Corn In The Aztec Religion

out of the needs to grow more items for consumptions. Utilizing flat land that was later layered, this process allowed for underutilized land to be used for more sustainable, alternative food resources. Corn was also another large aspect in the religion of many in the Americas. Wither it be the Mayans and their creation myth surrounding the god Popol Vuh , or the Aztecs and their reverence for the sun god Centeotl many of these indigenous groups saw corn as the very reason of their existence, and would go to great lengths in order to help proliferate these stories throughout their various empires. An example of this proliferation was done by the Pochteca, a class who Aztec merchants who acted on behalf of the state who would use it as a form

of currency throughout the Americas, making it the heartbeat of many of these economies. Whole livelihoods were surrounded by the success and failure of it, and these merchants who would travel long distances, even going beyond the territory of the empire to sell goods to neighboring tribes. One other important reason this class of people existed was because they also functioned as de facto spies in the empire, which allowed the Aztecs to either to take precaution measures to prevent future attacks but to also to learn what neighboring groups needed or lacked. However, there could also be items they sought as well. Thus, by learning about these deficiencies it would allow trade in Mesoamerica to flourish further and creating opportunities where trade would enable all to benefit from.
The trade of other items such as cocoa and herbs had a tremendous impact on many of the civilizations in this region of the world. Like the reverence for corn, cocoa was also used as well as highly sought after and made part of the currency circulation, with the value depending on the quality of the individual bean itself. Cocoa would also define the social classes of the Aztec empire, because whoever contained the biggest amount would make up the higher classes