Aztec Social Classes

Why This Matters

Understanding Aztec social hierarchy is essential for grasping how the Spanish conquest transformed—and in some ways preserved—existing power structures in New Spain. You're being tested on more than just who held power; examiners want you to analyze how social mobility, labor systems, and religious authority functioned before contact and how these structures influenced colonial institutions like the encomienda and the role of indigenous elites under Spanish rule.

The Aztec class system wasn't a rigid caste—it was dynamic, with pathways for advancement through military achievement, trade success, or religious service. This matters because it challenges simplistic narratives about pre-Columbian societies and helps explain why certain indigenous groups collaborated with the Spanish. Don't just memorize the class names—know what each group reveals about Aztec values, economic organization, and the relationship between status and service to the state.

---

Power and Governance: The Ruling Elite

The Aztec state concentrated political authority in a small hereditary class, but power also flowed through religious and military channels. Legitimacy came from lineage, divine sanction, and demonstrated service to the empire.

Pipiltin (Nobles)

• Hereditary aristocracy that controlled governance, land, and access to elite education at the calmecac schools
• Political and military leadership—held positions as judges, governors, and high-ranking commanders
• Distinctive privileges including rights to wear cotton clothing, drink octli (pulque), and own private estates called pillalli

Tlamacazqui (Priests)

• Religious specialists who maintained temples, performed sacrifices, and interpreted divine will through calendrical knowledge
• Advisory power—priests counseled the tlatoani (ruler) and legitimized political decisions through ritual
• Keepers of knowledge including writing, astronomy, and historical records, making them essential to state ideology

---

Military Achievement: The Path to Status

Warfare was central to Aztec society—not just for expansion, but as a mechanism for social advancement. Capturing enemies for sacrifice brought honor, land grants, and upward mobility.

Tequihuah (Warriors)

• Professional military class that defended the empire and conducted the "flower wars" (xochiyaoyotl) to capture sacrificial victims
• Merit-based advancement—commoners could achieve noble-like status by capturing enemies, earning titles like cuauhtli (eagle) or ocelotl (jaguar)
• State rewards included land, exemption from tribute, and the right to wear prestigious insignia and consume restricted goods

---

Economic Foundations: Labor and Trade

The empire's wealth depended on tribute, agriculture, and long-distance exchange. Commoners provided the labor base, while merchants connected the empire to distant resources and intelligence networks.

Macehualtin (Commoners)

• Majority population organized into calpulli (clan-based neighborhoods) that collectively held agricultural land
• Tribute obligations—paid taxes in goods and labor service (tequitl) to support the nobility, temples, and military
• Limited but real mobility—exceptional commoners could rise through military success or specialized skills, though most remained bound to their calpulli

Pochteca (Merchants)

• Long-distance traders who operated semi-autonomously, traveling to distant markets in places like the Maya lowlands and Oaxaca
• Dual role as spies—gathered intelligence on foreign territories, making them strategically valuable to the state
• Ambiguous status—accumulated significant wealth but were required to display humility publicly to avoid provoking noble jealousy

Calpuleque (Clan Leaders)

• Local administrators who governed calpulli communities, allocating land and organizing collective labor
• Intermediary position—represented commoner interests to the nobility while enforcing tribute and service obligations
• Hereditary within clans but dependent on community respect, blending inherited and earned authority

---

Unfree Labor: Slavery in Aztec Society

Aztec slavery differed fundamentally from the chattel slavery later imposed in the Atlantic world. Enslavement was typically temporary, non-hereditary, and based on circumstance rather than race.

Tlacotin (Slaves)

• Conditional unfreedom—individuals became enslaved through debt, criminal punishment, or voluntary sale during famine, not through birth or warfare alone
• Retained personhood—could own property, marry free people, and purchase their own freedom; children of slaves were born free
• Variable labor roles—worked as domestic servants, agricultural laborers, or skilled artisans depending on their owner's needs

---

Quick Reference Table

---

Self-Check Questions

1. Which two social groups could achieve status and privileges typically reserved for the Pipiltin, and what did they have to do to earn them?

2. How did the Tlacotin system differ from later Atlantic chattel slavery in terms of heritability and the possibility of freedom?

3. Compare the sources of authority for the Pipiltin and the Tlamacazqui—what made each group powerful?

4. If an FRQ asked you to explain how the Spanish used existing Aztec social structures in colonial governance, which classes would be most relevant to discuss and why?

5. What role did the Pochteca play beyond simple commerce, and why did this make them valuable to the Aztec state?