Official records and the folk stories of the Incas were kept by ``rememberers. '' Neither the Incas nor any other South
American cultures had writing- -in any form. Instead, the Incas used a mnemonic device called the quipu, from the Quechua
word for a knot. This consisted of a main cord from which dangled a series of smaller colored strings into which knots were
tied. The quipus were accompanied by a verbal comment without which the meaning of what each quipu conveyed would have
been unintelligible. The record keepers knowing the theme of each quipu were called quipu- camayocs. Each governor of a
province had attached to his person many such quipu-camayocs, who kept an accurate account of population, tribute, and
soldiers. A decimal count was used, there even being a symbol for zero (an empty space). The Spanish conquerors, the
conquistadors, much admired this system.
Special quipu-camayocs were responsible for maintaining a record of Inca accomplishments. Through them, history was
selected and manipulated. The accomplishments of whole generations of conquered tribes were blotted out so that the Inca
claim of having founded the great Andean civilization could not be contradicted.