Инқа елшілері: Часки жүйесі

Inca messengers

A chasqui (also spelled chaski) was a messenger of the Inca empire. Agile, highly trained and physically fit, they were in charge of carrying messages –in the form of quipus or oral information– and small packets. Along the Inca road system there were relay stations called chaskiwasi (house of chasqui), placed at about from each other, where the chasqui switched, exchanging their message(s) with the fresh messenger. The chasqui system could be able to deliver a message or a gift along a distance of up to per day.

The name chasqui is derived from the Quechua word chaski (plural chaskikuna) meaning "reception, acceptance, consent" and historically "postilion". According to Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, the Spanish−Inca chronicler and writer of the 16th Century, the word chasqui means "the one who exchanges". The name cacha (spelled kacha in modern Quechua), meaning messenger in Quechua, was not used, but rather it was used to mention ambassadors or personal messengers, «who personally went from one prince to another or from the lord to the subject.»

In his Los Comentarios Reales de los Incas, published in 1609 (chapter VII), Garcilaso describes the chasquis and their operations. Most of the description of operation are taken from this book. stating that the service « is not performed nowadays with the punctuality and care of the past, in the times of the Inga, because then the distance of [the run of] these couriers was small, and thus the notices ran very quickly, without stopping for a single moment anywhere, not even for the chasqui to take a break and breathe. But now the journeys are five or six leagues, and from tambo to tambo.»