Spaniards Need
The Spaniards, of course, at first needed Indian maize, fruits and vegetables to survive. In addition to designating city markets, the first viceroys imposed the requirement that Indians within a certain distance of the capital must bring maize and other foodstuffs to sell. Even after the settlers grew their own wheat and other necessities, they sought Indian cacao and rich red and blue dyestuffs. The two trading economies thus existed side by side and intersected in the markets and also on the road. Although each side incorporated valued elements of the other's commerce, this was not an equal arrangement because the Spaniards held most of the political power. This is easily seen by the history of the pochteca, the elite longdistance merchants of the Aztec Empire. Scholars differ about how well they fared after the Conquest. Through the 1540s, at least, Indians claiming to be pochteca or their descendants continued a flourishing long-distance trade. They quickly grasped the great advantage of the mules and plied their wares over a large region. They were harassed, however, by the Spanish alcaldes mayores (local governors), who wanted to monopolize the products in their jurisdictions. Spanish competition and loss of Indian interest in the Aztec luxury wares that had been pochteca specialties compressed these professionals into a broad petty trader group. The 1560s seem to have been the turning point in the pochteca's change of status. The culmination of this process came when the local Spanish officials imposed the repartimiento de comerclo (forced sale of goods) on the Indian villages. They paid below market prices for Indian corn and cloaks and charged the Indians above market prices for the cloth, mules, and ribbons that they sold them in return.