The Chaski

The Great Inka Road:

Engineering an Empire

A Guide for Teachers | Grades 4–12

The Chaski

Ocial Messengers of

the Inka Empire

Above: A paved stretch of Inka road

through the upper Amazon. Near

Chachapoyas, Peru, 2014. Photo by

Inge Schjellerup

Le: A llama caravan carrying salt

from the altiplano to exchange for

maize in Bolivia’s Tarija Valley.

Altiplano de Sama, Tarija, Bolivia,

1995. Photo by Axel E. Nielsen

Map by Daniel G. Cole, Smithsonian

Institution, and Nancy Bratton

Design with core data from ESRI

Smithsonian Institution

Why would the Inka build such a

large road system?

e Inka controlled a huge empire

that ran from Colombia to Chile.

e road system stretched through

the Inka Empire for a total of

40,000 kilometers, or 25,000 miles.

Not only was it the longest road

system of the 1500s, but it was the

best organized.

e road was essential in order to

move people, food, armies, and

information across Inka lands.

e Inka expanded the roads of

previous indigenous cultures and

engineered them into the complex

and sophisticated system that we

know today as the Great Inka Road.

e Inka Road connected the four

suyus, or regions, of the empire.

e road linked people in these

regions to new and unique environ-

ments and resources. As the empire

expanded, the road provided

security, goods, and services to

the people, who in turn gave the

empire the labor it needed. is

reciprocity, a core value of the

Andean people, is known as ayni.

Ayni, or the act of giving back,

was also practiced through a kind

of taxation (mit’a) of the people

by requiring them to build roads,

construct buildings, make textiles

and pottery, and farm. In reciproc-

ity for their service to the state

they received access to a wide

range of goods, such as food and

raw materials.

e road was used only for ocial

state business. Runners, or chaskis,

carrying ocial messages; llama

caravans moving corn, potatoes,

and cotton; soldiers on military

duty; and even the ruler—all

traveled on the Inka Road.

A chaski. Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala

(Quechua, 1535–1616). Pen and ink drawing

published in e First New Chronical and

Good Government (1615). Royal Library,

Copenhagen GKS 2232 4°

What is a chaski?

Chaskis were short-distance relay

runners who delivered ocial

messages and sometimes small

parcels throughout the empire.

Young men, especially those with

superior running skills, were chosen

for this occupation. Because the

Inka had no written language,

messages were memorized and

repeated to the next runner during

the relay. It was essential that

messages be delivered accurately.

Runners were selected through

the mit’a system. Chaskis began

training at an early age under strict

living conditions. eir job was

considered so important that they

were exempt from other mit’a, or

work-based “taxes,” such as

farming or mining.

Runners traveled 10 to 15

kilometers (6 to 9 miles) until

they reached a chaskiwasi, a small

house where another chaski was

waiting to run the next segment

of the relay. Each chaski carried

a small personal bag with light-

weight objects such as a khipu

(an accounting system made up

of hand-tied knots) and a shell

trumpet. Sometimes the runners

carried special goods in

their bags for Inka royalty,

such as fresh sh or mullu

(spiny oyster).

As a runner approached a

chaskiwasi, he sounded

his shell trumpet to alert

the next runner that he

was close. When the

runners met, goods,

khipu, and other

verbal messages were

exchanged before the

next runner le. In this

way, 25 runners could

cover about 240

kilometers (150 miles)

in one day. ey could

travel the distance

between Quito and

Cusco, about 2,000

kilometers (1,250

miles), in a week.

is communication

system was vital in

keeping the govern-

ment linked to the

entire empire.

Focused Looking Activity

Examine the Sandals

Ask your students “how

do they compare to your

sandals?”

Every chaski wore sandals. How are

they made? What are they made from?

Why are they made this way? Are there

any designs? How were they worn? Why

would you need sandals? How did they

fasten? Look for other sandals like this in

the exhibit. Do they look the same?

Different?

Inka sandals, ca.

AD 1450–1532

Cusco Region, Peru

Plant ber

11/363

Photo by Ernest

Amoroso, NMAI, 2014

What is a khipu?

e Inka developed a system

of record-keeping called khipu.

Khipus consisted of knotted

cotton and alpaca ber twisted

into strings, which hung vertically

from a single horizontal string or

wooden bar. Inka administrators

tied knots in the strings to keep

track of activities needed to run

the empire. e khipus served as

records of this information. is

sophisticated system allowed the

Inka to keep accurate records for

the entire empire.

Khipu knots had other uses as well.

ey recorded historical informa-

tion, ceremonies, stories, and may

have served as calendars, too.

e best-known use of khipus was

for accounting purposes. A series

of knots tied at dierent places along

the vertical strings represented

numbers into the thousands. ey

recorded such things as the amount

of corn in a colca (a storage house),

the number of households in a

village, and how many llamas

were traveling on the Inka Road.

Some khipus were very complex

and included hundreds of cords

and knots.

A khipucamayuc. Felipe

Guaman Poma de Ayala

(Quechua, 1535–1616). Pen

and ink drawing published in

e First New Chronical and

Good Government (1615).

Royal Library, Copenhagen

GKS 2232 4°

Chaskis were trained in

tying and interpreting the

khipu knots, but specialists

known as khipucamayucs

had a much fuller under-

standing of the system.

Khipucamayucs received

four years of training to

learn to tie the knots,

read and interpret

khipus, and maintain

a khipu archive.

ese administrators

were placed in every

community in propor-

tion to the population.

However, even the

smallest community

had at least four

khipucamayucs.

We invite you to stop by the

Run The Chaski Relay

game and the Read a Khipu!

interactive during your visit to

The Great Inka Road:

Engineering an Empire.

Have fun learning more about the

important role the chaskis and

khipus played in the Inka Empire.

Inka khipu, ca. AD

1400–1600

Nazca Region, Peru

Cotton, alpaca ber

17/8825

Photo by Ernest

Amoroso, NMAI, 2014

To Learn More About:

Chaski

CHASQI RUNNERS

http://incaencyclopediac.pbworks.com/

w/page/21051595/Chasqi%20Runners

THE CHASQUI – ATHLETE OF THE ANDES

https://suite.io/brenda-ralph-lewis/2q6w22j

Inka

THE INCA ROAD SYSTEM

http://www.historyonformation.com/

expanded.php?id=2639

PBS: NOVA – RISE OF THE INCA

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ancient/inca-empire.html

Khipus

KHIPU DATABASE PROJECT

http://khipukamayuq.fas.harvard.edu/

CRACKING THE KHIPU CODE

http://www.charlesmann.org/articles/Khipu-Science.pdf

KHIPUS: A UNIQUE HUAROCHIRI LEGACY

http://www.anthropology.wisc.edu/

salomon/chaysimire/khipus.php

STRING, AND KNOT, THEORY OF INCA WRITING

http://www.ee.ryerson.ca/~elf/abacus/inca-khipu.html

Generous support

for e Great Inka

Road: Engineering

an Empire project is

provided by

AmericanIndian.si.edu