The Aztec and Inca Economies

How two great American civilisations organised their economies very differently - Aztec markets with cacao money and an Inca state economy with no money at all.

Before European conquest in the 16th century, the Americas had large, sophisticated civilisations. The Aztec and Inca empires organised economies in strikingly different ways.

The Aztecs: markets and cacao

The Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan, in today’s Mexico City, had huge markets. The market at Tlatelolco drew tens of thousands of traders, selling food, cloth, tools, feathers and more.

Cacao beans and cotton cloths served as money.
The empire collected tribute from conquered peoples: food, cloth, luxury goods.
Chinampas, floating gardens on lakes, produced abundant food.

The Incas: a state economy without money

The Inca Empire, stretching along the Andes, had no money and few markets in the Aztec sense.

People paid taxes through labour, called mit’a: working on state farms, roads, mines or in the army.
The state stored goods in thousands of storehouses, called qollqa, to feed workers and armies and provide for bad years.
Records were kept on quipu, knotted cords.
An extensive road network connected the empire.

Comparing the two

The Aztecs relied more on markets and tribute.
The Incas relied on central planning and labour taxes.

Both economies supported millions of people and impressive infrastructure.

Conquest

Spanish conquest, epidemics and forced labour systems devastated both civilisations. Spanish rulers adapted the mit’a to force labour in silver mines like Potosí.

The Inca storehouse

After a poor harvest in one Andean valley, officials send food from state storehouses. No money changes hands; the system relies on labour contributions and central records on quipus.

Thinking large economies always need money

The Inca Empire organised a vast economy through labour taxes and storehouses, without money.

Key takeaways

The Aztecs had large markets and used cacao beans and cloth as money.
The Incas had no money, relying on labour taxes (mit'a) and storehouses.
The Incas kept records on knotted cords called quipu.
Spanish conquest devastated both and repurposed the mit'a for mines.