ABSTRACT
The role of gift exchange in ordering social relations and creating ties of dependency has received a lot of attention in recent years. In Aztec Mexico, a major objective of empire building was to increase the proportion of the population whose prestations were forcibly extracted. The evidence from ancient Mexico generally seems to be that when tribute was demanded, certain lands were set aside to provide it, or certain small "barrios" were designated to give it. The central power is strong because it controls some strategic element in the process of production, such as waterworks, and also some strategic element of coercion, such as a standing army of superior military capability, and so can collect the tribute directly without having to depend on local elites. Dependency based on forcible extraction provided the elite not only with military service and corvee labor, but also with routine labor on a regular basis at whatever task the lord assigned.
