Annuaire démographique

"The Incas can be characterized as methodical, highly organized, concerned with detail, and intensive data users. The Inca bureaucracy continuously monitored the areas under its control. They received many messages and sent many instructions daily. The messages included details of resources such as items that were needed or available in storehouses, taxes owed or collected, census information, the output of mines, or the composition of work force. The messages were transmitted rapidly using the extensive road system via a simple, but effective, system of runners... The message had to be clear, compact, and portable. Quipu-makers were responsible for encoding and decoding the information. A quipu is an assemblage of colored knotted cotton cords... The colors of the cords, the way the cords are connected together, the relative placement of the cords, the spaces between the cords, the types of knots on the individual cords, and the relative placement of the knots are all part of the logical-numerical recording."