Calpulli

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In precolumbian Aztec society a Calpulli (from the Nahuatl[kalpo:lli] meaning "large house") was the designation of an organisational unit below the level of the Altepetl "citystate". A Nahua citystate was divided into a number of calpullis that each constituted a unit where the calpulli inhabitants were collectively responsible for different organizational and religious tasks in relation to the larger altepetl. Calpullis controlled land which was available for calpulli members to cultivate and also operated the Telpochcalli schools for young men of commoner descent.

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 where the inhabitants were related through blood and intermarriage. Other scholars such Van Zantwijk (1985) denies that this was necessarily the case and he 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 where newcomers from other altepetl were allowed to settle 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.

[edit] The 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) basing his calculations on a wide array of ethnohistorical sources reaches 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. 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

[edit] References

• Smith, Michael E. (2003). The Aztecs, 2nd ed., Oxford: Blackwell Publishers. 

• Townsend, Richard F. (2000). The Aztecs, revised ed., New York: Thames and Hudson. 

• Zantwijk,Rudolph van (1985). The Aztec Arrangement: The Social History of Pre-Spanish Mexico. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press,.