pochteca
The pochteca were the professional long-distance merchants of the Aztec Empire, flourishing from the 14th through the early 16th century. They formed a distinct social and economic group, known collectively as the pochtecayotl, and operated within the imperial systems of Tenochtitlan and allied city-states. Their trade networks connected central Mexico with distant markets across Mesoamerica, including the Gulf Coast, the Maya lowlands, and Central America.
Economically, the pochteca controlled and facilitated the exchange of a wide range of goods. They traded luxury
Politically and diplomatically, the pochteca served as imperial agents. They carried messages, negotiated with foreign polities,
Culturally, the pochteca appear in Aztec codices such as the Codex Mendoza and the Florentine Codex, where
After the Spanish conquest, the traditional pochteca networks persisted in altered forms, but the imperial system