Governments

The Incas had the largest Empire that South America had ever seen at the time. This was because their army was very strong and they conquered neighbouring lands. Incan governments were very advanced compared to other tribes. The Empire was run by an emperor, with nobles chosen by the emperor controlling provinces on his behalf. Cuzco, the capital city, was the center of government, learning, religion and trade. If someone wanted to send a message quickly, they could use the relay runners. The relay runners can carry messages at speeds up to 250 miles or 402 kilometers a day. This helped the Empire to run properly.
The Incas did not have a written language. To keep records and statistics, the government used quipus. Quipus are knotted strings which show information by colour and and the distance of the knots from the rope binding all the quipus together. Some uses of quipus are census (a count of all the people in the area, and how they make a living), birth records, death records, etc. so that the government can tax people properly.

                             Quipus strands tied onto string　
This is a picture of strands of quipus. As you can see, there are different colours on each strand, representing different topics. Also, the knots are in different places, to show numbers using distance.