The Great Market of Tlatelolco
Tlatelolco was the commercial heart of the Aztec world. By the early sixteenth century, the tianguis (market) of Tlatelolco drew an estimated 20,000 to 60,000 people on ordinary days, with much larger numbers on the great market day held every five days. Every form of goods produced across the empire was available: cacao from the Gulf Coast, jade and turquoise from distant mines, tropical bird feathers, obsidian blades, cotton textiles, gold jewelry, foodstuffs, slaves, pottery, and medicines. The market was administered with precision — a dedicated court of judges adjudicated commercial disputes on the spot, goods were organized into distinct sections, and standard measures were enforced. Cacao beans served as currency for small transactions; standardized cotton cloaks as units of value for larger exchanges. When Hernán Cortés and his companions first observed the market, they were genuinely awed. Bernal Díaz del Castillo wrote that he had never seen anything like it in Spain or Italy.
- Year: 1450 CE
- Category: Economic
