The quipu was used in the Ancient Inca Civilization as a form of record keeping and communication. The quipu was made up of  cotton and wool cords that hung from a rope like material. In order to represent different objects or subjects the cotton and wool could be dyed with vegetables. Many other ancient civilizations had written records but the Incans had the quipu. The quipu was used in order to create a form of economic administrastion.

The quipu was developed in order to establish a form of record keeping. “...[A]rt of the Inca state's administration was the regular collection of statistical data on people and resources. These data allowed to organise the state's economy as a whole. The quipus were the bookkeepers’ books” (The Incan Quipus). This quote is important to acknowledge because it helps you understand how the quipu was able to establish an economy. Agriculture commodities and animal inventory recorded by the quipu. The economy the quipu created helped the Incans to conquer present-day Peru and the Anden Mountains.

Different subjects were communicated through the quipu. The quipucamayocs were quipu experts and they could be found in every community within the Inca Empire. They were responsible for creating and deciphering the quipu. “There were different quipus, or strands, for different subjects, such as war, government, taxes, ceremonies and lands” (Subject Indicators and the Decipherment of Genre on Andean Khipus). There were also people responsible for passing on official messages. The name for these people is chaski. They carried a bag that held a quipu and a shell used as a trumpet. They covered 6 to 9 miles before they reach a chaskiwasi (a small house) where they pass the information on to the next Chaski. This process is repeated until the message reaches its final destination. Their job was considered so important that they were not liable to jobs that others had to do such as farming or mining.