Quipu

Hello. My name is Quipu. I am a big bunch of colorful strings. I have red strings, blue strings, and yellow strings that dangle and sway. On my strings, I have special little bumps. Those are my knots. A long, long time ago, before people in my home had paper or pencils, they needed a way to remember important things. They were very smart and they made me to be their special helper. I helped them count things and remember stories. I was like a talking string that held all their secrets just by using my knots and colors. I was so happy to help them remember.

I was born high up in the big Andes Mountains. The clever Inca people made me around the year 1400. They needed me to keep track of everything in their big home. The people who knew my secrets were called Quipucamayocs, or knot-keepers. They were my special friends. They would tie a little knot here and a big knot there. A yellow string might mean they were counting corn. A white string might be for counting fluffy llamas. Each knot and each color had a special meaning. A knot at the top was different from a knot at the bottom. I was their secret codebook made of string. I helped them remember how many potatoes they grew and how many friends were in their village. I kept all their numbers safe in my knots.

I was very important for helping the Inca people. Fast messengers would run along the mountain roads, carrying me carefully from one town to the next. I was like a special letter they could read with their fingers. I helped make sure everyone had enough food and that the whole big empire worked together. Today, people don't use me to count their llamas anymore. They have paper and computers. But I am still here. I rest in museums now, showing everyone how smart the Inca people were. They used simple strings and knots to remember their whole world. I am a happy reminder that you can share big ideas with even the simplest things.