In the Aztec society, which relied heavily on crop-based agriculture, economy developed itself in two different, independent spheres: the first sector consisted of the upper-classes exercising their power over the lower-classes through the conveyance of land access via land leases (the leases implicated in the payment of tributes to the landlords, and, therefore, the main foundation on which the State’s funds were built); and the second sector consisted of regular commerce, in which all sorts of products were exchanged, from crops and animals to jewellery, rich fabrics and even slaves. This sort of commerce was very intense, and it even established transactions with other parts of Central America, fundamenting quite a solid economy.
