Free An Edible History of Humanity by Tom Standage

state. It was corvée workers who built the pyramids; surviving ration lists show that they received
     daily portions of bread and beer, supplemented with onions and fish. A similar scheme prevailed in Mesopotamia, where land
     was owned by wealthy families, temples, city councils, or the palace. Farmers handed over a fraction of their harvest to rent
     land, and the king levied taxes on non-palace fields. In this way most of the surplus went to the king, the temples belonging
     to various gods, and landowners. As in Egypt, corvée labor was used in large construction projects.
    In some cultures, however, taxes were paid solely in the form of labor. In Shang China, rural clans worked their own communally
     held fields, but they also cultivated special fields, the produce from which went to the king, to rural governors, or to other
     officials. Similarly, Inca farming families cultivated their own fields and those belonging to their clan, or ayllu . Produce from the ayllu’s fields supported the local chief and the cult of the local god. Farmers also spent part of their
     time working on state-owned fields and on those belonging to temples of more important gods. This scheme arose from a deal
     struck when ayllu, which were previously autonomous communities, were incorporated into the Inca kingdom: The clans were allowed
     to keep their own land and its produce, provided they supplied labor to work state-owned fields in return. This meant that
     the Inca king was not given any food as tax by his subjects, which would have placed him in their debt; instead, they worked
     his land and he took the produce, which was transported to regional storehouses. Inca farmers also had to carry out corvée
     work from time to time, doing construction work, mining, or military ser vice. All this was recorded using a system of colored,
     knotted strings called quipus .
    Aztec society was divided into landholding groups called calpullis . Unlike Inca ayllu, all the members of which were equals under the chief, calpullis were overseen by a few high-ranking families
     who belonged to the Aztec nobility. Each family cultivated both its own fields and shared fields, the produce from which supported
     the calpulli’s nobles, temples, teachers, and soldiers. Calpullis also had to provide a certain amount of tax and corvée labor
     to the Aztec state. In addition, the king, state institutions, and important nobles and warriors owned their own land, which
     was worked by landless farmers who were given just enough food to subsist on. The rest of the produce from this land went
     directly to its owners.
    Food also flowed from subject states in the form of tribute, extracted by dominant states and city-states from the weaker
     neighbors under threat of military force, usually after a military defeat. Following the defeat of one city-state by another
     in Mesopotamia, for example, the losing city would be looted and would also have to pay regular tribute to the winning city.
     Sargon of Akkad, who conquered the city-states of Mesopotamia around 2300 B.C. and unified them into an empire, demanded vast
     amounts of tribute from each city: Inscriptions speak of entire warehouses of grain being paid. As well as emphasizing his
     superiority, this kept the subject cities weak and Sargon’s capital strong. It also allowed him to support a huge staff: He
     boasted of feeding 5,400 men every day. By redistributing tribute among their followers, rulers could reinforce their leadership
     and maintain support for further military campaigns.
    Perhaps the best example of tribute collection is that of the Aztec “triple alliance” between Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, and Tlacopan.
     These three city-states collected tribute from the whole of central Mexico. Nearby subject states in and around the Valley
     of Mexico had to supply huge quantities of food: Every day the chief of Tex-coco received enough maize, beans, squashes, chiles,
     tomatoes, and salt to feed more than