Inca Quipu Record-Keeping

Timeline

1. c. 600–1200Andes of south-central Peru · Andes MountainsCivilizations such as Wari and Tiwanaku already used knotted cords to record goods and accounts, providing a technical and cultural precedent for the Inca quipu system.
2. 1401–1410Cuzco · CuzcoAround 1401–1410, the quipu had become the Cuzco court's core tool for recording tribute, population, and storage, and dedicated officials began to take shape, laying the foundation for information management during the empire's expansion.
3. c. 1450–1532Administrative centers across the Inca Empire · Inca EmpireAt the empire's height, archives were established in each province, periodically consolidating data via quipu and sending it to Cuzco along the road network, forming a statistical and tribute management system covering millions of people.
4. 1532–1580Colonial Peru · PeruAfter the Spanish conquest, colonial authorities ordered large numbers of quipus burned and substituted written script; the reading tradition was interrupted, and only a few physical specimens and oral memories survive today.