If you could travel back in time and
wander through an Aztec marketplace in a large city such as
Tenochtitlan, you would witness a well developed economy and system
of trade.
The Aztecs traded anything and
everything. If you wanted food, you could buy rabbits, birds, dogs,
fish, turkeys, and other proteins. Or, if you were in the mood for
produce, you could purchase chili peppers, maize (corn), or
tomatoes. Don't forget to buy some salt to bring the flavor out. If
you did not want to prepare food yourself, you could purchase
ready-made dishes like cornbread, pies, and drinks.
In addition to foodstuffs, you would
find many crafted goods for trade in an Aztec market. These included
clothing, obsidian blades, pots, dishes, leather goods, shoes, and
baskets. If you were in the business of making goods yourself, you
could buy the raw materials including cotton, feathers, beads,
semi-precious and precious jewels, coral, wood, and many others.
Perhaps you were a healer. In that case, you could find many herbs
and medicinal plants available for sale.
All of these things were sold by
farmers and craftspeople. There were also traveling merchants who
purchased goods in one Aztec town or city and transported them to
another place to resell them. These merchants helped spread news
throughout the Aztec empire, and the marketplaces themselves served
as places for socializing and business deals. You could even find
someone to cut your hair for you.
Unlike many other ancient economies,
the Aztec trade system was not primarily one of barter. In other
words, instead of always trading one good for another, the Aztecs had
“money.” I had many teachers tell me jokingly that they could be
bribed with chocolate. Well, in Aztec times, you could buy many
things with cacao beans, the main ingredient in chocolate. Cotton
cloth was also often used as currency to purchase an item. I don't know
about you, but I think I'd rather have chocolate.
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