It is estimated that the Inca Empire was established 1200 AD and the demise of the Inca Empire in 1532 AD when Francisco Pizzaro desembarked near Tumbas, Peru. The Inca Empire (Tawantinsuyu) spread past modern day Quito, Ecuador down to Santiago, Chile. The empire was separated into four quarters. Cuzco the capital and also the center point that connected the quarters Chichaysuyu, Antisuyu, Cuntisuyu, Collasuyu. The empire was made up of approx. 10 million Inca subjects, 40,000 people were actually considered Incas. Incas were the royal family and its descendants, while the rest were just viewed as Inca subjects.
Both the Wari (600 AD) and Tiwanaku (200 AD) were civilizations that help influence the Inca and decision making, they took from the Wari the idea of a network of roads that would interlace far flung cities, they also learned administrative techniques and the Khipu could possibly have come from the Wari culture, but this was discredited when a khipu was found at Caral. Tiwanaku was the first area out of Cuzco that the Incas conquered. This was a large gain for the Incas because of the source of income from the alpacas and llamas, used as a food source and used the fiber to make textiles.
 |
| Khipu's found at Pachacamac |
Khipu's (literally translated as knot) pictured above were used as record keepers, it is assumed that they may have held information about the empires like tax data or agriculture gains/losses, or the movement of people and cities. The possibilities of what information they hold could be end less. Khipu's as shown have a long length of chord (made out of cotton) with multiple cords attached, there were different sizes and colors. The knots themselves on khipu's could symbolize anything from numbers to words. There is two reasons that we do not fully understand or know how to read a khipu is that they are extraordinarily complex, and that there are only so many remaining. The few number of khipu's remaining - estimated 600 are, this may be because Pizarro was not interested in record keeping and did not bother preserving the khipu's or it could be that the spanish destroyed a large number of khipu's.
*Good website to visualize civilizations spread and change of cultures in South America. http://www.timemaps.com/history/peru-1500bc
