Archaic States The Aztecs

Authority, Decisions, and Power: Political Anthropology ANTH 2301 Archaic States: The Aztecs The Aztec state of Mesoamerica emerged in the fourteenth century as a result of both integrative and conflictual forces. The Mexica, as the local immigrants were known, came to the region as mercenaries for other regional rulers before founding Tenochtitlan on an island in the midst of Lake Texcoco (Peters-Golden 2002). The Mexica, who had recently arrived, were eager to amass the military power required to protect their new home. They formed the "Triple Alliance" of three city-states, which they eventually came to control, after banding together with two other nearby cities to overthrow the regional powerhouse. They also tried to make money through commerce, craft production, and agricultural excess in order to bolster their position. Approximately fifty distinct city-states, each with a ruler who answered to the Aztec king, made up the Aztec state during the height of its dominance in the fifteenth century. The majority of modern-day central and southern Mexico was part of the Aztec empire. An intense agricultural economy, centred on the production of maize, served as the foundation for the creation of the Aztec state. Produce such as beans, squash, chiles, cotton, cacao, and other items were also used for commerce and sustenance. A range of farming techniques were employed by farmers, with chinampas agriculture being the most intense. Chinampas are rectangular plots held in place by anchoring poles in a shallow area of a lake. They are built of layers of mud and plants. Farmers generated a sizable surplus with this type of horticulture, which the state taxed significantly. This excess provided food for the urban classes of aristocrats, artisans, soldiers, and administrators. The ordinary people who resided outside of the major cities of commerce and administration were farmers. They wore plain clothing and cloaks that had to fall over the knees according to regulations, and they lived in thatch-roofed mud homes. The urban classes of craft manufacturers—weavers, sculptors, goldsmiths, and feather workers—diversified the agrarian foundation. These artisans held a higher social status than the commoners as many of these goods were not intended for popular consumption but rather for aristocrats and rulers. These artisans resided in posh neighbourhoods close to the nobility they serviced and were grouped into guilds. Merchants who travelled around central Mexico to trade Aztec products both inside and outside the empire were also considered to be part of the urban classes. The Aztecs were a very violent people who saw the need for constant conflict as essential to both politics and religion. It was required of all young males to enlist in the military and fight in conquest-oriented conflicts in order to seize prisoners and tribute. Living amid other elite groups in big cities, a class of warrior elites had great social standing. The Eagle and Jaguar cults were the two factions into which this class was split. Nobles descended from the first Aztec kings occupied the highest echelons of this deeply stratified society. Two-story stone mansions, headbands, gold armbands, and diamonds in their noses, ears, and lips were reserved for nobility. Nobles dominated positions in politics and religion in addition to owning property. A noble king, regarded as a god's representative, oversaw every city-state. He or she arranged military operations, arranged tribute from commoners, sponsored feasts for the public, and arbitrated conflicts. The bureaucracy that collected tribute, the higher and lower courts that made up the judicial system, the lesser rulers of provinces and towns, and the ruler of the city-state and their counsellors made up the government. Serfs and enslaved individuals, who were commoners who had fallen on hard times and/or been sold into slavery, were at the bottom of the social hierarchy. Individuals who experienced financial hardship had the option to sell themselves or their relatives into slavery. The Aztecs created a vast empire of tributary provinces that channelled riches to the centre of three city-states, led by Tenochtitlan, through the coordinated labour of these classes. Tenochtitlan, the biggest metropolis in the Americas at the time, was a masterfully designed symmetrical city with well-kept streets, canals, parks, and marketplaces. There were about forty-five massive stone buildings (temples, pyramids, and palaces) that dominated the city centre. Each of the 100 apartments in the ruler's residence has its own bathroom. There were botanical gardens, an aquarium, and a zoo in the city. Nobles had a pleasant and opulent lifestyle in such a stunning and culturally rich setting. For the large majority of commoners, serfs, and slaves, who worked long hours on the land and struggled to pay taxes and tribute that maintained the same pleasures that were forbidden to them, life was not so fantastic. For what reason did they do it? Every state has a number of institutions, including the legal system, courts, police, and armed forces, to uphold social order. The complicated legal system of the Aztecs forbade a number of crimes, including murder, adultery, and intoxication. Laws that outlawed behaviour above one's own social class were even more crucial for maintaining the cohesiveness of social classes. Commoners risked execution if they attempted to acquire private property, constructed or wore ostentatious clothing. In these circumstances, people were more likely to accept the social class into which they were born than to fight to alter the hierarchical structure of classes or their own class standing. One set of beliefs and customs that permeated Aztec peoples' daily lives at all social levels was even more potent than state law. The Aztecs' official religion placed a strong emphasis on the necessity of ongoing sacrifice to maintain the integrity of the universe. According to the Aztec origin story, the gods offered their own blood as a sacrifice to create the world and to activate the sun. Humans are now permanently in debt to the gods as a result of this act of sacrifice, and ongoing rituals of human sacrifice are needed to please them. The world would die if there were no blood sacrifices. All year long, men, women, and children were ritually sacrificed by priests. Numerous casualties were fighters taken prisoner during ongoing conflicts with surrounding states. The conquered regions had to produce an endless stream of victims to keep the ceremonial calendar going.