How did relay runners carry messages across the Inca Empire?

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Inca Ancient Inca ruins at the foot of the peak of Machu Picchu in south-central Peru.

The Inca Empire utilized a highly organized relay service to transmit information across their vast road network. Because the Inca did not have a system of writing in the European sense, these runners carried messages in the form of quipu—a system of knotted cords used for bookkeeping and potentially historical recording.12

This relay system was strictly reserved for government and military business. Runners were capable of transporting these messages at a rate of approximately 150 miles (241 km) per day, moving along the empire's extensive system of roads that spanned the Andes and the Pacific coast.2