Inca Quipu Knotted-Cord Records

Type Object Region Peru Time c. 1000–1572

Quipu (quipu/khipu) is an Andean record system encoding information with knots in colored cotton and linen cords, used by the Inca Empire for censuse…

Timeline

c. 1000–1300Central Peruvian coast and highlands · PeruThe Wari Empire and successor polities already used multicolored knotted cords to record accounts and ritual information, providing the technical and cognitive foundation for the Inca quipu administrative system.
1381–1390Cusco · Cusco RegionAs the Inca state expanded into surrounding valleys, quipu were used to record the population and tribute quotas of new vassals; local quipucamayoc sent knotted accounts to Cusco, forming an early administrative information network.
c. 1470–1532Administrative nodes throughout the Inca Empire · AndesAt the imperial zenith the quipu system unified encoding rules, covering storage, labor service allocation, military mobilization, and historical records, working with the road relay stations to aggregate information across regions.

Sources

Inka History in Knots: Reading Khipus as Primary Sources — Gary Urton (2017)
Quipu — Encyclopaedia Britannica https://www.britannica.com/topic/quipu