Other Names: Kichwa, Qquichua, Quechua, Kechua
Countries inhabited: Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador
Language family: Andean Equatorial
Language branch: Aymara-Quechua
With a population around 2.5 million, the Quichua
groups of South American Indians are the largest of any American Indian group in
the World today. Aymara-Quechuan languages (of which the Quichua speak many
dialects) are collectively the most widely spoken of all indigenous languages in
South America. The Quichua are also the only people to have migrated both south
along the ridges and valleys of the Andes mountains and east into the rainforest
of the Amazon Basin. This early divergence in their migration paths has created
distinct mountain- and jungle-Quichua identity and culture.
Many Quichua migrated east to the Amazon Basin.
Because of the different landscape, climate, indigenous plants and animals
their culture developed separately from that of their southward migrating
cousins. Rainforest Quichua have remained more isolated from the historical
forces that have shaped the northern parts of South America. Rivers, not roads,
are the primary means of transport. (Text from The Peoples of The World Foundation)
QUECHUA [Quechua] Kechua , or Quichua ,
linguistic family belonging to the Andean branch of the Andean-Equatorial stock
of Native American
languages (mainly in South America). Encompassing far more native speakers
than any other aboriginal language group in the Americas, the languages of the
Quechuan family are spoken by peoples in Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Brazil,
Argentina, Colombia, and Chile. There is a modern standard language of this
family spoken by close to 10 million indigenous people in Peru and 2 million in
Bolivia, as well as smaller populations in Ecuador and Argentina. Some 28
Quechuan languages are still in use. The official language of the ancient Inca
empire, also called Quechua, was of this family. In the early 1400s, Quechua was
dominant in S Peru. As the Incas' empire expanded, their language became the
administrative and commercial tongue from N Ecuador to central Chile. After
their conquest of the Incas in the 16th cent., the Spaniards spread the use of
Quechua beyond the Inca empire. (Text from
Quechua on Encyclopedia.com).
Photos property of Hands Around the World
Additional Information
Quechua Indians, Peru 1
Quechua Culture
Quechua language and culture
Quechua language resources
