The Inca road network: Qhapaq Ñan
Some 40,000 km of roads stitched a mountain empire together, run by relay runners — chasqui — carrying knotted quipu records instead of writing.
Why it matters
The Inca ran a continental state with roads, storehouses and knotted cords — proof that administration can rest on media other than script. Quipu may encode far more than numbers; they are still being decoded.
Related events
Sources
- UNESCO — Qhapaq Ñan