(no subject)

[semperfiona]

I borrowed Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond from ona_tangent and scottak several months ago, probably even a year. I finally started reading it a couple days ago, and I can hardly put it down. I find his overall premise fascinating and very credible, but I'm having difficulty with one thing.

He talks about how the ability to write down information was a factor in the conquest of the Inca Empire by the Spanish, and mentions repeatedly that the Incas had to transmit information (about the Spanish invaders, for example) by word of mouth alone.

But never once does he mention the quite sophisticated records system that the Incas did have-- the quipu (tying knots in string!)--not even to discount it for this purpose. I'm having a very hard time finding Diamond credible on everything else he discusses is due to the fact that he seems to lack knowledge of something I myself know only a very little about but enough to believe it applies.

Comments

[sinboy.livejournal.com]

Did the Inca use they system to transmit information over distances? Or was it just record keeping for a set location? I think what he was talking about was the transmission, not the recording.

[semperfiona]

I think they did, but I'm not sure. Is why I'd have liked at least a mention one way or the other.

Now I'm going to end up researching this topic. ;-)

[maiabee8.livejournal.com]

I haven't read the book, but have studied the Inca in university upper level courses. Not having a writing system had *very* little to do with Spanish conquest of Peru. I would argue nothing. They were in the middle of a nasty civil war coming off the heals of an epidemic of small pox in the north (Columbia today). The Spanish went to one side of the civil war, and joined, except that they had horses and guns, and quickly reneged on all promises (how long they led the Inca along with offers of help to the "pretending" emperor, while the guy with "more claim" on the throne ran around fighting, is up to debate).

Having had a writing system would not have kept messengers from getting small pox while riding off to tell the "guy with claim" to the throne that the capital was in the hands of the Spanish, and even if the written message was present, who knows if he would have marched against the Spanish when over half of his forces were decimated by the disease.

[semperfiona]

To be fair, the writing thing was not the most important part of his discussion of the conquest of the Incas, and he did state exactly what you did here. It's just that one thing kept tripping me up.

[scottak.livejournal.com]

Way to spoil it for me!!! I never got that far in the book, and now I won't be surprised when I get to the demise of the Inca empire part. :^P

Regardless, I did like the way Diamond approaches world history. So much of what we learned in school was biased in a "European white men conquered the world because they r0x0r" kind of way. It was nice to see that it wasn't so much about genetic superiority, but more like the good fortune to be in the right place at the right time.

[semperfiona]

It's in the first chapter!

PPBBBBBBBBBBBBBHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!

[semperfiona]

Finished the book. Finally found a mention of the quipu...it's a one-line toss-off that says they were not suited for transmission of complex information.

Still want to research this and see what is known now; the book's ten years old.