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I have a specific topic I want to discuss and that is the economy that existed in Mesoamerica. I am especially interested in the late Postclassic period. The Aztecs had the pochteca class (merchants), and from what I understand the economy was state controlled in the sense that the Tlatoani (aztec ruler) was the ultimate authority who granted the merchants higher status. However, it seems that a level of autonomy was given to the merchants (they had their own laws, judges, and police). The tlatoani also didn't seem to meddle in their affairs much, except to at times give them orders. The merchants as I understand were sometimes doubled as spies for the empire (disguising themselves as locals in their markets) and usually gathered intel before an invasion was planned in said territory.
From what I have been reading by the late postclassic period (1200-1500), Mesoamerica as a whole had rapidly expanded and intensified it's trade networks. Common currencies like cacao beans, copper ax heads, gold dust and textiles were widely used, merchant towns formed with huge warehouses of stored goods, and trade relations were established with people far in the south (Zacatula's port in West Mexico was reputed to recieve people from far south which may have been from the Andes). This port was important enough, that the Purepecha empire waged war with Colima over it. And the Maya, especially the Chontal or Putun Maya of Tabasco had long distance traders with far away homes in Honduras (Naco). Royal families from Mayapan were merchants themselves, so they had even greater power among the Maya.
I'm wondering if it's possible Mesoamericans had early forms of banking institutions perhaps that we are unaware of or if they could have developed them supposing no European interference occurred. And could they have developed a capitalist system independently? They seemed to be moving there. I find it interesting also that the Incas had a communist-like system themselves.
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>>2484348
>I find it interesting also that the Incas had a communist-like system themselves.
They didn't.
>The Asiatic mode of production is said to be the initial form of class society, where a small group extracts social surplus through violence aimed at settled or unsettled band communities within a domain. Exploited labour is extracted as forced corvee labour during a slack period of the year (allowing for monumental construction such as the pyramids, ziggurats, ancient Indian communal baths or the Chinese Great Wall). Exploited labour is also extracted in the form of goods directly seized from the exploited communities. The primary property form of this mode is the direct religious possession of communities (villages, bands, hamlets) and all those within them. The ruling class of this society is generally a semi-theocratic aristocracy which claims to be the incarnation of gods on earth. The forces of production associated with this society include basic agricultural techniques, massive construction and storage of goods for social benefit (granaries).
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>>2485802
Didn't they have a collectivist economy and engage in minimal trade outside of frontier zones?
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