Mesoamerican Trade Network

Timeline

1. c. 1428–1521Tenochtitlan · Valley of MexicoThe great market of Tenochtitlan gathered merchants from Oaxaca, Yucatán, the Isthmus of Central America, and the Pacific coast, with pochteca (professional long-distance merchants) organizing porterage caravans, exchanging obsidian, greenstone, cacao, cloth, and slaves along fixed trade routes, forming a dual circulation system of imperial finance and markets.
2. 1521–1530New Spain and the Isthmus of Central America · New SpainAfter the fall of Tenochtitlan, Spanish colonists cut off some tribute trade routes and reorganized market licenses, but indigenous communities still maintained regional exchange through porterage and canoes. In the 1520s the Veracruz–Mexico City–Oaxaca axis gradually linked up with transatlantic supply lines, forming a new pattern where indigenous networks and colonial shipping overlapped.
3. 1530–1600Veracruz–Guatemala isthmus · Caribbean SeaAround 1530 royal tariffs, encomienda labor obligations, and the supply needs of the Seville fleet pushed trade routes toward concentration in port cities, with Veracruz becoming the hub for Atlantic goods entering the interior, but inland porterage in Oaxaca and Yucatán and Caribbean canoe trade continued for decades under the colonial framework.