30 May 2025 / 10 House
Article suitable for Top Juniors and above
Find out moreWhat all was for sale in the great market at Tlatelolco?
ORIGINAL QUESTION received from - and thanks to - Mateo Sánchez M.: Can you give me an idea of what products were sold in the biggest Aztec market? (Answer compiled by Ian Mursell/Mexicolore)
Assuming you’re thinking of the great market at Tlatelolco, there’s a very complete listing of ‘Products Sold in the Market’ in the (recommended) book Tenochtitlan: Capital of the Aztec Empire by José Luis de Rojas (on our Panel of Experts). We reproduce it directly for you here...
Raw Materials
Gold, silver, precious stones, feathers, cotton, twisted thread, paper, wax, coloured paints, seed, wood (boards, wedges, beams, edges, benches), firewood, ocote (pine), resin, coal, worked stone, unworked stone, adobes, bricks, lime, clay, plaster, paste, saltpeter, canoes of human waste, otates (hard wood), animal hides (jaguars, lions, otters, deer, badgers, wildcats, rabbits, birds of prey), animals, and birds
Tools
Stone knives, brass axes, copper axes, tin axes, coas [digging sticks], levers, shovels, oars, ropes, cords, striker pins, chisels, woodworking tools, looms, malacates (spindles), harnesses
Household Furnishings/Equipment
Bedrolls, wood mats, petacas (boxes), baskets, stoneware, braziers, comals [griddles], cups for drinking chocolate, jars, mirrors, brooms, pots, molcajetes (grinding bowls)
Clothing
Worked cotton cloth, coarse clothes, maguey cloth, maxtlatls [loincloths for men], huipiles [blouses], skirts, fringes for skirts, fringe for cotton cloth, cotares (sandals)
Adornment
Brass jewellery, copper jewellery, tin jewellery, stone jewellery, bone jewellery, shell jewellery, snail jewellery, gold jewellery, silver jewellery, precious stone jewellery, feather work, necklaces, bells
Cosmetics and Other Items
Incense sticks, smoke tubes, tobacco, cigars, tobacco pipes, ointments, cochineal dye, axin, tar, rubber, gum
Food
Live animals: hens, ducklings, ducks, partridges, quails, turtledoves, doves, parrots, eagles, hawks, sparrow hawks, kestrels, rabbits, hares, deer, small dogs
Dead animals: birds, fierce beasts, hens, eggs, frogs, snakes, moles, dormice, mice, worms, roasted ants, deer, fresh and salted fish
Vegetables: cacao, kidney beans, chía, corn, amaranth, chilli peppers, tomatoes, pumpkins, squash, roots, seeds, leaves, grass, vegetables, onions, leeks, garlic, common cress, watercress, borage, cherries, plums, avocados, sweet potatoes, sapodillas, sweet turnips, pineapples, mameyes, guavas
Drinks: cacao and pulque
Prepared food: cane honey, bee honey, maguey honey, sweets, pastes of flour, honey and nuts; chía nougat, pumpkin seeds, cooked xilotes (green corn), cooked corn on the cob, hot and cold atole, pinole, chilli pepper sauce, cooked meat, roasted meat, bird pies, corn tamales, tortillas, tortillas with ground red pepper, meat or chilli pepper sauce, fish stew, fish pastries, omelettes, ahuauhtli, tecuitlatl
Service Providers
Herbalists, druggists, barbers, stove makers, waterfall attendants, slaves, day labourers, potters, woodworkers, carpenters, canoeists, porters.
SOURCE:-
Tenochtitlan: Capital of the Aztec Empire by José Luis Rojas, University Press of Florida, 2014, pp. 95-96.
Picture sources:-
• Pic 1: image from Wikiwand (Tenochtitlan)
• Pic 2: illustration by/courtesy of Felipe Dávalos - scanned from Viaje al mercado de México by Leonardo López Luján, {Historias de México vol. III, no. 2, Fondo de Cultura Económica, 2000
• Pic 3: photo by Ana Laura Landa/Mexicolore
• Pic 4: illustration scanned from The Discovery and Conquest of Mexico 1517-1521 (Bernal Díaz de Castillo), illustrations by Miguel Covarrubias, Limited Editions Club, 1942
• Pic 5: photo by Ian Mursell/Mexicolore.
Comments (1)
Che B. Holguin
24th Mar 2024
Under Live Animals Sold in the Market-Place --( OWLS -- babys & Adults). & they also Sold FLOWERS - Single/corsage s/ Flower Arrangements & Potpourri with certain Dried Flower Petals... It would be that much more special if you emphasized on a couple more things.. they Sold MONKEYS also and Musical Instruments like⭐ Bells,⭐ Rasp - Unusual Flutes, Trumpets of All Sizes.. & Tadpoles were a delicacy..along with gophers right... ???? I know when Cortes 1st got there he was offered a big bowl of CASHEWS -the most expensive Nut there is in the market to this day
Mexicolore
Cool list - thanks!
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