Episodes 6, 8, 18, 33 - The first guides our heroes
had to finding the Cities of Gold were the Golden Quipus.
quipus (k´pz) (KEY </65/12.html>) , groups of
strings, knotted for tally, which were used by the Inca for keeping
records and sending messages. The quipu was based on the decimal system.
Small cords with knots in them were attached to a main cord or a top
band; the color of the cord, its place, its size, and the knots in
it were all of significance to the record or the message. The quipus
had to be made up and deciphered by specially trained officials. The
method of deciphering is not known today, although Andean shepherds
still use a sort of quipu.
The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright © 2001 Columbia
University Press.
The example above shows how the Inca calculated numbers on the Quipu
. The knots were tied in the cords to represent units of ten and multiples
of ten according to where they were placed. The closer the knot was
placed to the top the higher the number and vice versa. At the very
top of the cord the highest number represented was 10,000, at the
bottom the ones. The cord had to be long enough to provide for nine
knots between one set of 10's and the next.
The color of the cords was also significant in that it represented
the item which was being counted. The color depended upon the nature
of the object; yellow for gold, red for the army, and white for peace.
As the colors were limited, some colors had different meanings depending
on the general purpose of the Quipu in question. Objects that people
were unable to distinguish by color were ranked according to quality.
For example, in a Quipu of weaponry inventory a lance would be first,
as it was considered the most honorable weapon by the Inca, then the
arrows, bows, and axes, etc.
The Quipu were the method by which the Inca consolidated their hold
over the kingdom of the four directions. This message device could
be carried by runners to all corners of their world. The statistics
it relayed enabled the ruling class to know the exact economic conditions
of all regions of their empire and act accordingly to prevent such
catastrophes as drought and famine.
This marvelous method of communication which they used was nothing
more than a series of knotted multicolored strings. Although this
instrument was not a mode of writing or a system of calculating numbers,
it served as the mnemonic device by which the Incas sent messages,
recorded their laws, and decided the fate of conquered territories.
An example of how complicated a story the Quipu could tell is given
in Louis Baudin's book A Socialist Empire: The Incas of Peru. If an
official wanted to describe the reign of the first Inca, Manco Capac,
and say that before him there was no king, chief, or religion and
in the fourth year of his reign Manco Capac subdued ten provinces.
Also, the conquering of these provinces cost him a certain number
of warriors and in one province he seized a thousand units of gold
and three thousand units of silver. After conquering all these provinces,
he had a feast of thanksgiving for his victory and to celebrate the
honor of the Sun-god.
The Quipucamayu, the keeper of the Quipus, would use a black cord,
the color that indicated time, as the central string to hang the others
from. Then he would suspend from it a lot of uncolored strings with
many little knots tied in them. When he reached the center of the
cord, he would make one large knot and run crimson thread through
it, this is the color of the Inca. The reader of the Quipu, seeing
this system would read it as saying before the first emperor (crimson
thread) for a very long time (many threads and knots), the people
had no ruler(no scarlet threads), no chiefs (no deep purple), no religion
(no blue threads), and no administrative departments (no variegated
threads) from all this he would conclude that there was nothing at
all. In the scarlet thread would be made four small knots to say that
the events being recounted took place in the fourth year of that ruler;
and to the middle knot he would attach a gray thread which he tied
with ten small knots which indicated subdued provinces. Each of these
knots would have fastened to it a green thread on which he would indicate
with knots the number of enemy killed and would add little strings
to name their native province. In this same way he would add a red
string, which is the color of the imperial army, to describe the number
of men killed and the provinces they came from. To describe the nature
and amount of the treasure gained a string of yellow for gold and
white for silver would be suspended from the thread of the province
it was taken from. On this thread knots would be tied in the yellow
thread to indicate one thousand and on the white thread knots would
be tied with knots indicating three thousand. Last, he would add a
twist of thread with the colors of blue, white and yellow to indicate
the god who resided in the sky (blue) and made silver (white) and
gold (yellow) and to show that a celebration had been held to honor
him (Baudin 126-7).
http://www.spanish.sbc.edu/MMLatAm/Quipus.html
