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The Aztec Marketing System and Settlement Pattern in the Valley of Mexico: A Central Place Analysis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Michael E. Smith
Michael E. Smith*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Illinois, Urbana, Ih 61801
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Abstract

Documentary data reveal the Aztec marketing system in the Valley of Mexico to have been a highly developed and complex institution. Examination of this information shows that the Aztec regional economy fits the requirements of classical central place theory as developed by Christaller. A central place analysis of Aztec settlement locations is presented, and it is concluded that commercial factors were of primary importance in shaping the settlement pattern in the Valley of Mexico. This does not rule out political, ecological, and other factors, whose roles in the settlement system are discussed. The implications of these results in terms of the Aztec economy and its development over time are briefly considered, and comparative data are mentioned.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 44 , Issue 1 , January 1979 , pp. 110 - 125
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1979

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References

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