irrigation may be defined as the science of artificial application of water to the land or soil. It is used to assist in the growing of agricultural crops, maintenance of landscapes, and revegetation of disturbed soils in dry areas and during periods of inadequate rainfall...
farming was used. Dams diverted water from natural springs to the fields. This allowed for harvests to be successful on a regular basis. The prosperity of a field was not dependent upon the rain. Irrigation systems had been in place long before the Aztecs. However, they built canal
Canal
Canals are man-made channels for water. There are two types of canal:#Waterways: navigable transportation canals used for carrying ships and boats shipping goods and conveying people, further subdivided into two kinds:...
systems that were longer and much more elaborate than any previous irrigation systems. They even managed to divert a large portion of the Cuauhtitlan River to provide irrigation to large areas of fields. The network of canals was a very complex and intricate system.
In the swampy regions along Lake Xochimilco
Lake Xochimilco
Lake Xochimilco is an ancient endorheic lake located in the Valley of Mexico, part of a series of lakes, which included the brackish Lake Texcoco, Lake Zumpango, and Lake Xaltocan and the fresh water Lake Chalco...
, the Aztecs implemented yet another method of crop cultivation. They built what are called chinampa
Chinampa
Chinampa is a method of ancient Mesoamerican agriculture which used small, rectangle-shaped areas of fertile arable land to grow crops on the shallow lake beds in the Valley of Mexico.-Description:...
s. Chinampas are areas of raised land, created from alternating layers of mud from the bottom of the lake, and plant matter/other vegetation. These “raised beds” were between 2 and 4 meters wide, and 20 to 40 meters long. They rose about 1 meter above the surface of the water, and were separated by narrow canals, which allowed farmers to move between them by canoe. The chinampas were extremely fertile pieces of land, and yielded, on average, seven crops annually. In order to plant on them, farmers first created “seedbeds,” or reed rafts, where they planted seeds and
allowed them to germinate. Once they had, they were re-planted in the chinampas. This cut the growing time down considerably.
The Aztecs are credited with domestication of the subspecies of Wild turkey
Wild Turkey
The Wild Turkey is native to North America and is the heaviest member of the Galliformes. It is the same species as the domestic turkey, which derives from the South Mexican subspecies of wild turkey .Adult wild turkeys have long reddish-yellow to grayish-green...
, Meleagris gallopavo, which is native to this region. by john zingwini