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Ever wonder what the Aztecs used for money?

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posted on Jul, 9 2011 @ 01:53 PM
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Cacao beans!

That's right, unsweetened
dried out chocolate beans as money.
In the Aztec empire money grows on trees.



The only plant in the world that bears it's
fruit on the trunk and not on branches.
The fruit that grows in the midst
of the garden. I wonder why
it was originally verboten
to eat or even touch,
for gardeners.
It's money!



Well we have
lots of money types
but lets take a closer look
at one of the, arguably, more
primitive forms of money and it's use.



fully ripe avocado = 1 bean
large tomato = 1 bean
turkey egg = 3 beans
pumpkin = 4 beans
small rabbit = 30 cacao beans
turkey hen = 100 cacao beans
0.62kg gold statue = 250 beans
ones own child sells for about 600 cacao beans.



The royal storehouses had “vaults” full of this currency. One estimate listed the yearly expenditure of dried beans at 11,680,000. Some of these beans went to pay the king’s attendants. Others went into the king’s chocolate drinks—and he drank a lot of chocolate. Hernán Cortés relate that when Moctezuma II, emperor of the Aztecs, dined he took no other beverage than chocolate, served in a golden goblet and eaten with a golden spoon. Flavored with vanilla and spices, his chocolate was whipped into a froth that dissolved in the mouth. It is reported that no fewer than 50 portions each day may have been consumed by Montezuma II , and 200 more by the nobles of his court.





The tree is called Theobroma Cacao which literally means the food of the gods.
In the picture above Cacao tribute is drawn next to the two leopard skins.
-Codex Mendoza (c. 1541) Each flag above it represents 20 loads,
so 200 loads total was required in tribute from this tribe.

Now what does this tell us about the current day.
Well it looks like the Aztec court consumed
nine percent of the budget which makes
our current administration running at
twenty five to thirty percent look
worse for us than the Aztecs.
Second the rulers were
consumers and ruled
the producers.

Where
this day we have
rule by the producers
and the ruled are consumers.
I guess since we can't eat the money
now the terms of the game have been reversed.


?

David Grouchy



posted on Jul, 9 2011 @ 01:55 PM
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Aztecs were just creepy with all their ritual murder and stuff.

Very scary people.



posted on Jul, 9 2011 @ 02:04 PM
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Originally posted by kro32
Aztecs were just creepy with all their ritual murder and stuff.

Very scary people.


You would be into ritual murder too if your money supply was dependent on the weather....




posted on Jul, 9 2011 @ 02:06 PM
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reply to post by boncho
 


Naw I think I would change my money supply.

But that's just me. Don't think i'd have the stomach to murder 20,000 people everytime it rained or a volcano blew up.



posted on Jul, 9 2011 @ 02:10 PM
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11,680,000 Beans?

Kinda puts a new spin on the term 'Bean Counters'.

Sorry...couldn't resist.




edit on 9-7-2011 by jude11 because: (no reason given)



posted on Jul, 9 2011 @ 02:23 PM
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reply to post by davidgrouchy
 




This guy must have been RICH!


Holding a cacao bean


[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/2f81ce3d30fb.jpg[/atsimg]Aztec Figures
edit on 9-7-2011 by SLAYER69 because: (no reason given)



posted on Jul, 9 2011 @ 02:35 PM
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Heh... I wonder if growing Caocao trees was forbidden... I'd a had a whole farm of 'em


If so, I'd a learnt hydroponics real quick!


Any evidence how wide spread Caocao tree currencies were honored? Could I have gone to California and bought some pine nuts with 'em?

Wonder if they had a Dept. of Caocao Bean Comptrol... tax the bean transports and sacrifice illegal growers!


No wonder there were so many sacrifices... everyone wanted to grow their own tree!



posted on Jul, 9 2011 @ 04:29 PM
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Archaeologists have found cocoa beans that have been halved and the center removed and replaced with sand and the now empty shell sealed with wax coloured to look like the bean. It is also reported that counterfeit beans were made from ash and other ingredients have been found too. Counterfeiting has a long history.



posted on Jul, 9 2011 @ 04:44 PM
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Originally posted by Hanslune
Archaeologists have found cocoa beans that have been halved and the [color=gold] center removed and replaced with sand and the now empty shell sealed with wax coloured to look like the bean. It is also reported that counterfeit beans were made from ash and other ingredients have been found too. Counterfeiting has a long history.


Got to get that weight right.

But wow! Thanks for the post. I really had no idea, nor had ever considered.

Counterfeit chocolate beans.


David Grouchy
edit on 9-7-2011 by davidgrouchy because: format



posted on Jul, 9 2011 @ 07:17 PM
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Originally posted by davidgrouchy
Cacao beans!

That's right, unsweetened
dried out chocolate beans as money.
In the Aztec empire money grows on trees.


I believe they called them cocoabucks.

Harte



posted on Jul, 9 2011 @ 08:31 PM
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Originally posted by davidgrouchy

The only plant in the world that bears it's
fruit on the trunk and not on branches.


What about a banana tree ?

Did you know:

Bananas are naturally slightly radioactive,[9][10] more so than most other fruits, because of their high potassium content, and the small amounts of the isotope potassium-40 found in naturally occurring potassium.[11] Proponents of nuclear power sometimes refer to the banana equivalent dose of radiation to support their arguments.

Source
edit on 9/7/11 by Freedom_is_Slavery because: Radioactive bananas



posted on Jul, 9 2011 @ 08:34 PM
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Interesting. A program dealing with the history of money was just on my local version of PBS.

2nd line



posted on Jul, 9 2011 @ 08:52 PM
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Originally posted by Freedom_is_Slavery

Originally posted by davidgrouchy

The only plant in the world that bears it's
fruit on the trunk and not on branches.


What about a banana tree ?

The trunk of a banana tree is actually underground.

The fruit comes from a blossom on the leaves, the leaves being what we think of as the "trunk" of the tree.

Harte



posted on Jul, 16 2011 @ 09:04 AM
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Originally posted by Harte
The trunk of a banana tree is actually underground.

The fruit comes from a blossom on the leaves, the leaves being what we think of as the "trunk" of the tree.

Harte



I had no idea.

Are you telling me that a Banana plant is really like a giant carrot?


David Grouchy




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