Ryan Freiwald

3/14/16

MAJ. Sook Ha

CIS270WX-02

Writing Assignment 2 Draft #1

The Inca Indians were the first group of people to successfully establish a community/empire in the Andres Mountains of Peru. This tribe, known as Tawantinsuyu, was established in 12^th century A.D. and survived until 1572 when the Incans were conquered by the Spanish. The remains of what is left of the Incan empire tells a tail of ingenuity, rich culture, and adaptation. Machu Picchu, being the capital city of the Incan empire holds the most of these clues to what the Incan empire was like before its overthrow.(history) Being that Tawantinsuyu was a large empire, it had multiple kings who ruled under the main emperor. With this in mind, how, in the Andes Mountains, with steep cliffs and rolling hills did the emperor communicate and pass orders onto the lesser kings. This is the topic that will be discussed in this paper. (wikiE)

In order to communicate across the empire, small foot paths were created. These foot paths were dirt and were about as complex as the paths the deer create in the woods. However, these paths were not just for common travel. They were used by the Chasquis, an elite group of Incan runners whose sole purpose in the entire world was to deliver messages and gifts. The Chasquis were usually teen boys who were in peak physical conditioning and they had to be in order to survive and deliver messages on time. On average the Chasquis would run 240km per day which is equivalent to 149.1 miles which is equal 6.2 marathons. The Chasquis delivery system was similar to the modern “Pony Express” in the way that when they reached their destination they were provided with a place to stay and food. These places to stay were known as “Tambo’s” and were similar to the modern rest houses with the stables. Finally, after a night of comfort, they were send back out onto the road to return the relay/ response gathered to a king or the emperor. (wikiC)

The messages and gifts that the Chasquis delivered were known by the Incas as “khipus” which directly translates to mean “talking knots.” This is because the messages that were delivered were literally chords of string of varying colors with knots tied into them. The strings were usually made of either cotton or camelid fiber; both plants that were grown and commonly available to the Incan people. Another this that should be said about the Chasquis runners is that when they were tasked to deliver a message, they were the only people who knew how to translate the message other than the person who sent it and other Chasquis runners. The different color strings had meaning and the number knots tied/ the location of the knots of the string all had meaning. These colors and string structures were all default throughout the empire. In order to create a message groups of these strings were tied together that could range from 1 to 2000 strings. The khipus messages aided in “collecting data and keeping records, ranging from monitoring tax obligations, properly collecting census records, calendrical information, and military organization.”(wikiQ)

A major topic of discussion that comes up when talking about the Incan empire is “why did they have to use the Chasquis runners in the first place?” The Incans had livestock such as goats and other small animals of that nature but could not use them for the following reasons: 1. the animals were to small and not strong enough to quickly transport a full grown person and 2. The livestock was raised in the low lands and not used to the altitude that the Incans were accustomed to. However, these were only two of the problems. The Andes Mountains are very steep and some parts that have to be crossed are only wide enough for one to two people. This is why individual runners were needed. (history)

The ability to pass information over large areas is an important aspect of every civilization. It allows for the dissemination of information, ideas, and cultural changes in places that are outside of a comfortable distance and ultimately brings people together. In the case of the Incas, the runner were important for information technology because they provided the link between ideas and ultimately lead to technological progression.

Works Cited

1. http://www.history.com/topics/inca (history)
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quipu (wikiQ)
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chasqui (wikiC)
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inca_Empire (wikiE)