Aztec Tlatelolco Market at Full Scale

1473

The great marketplace at Tlatelolco, Tenochtitlan's twin city on the adjacent island, operated daily with an estimated sixty thousand traders selling goods sourced from across Mesoamerica. Cacao beans served as standardized currency; specialized judges settled commercial disputes from covered booths. Spanish conquistadors who later witnessed the market in full operation compared it favorably to any they had seen in Europe. It was the largest commercial center in the Western Hemisphere.