Editing Tribute (section)

=== Tributes as a form of government ===
The [[Aztecs]] used tributes as a means for maintaining control over conquered areas. This meant that rather than replacing existing political figures with Aztec rulers or colonizing newly conquered areas, the Aztecs would simply collect tributes.<ref name="Motyl">{{cite book |last1=Motyl |first1=Alexander |title=Imperial Ends: the Decay, Collapse, and Revival of Empires |date=2001 |publisher=Columbia University Press |location=New York |isbn=0231121105 |pages=13, 19-21, 32-36}}</ref> Ideally, there was no interference in the local affairs of conquered peoples unless these tributes were not paid.<ref name="Berdan">{{cite book |last1=Berdan |first1=Frances |last2=Hodge |first2=Mary |last3=Blanton |first3=Richard |title=Aztec Imperial Strategies |date=1996 |publisher=Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection |location=Washington, D.C. |isbn=9780884022114}}</ref>

There were two types of provinces that paid tribute to the Aztec Empire. First, there were strategic provinces.<ref name="Michael Smith">{{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Michael Ernest |title=The Aztecs |date=2012 |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |location=Chichester, West Sussex |isbn=978-1405194976 |edition=3rd}}</ref> These provinces were considered [[client state]]s, as they consensually paid tributes in exchange for good relations with the Aztecs.<ref name="Michael Smith" /> Second, there were tributary provinces or [[tributary state]]s.<ref name="Michael Smith" /> These provinces were mandated to pay a regular tribute, whether they wanted to or not.<ref name="Michael Smith" />