Inca Quipu Accounting System

Timeline

1. 1400–1532Cusco · CuscoThe Inca Empire used quipus to record provincial population, storehouses, textiles and labor allocations; quipucamayocs formed a key link in the imperial bureaucracy, with information aggregated to Cusco via the relay-station network.
2. 1551–1560Lima · LimaIn the 1550s colonial authorities still relied on quipucamayocs to interpret knotted records for censuses and tribute collection; Spanish written archives and quipus ran in parallel, a distinctive feature of early colonial Andean information governance.
3. 1580–1800Andean highlands · AndesAfter colonial administration became fully written, quipus declined in official settings, but some Indian communities still used knotted cords for rituals, land memory and local accounts, making them an important part of Andean cultural heritage.