Inca Communication Like the ancient West African civilizations, the Inca did not develop a written language. They did, however have knowledge of advanced mathematics. They used knotted string called quipu to keep track of population, taxes, amount of food in storehouses, etc. The quipu worked like an abacus in that different knots at various places on the string represented different places on the number line.
The Inca were South American Indian people who ruled one of the largest and richest empires in the America's. The Inca Empire began to expand about 1438 and occupied a vast region that centered on the capital, Cusco, in southern Peru. Within a hundred years, the Inca conquered a number of different tribes expanding their area of influence outward from their home in the Cusco valley. The Inca Empire eventually totaled about 906,500 sq km. (Patterson 1). This territory centered on the peaks of the Andes, but extended to the pacific coast and the Amazon basin.
The Macchu Picchu, a UNESCO World Heritage Site ne...
The Macchu Picchu, a UNESCO World Heritage Site ne...
Inca DovesEvery territorial gain resulted in another war, which expanded the borders of the empire again. The larger the Inca Empire became, the greater the need for war to control territories the empire gained. The Inca were a warlike people and a peaceful god like the one the coastal tribes worshiped wouldn't have met the needs for the Inca emperor to expand his empire. Inti, the sun god the Incas worshiped, satisfied those needs, since he was a cruel and warlike god. That is why the Inca emperor forced everyone to worship this god with the emperor himself as an incarnation of the deity (Salentiny 2).
With an empire that ran almost the entire length of South America, the Inca needed a way to get messages from one place to another quickly. They developed an extensive network of roads and...