Anthropology Museum

Tlatelolco Market

When the Aztecs arrived in the current Valley of Mexico City, they founded the city of Mexico-Tenochtitlan but also a twin city called Tlatelolco. While the other city developed as the great political center of the Aztecs or Mexica, Tlatelolco was mainly engaged in commerce. This representation shows us the life of the time.

By observing the details, we see people exchanging elements or objects imagining all the splendor of an era. Such was the life in the market, that Hernán Cortés himself was surprised when he saw more than 30,000 indigenous people come together to exchange their products.

The currency of exchange was mainly bartered. The nobility gave mainly cocoa and gold dust, while the poorest gave their work of the land.