Table 7.1 Provinces of the Triple Alliance Empire.
No. Province Type
1 Axocopan Tax province
2 Atotonilco (de Pedraza) Tax province
3 Xilotepec Tax province
4 Chiapan Client states
5 Xocotitlan Tax province
6 Ixtlahuaca Client states
7 Cuahuacan Tax province
8 Tollocan Tax province
9 Ocuilan Tax province
10 Malinalco Tax province
11 Temazcaltepec Client states
12 Tlachco Tax province
13 Cuauhnahuac Tax province
14 Huaxtepec Tax province
15 Ocuituco Client states
16 Chiauhtlan Client states
17 Quiauhteopan Tax province
18 Tlacozauhtitlan Tax province
19 Tepequacuilco Tax province
20 Zompanco Client states
21 Tetellan Client states
22 Tlapan Tax province
23 Cihuatlan Tax province
24 Tecpantepec Client states
25 Ayotlan Client states
26 Ometepec Client states
27 Xoconochco Tax province
28 Miahuatlan Client states
29 Teozacualco Client states
30 Teozapotlan Client states
31 Ixtepexi Client states
32 Coyolapan Tax province
33 Coayxtlahuacan Tax province
34 Tlachquiauhco Tax province
35 Yoaltepec Tax province
36 Tecomaixtlahuacan Client states
37 Acatlan Client states
38 Ahuatlan Client states
39 Tepeacac Tax province
40 Tochtepec Tax province
41 Cuetlaxtlan Tax province
42 Cempoallan Client states
43 Quauhtochco Tax province
44 Xalapa Client states
45 Misantla Client states
46 Tlatlauhquitepec Tax province
47 Tetela Client states
48 Tlapacoyan Tax province
49 Cuauhchinanco Client states
50 Atotonilco (el Grande) Tax province
51 Atlan Tax province
52 Tochpan Tax province
53 Tzicoac Tax province
54 Huexotla Client states
55 Oxitipan Tax province
See Figure 7.4 for the locations of provinces by number.
Data from: Berdan et al. 1996.
The Economic Strategy
Groups of adjacent conquered city-states were organized into tax provinces. A prominent town was selected to head each province, and those towns gave the provinces their names. In some cases the head town was the capital of the most powerful city-state in the province, while in others a less prominent town was selected. The Triple Alliance assessed each province an annual tax quota. This information was recorded in manuscripts, some of which were stored in provinicial capitals (figure 7.1) and others in the imperial capitals. The second part of the Codex Mendoza is an Early Colonial copy of the second type of imperial tax roll. Each province was allotted one or two pages in the codex. The province of Coayxtlahuacan, located in the modern state of Oaxaca and inhabited by Mixtec speakers, provides an example (figure 7.5; see figure 7.4, province no. 33).
Figure 7.5 The tax of the imperial province of Coayxtlahuacan as depicted in the Codex Mendoza (1992:v.4:91:f.43r)
Coayxtlahuacan was the head town of the province, so its glyph was painted at the top of the page. Other towns in the province, most of them capitals of city-states, are listed under the head town. The remainder of the page lists the imperial tax goods and the quantities to be paid. A feather attached to the top of an item indicates the quantity 400; a flag stands for 20. The five symbols along the top of the page represent capes and other textiles, totaling 2,000 items. Another page of the codex states that these textiles were delivered semiannually, so the province of Coayxtlahuacan paid a total of 4,000 textiles each year. Other items paid annually were 2 feathered warrior costumes with shields; 2 strings of jade beads; 800 quetzal feathers; 40 bags of cochineal dye; 20 gourd bowls of gold dust, and a royal feather headpiece. These goods were assembled and sent to Tenochtitlan by an imperial tax collector called a calpixqui. Unfortunately we know very little about the actual collection of taxes in the outer provinces. Did each town contribute a small portion of the whole range of a province's taxes, or did towns specialize in the type of goods they paid? Did a province's tax collector have underlings in each town? To what extent did imperial tax collectors rely upon local kings and officials to help gather the goods? This is one of the major gaps in our knowledge of the operation of the Aztec Empire.
The payments recorded in the Codex Mendoza constitute the major source of revenue for the Empire. When all of the imperial taxes in the Codex Mendoza is added up, the quantity and diversity of goods are impressive (table 7.2). The most common items, paid by almost every province, were capes of cotton or maguey. As easily transportable items of money and wealth, it is not surprising that textiles were the principal tax good of the empire. Nearly all provinces also provided warrior costumes and shields, items that symbolized the military domination of the empire over the provinces. Luxury goods, particularly tropical feathers, were also major tax items, as were many specialized goods such as copal incense, paper, and liquidambar. Foodstuffs, animal products, and building materials were minor items of imperial taxation.
Table 7.2 Imperial taxes as recorded in the Codex Mendoza.
Category Item Total annual amounta
Textiles and clothing Quachtli and other capes 128,000 items
Garments 19,200 items
Raw cotton 4,400 loads
Cochineal dye 65 bags
Military supplies Warrior costumes with shields 665 sets
Canes for arrows 32,000 items
Jewelry and luxuries Colorful feathers 29,680 items
Feather products 7 items̀
Feather down 20 bags
Lip plugs 82 items
Amber 2 large pieces
Turquoise masks 10 items
Other turquoise items 5 items
Jade beads and stones 22 strings
Gold objects 65 items
Gold dust 60 bowls
Gold bars 10 items
Copper/bronze bells 80 items
Copper/bronze axes 560 items
Foodstuffs Maize and other staples 88 large bins
Chiles 1,600 loads
Honey 3,800 jars
Salt 4,000 loaves
Ground grain 320 baskets
Cacao beans 680 loads
Animal products Live eagles 2 or more
Deer skins 3,200 items
Jaguar skins 40 items
Bird skins 160 items
Seashells 1,600 items
Building materials Lime for construction 4,400 loads
Wood beams and planks 14,400 pieces
Miscellaneous products Copal incense 64,000 balls
“ 3,200 baskets
Balls of rubber 16,000 items
Paper 32,000 sheets
Reed mats and seats 16,000 items
Canes 48,000 items
Gourd bowls 17,600 items
Pottery bowls 2,400 items
Yellow ocher 40 pans
Liquidambar 16,000 cakes
“ 100 jars
Carrying frames 800 items
Firewood 4,800 loads
a I use Frances Berdan's calculations of the annual quantities of tax (Codex Mendoza 1992:v.1:154–6). The organization by category is my own.
Data from: Codex Mendoza 1992:f.18v–55r
In many cases, the empire used the tax system to obtain local specialties from the provinces. For example, cochineal dye, made from an insect that lives on the prickly pear cactus, was produced in many towns in the Coayxtlahuacan region (figure 7.5); bark paper was a major item produced in towns in Morelos, where it was produced in quantity; and the Pacific coastal province of Cihuatlan
paid in seashells, cacao, and other local products. On the other hand, many taxed goods were not native to the provinces that had to pay them. Of the goods demanded of Coayxtlahuacan, the tropical feathers were not available in highland Oaxaca, nor were the jade beads or gold dust. In order to obtain these exotic goods, the people of Coayxtlahuacan had to engage in commerce with other areas. At first glance, it may seem that the Aztecs demanded this nonlocal tax merely to save themselves the trouble of obtaining distant goods, such as feathers, gold, or jade, directly. But Aztec merchants also supplied these and other exotic goods to Tenochtitlan independently of the tax system. Another explanation for the prevalence of nonlocal goods in the tax lists is that it was part of a deliberate effort to stimulate trade and commerce throughout the empire.
This forcing of provincial peoples to engage in long-distance trade to obtain taxed goods was part of the economic strategy of the Triple Alliance. In addition to demanding tax payments, imperial rulers took a number of steps to promote and encourage trade and markets. For example, the pochteca and other merchants were encouraged and backed by the empire, and key market towns in the provinces were protected from foreign interference. The empire thus employed two tactics to implement its economic strategy: direct state control through regular tax payments, and indirect promotion of commerce, whose benefits were felt throughout Mesoamerica.17
The Frontier Strategy
The expanding Aztec Empire soon ran up against powerful enemy states that could not be subdued. Its two most intractable enemies were Tlaxcalla and the Tarascan Empire.18 Tlaxcalla included several Aztec city-states that banded together to successfully resist conquest by the Triple Alliance. Although surrounded by the empire and under siege, the Tlaxcallans were still holding out when the Spaniards arrived in 1519. The Tarascan polity was a powerful, non-Aztec Empire whose size and influence matched that of the Triple Alliance. When direct warfare failed to subdue these states, the Aztec rulers devised a frontier strategy to keep them at bay. City-states located along the enemy frontiers were brought into the empire through conquest or threat, but were treated more as allies than as subjects. In lieu of regular tax payments these client states were asked to maintain the borders and to give occasional “gifts” to the empire; they were not listed in the Codex Mendoza or other imperial tax rolls. This situation was described in the Relación Geográfica from the town of Totoltepec, a client state on the Tarascan border:
The Mexican king Axayacatl made war [on the people of Totoltepec] until he subjugated them. They did not bring him tribute or taxes because they were on the Tarascan frontier; they supplied the Mexica soldiers that were stationed there and at the fortress of Oztuma [see below]. A few times each year they sent presents to Mexico consisting of capes, green stones, and copper.19
Some of these client states engaged in low-intensity warfare with the enemies, others manned fortresses, and some supplied garrisons (as in the case of Totoltepec above). The direct economic benefit of these city-states to the empire was minimal, although most did engage in some form of trade with Aztec merchants. Rather, their role in the empire was strategic: they helped to protect the borders so that imperial taxes and trade activities in the inner tax provinces could proceed unimpeded in a safe, peaceful climate.
Imperial fortresses and cities
Unlike more territorially organized empires like the Roman or Inca polities, the indirect nature of Aztec imperial rule did not lead to the widespread construction of administrative centers, storehouses, roads, or other types of imperial infrastructure in conquered areas. Nevertheless, the Aztecs did build or support a number of fortresses and cities in their outer provinces. The best-known examples are the fortresses of Oztuma and Cuauhtochco, and the ceremonial precinct of Malinalco.
Oztuma was a major fortress along the Tarascan frontier, which was supported by nearby client states like Totoltepec (see the quotation above).20 It was located in an area rich in mineral resources, close to Alahuistlan, one of the major salt-production centers in central Mexico. The Tarascan king was very interested in this region (province 19 in figure 7.4), and it was the scene of nearly continuous warfare throughout the Late Postclassic period. When the Aztec imperial armies moved into this area, they had to overcome a mountaintop fortress of the local Chontal people at a place called Ixtepec, near Oztuma. Many people were killed or fled in the Aztec conquest of the region, and king Ahuitzotl built a new fortress at Oztuma and sent families of Nahua immigrants from the Valley of Mexico to populate the fortress and other nearby towns.21
The Oztuma fortress, which came to mark the western frontier of the Aztec Empire, was attacked repeatedly – but unsuccessfully – by Tarascan armies. Traces of impressive walls and other fortifications survive at Oztuma, but so far very little fieldwork has been done. Surface surveys along the Aztec side of the Aztec/Tarascan frontier have located many smaller hilltop fortresses that were built and maintained by local client states (like that at Ixtepec), but none of these has been excavated. These sites – particularly Oztuma – are a high priority for archaeological research on the Aztec Empire.
Another imperial site in the western provinces is the hilltop ceremonial precinct of Malinalco.22 Located high on a cliff overlooking the fertile Malinalco Valley (province 10 in figure 7.4), this site was built by the Mexica emperor Ahuitzotl. It consists of three temples carved into the bedrock of the mountain plus a series of small shrines and ceremonial platforms. The most impressive feature is Structure 1, often referred to as the Eagle Warrior Temple (figure 7.6). This circular shrine was entered by 13 steps guarded by two sculptures of jaguars. The stairs lead to an outer platform with two other sculptures (now destroyed). The face of an earth monster is carved in relief around the doorway to the inner chamber so that entrance to the shrine was through the earth monster's mouth. The inner chamber has a bench around half of its circumference. Carvings of two eagles and a jaguar are incorporated into the bench, and a carved eagle occupies the center of the floor, probably serving as a throne or altar. The entire structure, including the sculptures, was carved from bedrock, quite an impressive feat from both an engineering and an aesthetic perspective.
Figure 7.6 Entrance to the Eagle Warrior Temple, a rock-cut circular structure at Malinalco (photograph by Robert Frerck, Odyssey Productions, Chicago)
One of the other rock-cut chambers at Malinalco had a painted mural depicting a procession of warriors. Excavations at Malinalco uncovered an elaborately carved wood drum, one of the finest examples of Aztec woodcarving known today; it depicts images of dancing jaguars and eagles. Also recovered at the site were numerous portable stone sculptures, abundant jewelry, copper bells, and other valuable items. The symbolism and function of the Malinalco compound have been much debated. Warfare and the associated solar cult are prominent iconographic themes at the site. The dominant interpretation of Structure 1, based on the abundant depictions of eagles and jaguars, is that it served as a precinct for rituals and gatherings of elite Mexica eagle warriors. An alternative hypothesis is that Malinalco was built as a monument to Mexica imperial power, and that the iconography related more to coronation and rulership than to eagle warriors. These two views are not mutually exclusive, however, and both probably have some validity.
Quauhtochco, capital of a major tax province in the eastern empire along the Gulf of Mexico (province 43 in figure 7.4), was another Aztec fortress in the outer provinces.23 A large pyramid at the site attracted the attention of early archaeological travelers in Mexico (figure 7.7). This temple was built in the Mexica style, quite different from other Postclassic temples along the Gulf coast. Alfonso Medellín Zeñil excavated the hilltop site in the 1950s and found remains of a defensive wall surrounding a small town with the pyramid and various other buildings. He recovered an abundance of Aztec ceramic vessels imported from the Valley of Mexico, particularly decorated serving plates and incense burners. It appears that there was a group of Mexica soldiers, or perhaps others, living at Quauhtochco. Because Quauhtochco was
a provincial capital in 1519, far from any hostile imperial frontiers at that time, it must have functioned as a fortress at an earlier period, probably during the reign of Motecuhzoma I (1440–1468) who conquered many of the Gulf Coast provinces.
Figure 7.7 Mexica-style temple at the fortress of Quauhtochco in Veracruz as it appeared in 1805. The illustration was made by artist José Luciano Castañeda, who accompanied Captain Guillermo Dupaix on an archaeological tour of Mexico between 1805 and 1808 (Dupaix 1834:pl.9); see also Castañeda et al. (1978:no.6116)
Whereas Quauhtochco – with its Mexica-style temple and abundant Aztec imports – stands out as an unusual site in the eastern Aztec Empire, the Totonac city Zempoala illustrates a more common type of regional urban center.24 The architecture follows local Totonac styles, including an abundance of circular temples dedicated to the wind god (figure 7.8). Although a few Valley of Mexico imports were recovered, the bulk of the artifacts are local Totonac types. The city, which covers about 1.5 sq km, was laid out around 12 large, irregularly shaped walled compounds that contained the main public architecture – temples, shrines, palaces, and open plazas. Figure 7.8 shows part of one of the compounds (“Walled System 4”) with the Great Temple on the left and a variety of circular and rectangular shrines. The compound walls were not very high; they served a symbolic function of delineating public space in a large urban center rather than a defensive function. Although Zempoala was part of the Aztec Empire, it shows few direct influences from Tenochtitlan. It was a regional city that served regional functions. In this respect Zempoala was far more typical of cities throughout the empire than were Quauhtochco, Oztuma, or Malinalco (see further discussion in chapter 13). Nevertheless, these sites do reveal that even hegemonic empires like the Aztec Empire did build some fortresses, temples, and other structures in their outer provinces.25
Figure 7.8 The City of Zempoala, a major urban center in the eastern Aztec Empire (photograph by Christopher Pool; reproduced with permission)
Mexica Propaganda and the Limits of Empire
Ethnohistoric sources that derive from statements of the Mexica nobility do not always mesh with the view of the Aztec Empire I have presented above. The Mexica were reluctant to admit their failed efforts to conquer Tlaxcalla, the Tarascans, and some other states. Their own accounts of the empire in the chronicles gloss over these shortcomings. For example, Friar Durán gives the following description of a state ceremony in Tenochtitlan that involved the display and exchange of lavish gifts among Mexica nobles and their guests from other states: “They saw that [the Mexica] were masters of the world, their empire so wide and abundant that they had conquered all the nations and that all were their vassals. The guests, seeing such wealth and opulence and such authority and power, were filled with terror.”26 This account is clearly a statement of propaganda, not fact, since the Mexica had not by any means “conquered all the nations.” In their public statements the Mexica conveniently forgot Axayacatl's devastating defeat at the hands of the Tarascans.
The Aztecs Page 20
