Inka Khipu- Chulpaca, Peru, A.D. 1425 to 1532

By: Incan Nation

This is called a khipu and it was used by the Inca Native Americans for record keeping. They are made of multiple string hanging from a horizontal string. These strings include quantitative information such as tax records and inventories, indicated by the varying length, twining techniques, number of knots and color. This system helped the Incas to be one of the most successful and long lived.

From this artifact it is evident that much of Incan economy was developed through trade and negotiations with other Native American and even European groups. They were a highly advanced group of people at the time. The way that they kept their records is not only innovative but also ingenious. This further disproves the idea that Native Americans were “uncivilized” or “barbaric”.  They had a bureaucracy in which they used the khipu as an accounting device. Further research also showed that the khipu might also be a writing system.

I think that American history texts and information does not pay respect to the Native American culture and how highly advanced they were for the time period they existed in. Native Americans are commonly taught to students as people who were a small group of people who practiced unusual beliefs. However, from artifacts like the khipu and groups like the Incan empire, it could be seen that Native American cultures could be compared to classical cultures of Asia and Europe. Native Americans had forms of order, a bureaucratic system of government, and a source and system for economic stability. Furthermore, the Khipu also explains why Spanish colonizers were so eager to come to the Americas. The Incas had already built a fundamental trading system and economy, it was easy for the Spanish immigrants to take over and integrate modern techniques for their own benefit. If the colonizers had come at a later time, the Incas would have been able to resist the take over with a greater force.