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Question for June 2012

Which was the biggest group [job sector] in Aztec society?? Asked by Holy Trinity CE Primary School. Chosen and answered by Our In-House Team

Without a doubt the largest sector of the working population in Aztec times were porters or loadcarriers, known in Náhuatl as tlamemehque. Roughly one in three ‘soldiers’ in the Mexica army was a porter. Basically, you name it, it had to be carried on the back in Aztec times! With no wheeled vehicles and no large pack animals, and very rough terrain in the highlands and plateaux of the Central Valley, the simplest solution was always going to be manpower - lots of it... Porters either used wooden carrying frames or simpler ‘tumplines’ - woven straps slung from the forehead down the back to distribute the weight evenly and effectively.

As Tenochtitlan expanded, the demand for porters grew steadily, especially to and from the city’s thriving markets (where the cost of a porter’s trip was valued at some 20 cocoa beans). Most Aztec professions were hereditary (you followed in your father’s footsteps) but in effect anyone could become a porter, and, if you owned no land of your own, poverty could and did easily push you into taking work as a porter.
Although they had low status in society, porters were still considered honourable citizens:-
’Marriage was referred to as a large carrying frame, a great burden. Thus, carrying was considered an honest occupation. Yet carrying also had negative connotations [associations]. The tumpline was thought to have been provided by the deity Cihuacoatl, along with other burdens and undesirable things. People born in the 13-day series beginning with 1-Jaguar were doomed to slavery, the digging stick, or the tumpline.’

Further information and quote from:-
Handbook to Life in the Aztec World by Manuel Aguilar-Moreno (Facts on File, 2006).

Picture sources:-
• Image from the Codex Mendoza scanned from our own copy of the James Cooper Clark 1938 facsimile edition, London
• Photo of god-carrier figure by Ian Mursell/Mexicolore

The carrying frameLearn more...

Our In-House Team has answered 25 questions altogether.

Comments (1)

k

katia H

11th Jul 2013

This seemed strange in the above article - how come porters were poor if they could make such good money from each job?

M

Mexicolore

Good point, but bear in mind we don’t know how long the average porter’s ‘trip’ was, and 20 cocoa beans was hardly a lot of money: you needed around 30 to buy a small rabbit! We suspect Aztec porters were neither poor nor rich in those days, but at least they earned a ‘living’ wage...

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