In Aztec culture, every healthy person was expected to work. Children learned when they were toddlers that they would have to work to live. The economy was based on farming, so most people earned their living by growing food. The main crop was maize or corn, the staple food of the Aztec diet.
The people who lived in cities had more luxuries than those in farm districts. The people of Tenochtitlan needed an active, vital economy to support their larger homes and their higher social status. At the height of the Aztec Empire, the city’s population varied from 100,000 to 300,000 people. Those people needed food, services, arts, and goods. The city supported farming, crafts, and an active religious life.
Farming was the heart of the Aztec economy. The people needed food and clothing, and farming provided both. The Aztecs had only hand tools to help them farm, and they had no large animals to assist them, such as horses, mules, or oxen. The Aztecs grew a wide range of vegetables, including avocados, beans, chilies, squash, tomatoes, and onions. For grain, they grew maize and amaranth. Farmers also raised turkeys and dogs for meat.
The land the Aztecs farmed was not fertile enough to grow all the food needed to support the population. So the Aztecs needed to find a way to produce more food. They found ways to irrigate, or bring water
Valuable Cotton
Cotton cloth was highly valued. But it could not be grown in the Valley of Mexico because it is too cool there. Cotton was imported from lower, warmer territories to the south, in today's state of Morelos in Mexico. Cotton came into the Aztec Empire as trade or tribute. In fact, the desire for cotton was a motivation for the Aztecs' first conquests.
World History
