Calpulli

In pre-Columbian Aztec society, a calpulli (from Classical Nahuatl calpōlli, Nahuatl pronunciation: [kaɬˈpoːlːi], meaning "large house") were commoner housing split into kin-based land holding groups in Nahua city-states, also known as altepetl. In Spanish sources, they are termed parcialidades or barrios. The inhabitants or the calpullis were collectively responsible for different organizational and religious tasks in relation to the larger altepetl. These groups were not simply grouped based on family units; a calpulli could be created based on an extended family, being part of a similar ethnic or national background, or having similar skills and tribute demands. Because of this, calpullis were structured in a vast array of ways. This misunderstanding that calpullis were family units can be blamed on the fact that the word “family” refers to different things in English and Nahuatl. In English, family refers to blood relation, while in Nahuatl it refers to the people whom you live with.

The primary functions of the calpullis were to coordinate land use for growing crops, food production, and manufacturing tribute. The most typical forms of agriculture in Aztec society were chinampas and check dam terrace farming. Chinampas were particularly effective because of their built-in drainage systems. This not only allowed for the flow of water and sediment but they also were used as a place to store the mud produced from this water and sediment. They were then able to use this mud as fertilizer for the chinampas. Tribute was a large part of Aztec society and the way in which the nobles supported themselves. The commoners were typically expected to pay tribute around four times a year and the most common item of tribute was cotton textiles. Calpullis were also places for education. Women were taught to cook, sew, care for children, and work with textiles; while they operated as the Tēlpochcalli schools for young men to learn to be warriors. Aztec warfare was extremely important and men were expected to go to battle beginning at the age of 15. Aztec warfare was organized so that men would go to fight for each of their calpullis, so they were fighting for their familial pride.

Although extended families farmed the land, they usually did not own it. They were allowed to use it by the calpulli to which they belonged. Calpulli were groups of families that controlled the use of the land and performed other territorial functions, as well as social ones. The majority of calpulli had a telpuchcalli, a school for young men. Another function of the calpulli was a taxation unit. The empire collected taxes from each calpulli, which in turn collected taxes from its member families.

Most rural calpulli were based on lineage. In other words, the members of a rural calpulli believed that they were descended from a common ancestor. In the cities, the calpulli were based more on geographical, political, and occupational similarities than lineage. In both cases, calpulli were tightly knit and sometimes were even somewhat isolated from other calpulli, both politically and physically. The nature of the interrelatedness between the members of the calpulli is a matter of debate. Traditionally it has been argued that the calpulli was firstly a family unit in which the inhabitants were related through blood and intermarriage. Other scholars such as Van Zantwijk (1985) deny that this was necessarily the case. Van Zantwijk demonstrates that at least in some altepetl the family-based nature of the calpulli was replaced with a hierarchical structure based on wealth and prestige. Newcomers from other altepetl were allowed to settle down and become part of the calpulli. Michael Smith (2003) shows that in some Nahua cities, notably Otumba, each calpulli specialised in a trade and took almost the form of a trade guild.

Calpullis of Tenochtitlan

The wards of Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital, were also known as calpulli. The exact number of calpullis within the city is not known but Van Zantwijk (1985) based his calculations on a wide array of ethnohistorical sources. Van Zantwijk reached a number of 20 calpullis, 7 of which represented the original founding groups of Tenochtitlan and the remaining 13 being composed by groups coming to the city at later points in its development. Van Zantwijk assumed that each calpulli was ritually connected to one of the twenty day names. Below is a list of the twenty calpullis of Tenochtitlan based on the data from Van Zantwijk (1985):

Founding calpullis

• Tlacatecpan
• Tlacochcalco
• Huitznahuac
• Yopico
• Chalman
• Izquitlan
• Cihuatecpan

New calpullis

• Chililico
• Coatlan
• Apanteuctlan
• Acatliacapan
• Tzonmolco
• Tezcacoac
• Tlamatzinco
• Molonco Itlillan
• Tecpantzinco
• Xochicalco
• Coatlxoxouhcan
• Cuauhquiahuac
• Atempan

References

• Carrasco, Pedro (2001). ""Calpulli"". In Davíd Carrasco (ed.). The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures. Vol. 1. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195108156. OCLC 1169898498.
• Smith, Michael E. (2003). The Aztecs (2nd ed.). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing. ISBN 0-631-23015-7. OCLC 48579073.
• Townsend, Richard F. (2000). The Aztecs (2nd revised ed.). London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN 0-500-28132-7. OCLC 43337963.
• Zantwijk, Rudolph van (1985). The Aztec Arrangement: The Social History of Pre-Spanish Mexico. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 0-8061-1677-3. OCLC 11261299.
• Nichols, Deborah L.; Rodríguez-Alegría, Enrique (December 5, 2016). The Oxford Handbook of the Aztecs. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199341962.
• Hicks, Frederic (May 1982). "Tetzcoco in the Early 16th Century: The State, the City, and the "Calpolli"". American Ethnologist. Vol. 9 (2): 230–249. Retrieved 7 March 2023. {{cite journal}}: |volume= has extra text (help)
• Smith, Michael E. (September 1997). "Life in the Provinces of the Aztec Empire". Scientific American. Vol. 277 (3): 76–83. Retrieved 8 March 2023. {{cite journal}}: |volume= has extra text (help)
• Holt, Emily (May 1, 2018). Water and Power in Past Societies. SUNY Press. ISBN 9781438468754.
• Alcock, Susan E.; D'Altroy, Terence N.; Morrison, Kathleen D.; Sinopoli, Carla M. (June 2009). Empires: Perspectives from Archaeology and History. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521112345.