Quechua

Quechua or Quichua, language of peoples native to the South American Andes region. More people speak Quechua, as it is known in Peru and Bolivia, or Quichua, as it is known in Ecuador, than any other Native American language. About 10 million people in these countries and adjacent parts of Colombia, Argentina, Brazil, and Chile speak Quechua.

Quechua culture is related to the Aymara culture, which arises in some of the same regions of South America. Quechua was the official language of the Inca Empire, which ruled much of the Andes region from the mid-1400s until the arrival of Spanish conquistadors in 1532. Those who speak Quechua as their first language are called Quechua Indians by the dominant Spanish-speaking cultures, but most Quechua speakers, who live in numerous distinct cultural groups, prefer to identify themselves with their Inca heritage. Themes of ancient Andean heritage mingle with New Age motifs in the music and drama of younger Quechua generations (see New Age Movement).

Quechua language and culture traditionally characterize the countryside and some cities of the Andean highlands, including the old Inca capital of Cuzco in Peru, as well as Cochabamba in Bolivia, and Otavalo in Ecuador. “Jungle Quichua” people inhabit the rain forests and ranches of the western Amazon region, especially in Ecuador. Millions of Quechua families have migrated from the countryside to such national capitals as Lima, Peru, and Quito, Ecuador. Communities of Quechua origin have also sprung up in places like Washington D.C.; New York City; Madrid, Spain; and Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Many people mistakenly assume that the Inca Empire spread the Quechua culture throughout the Andes region. In fact, Quechua culture originated in central Peru at least a thousand years before the rise of the Inca Empire in the early 1400s. Most scholars believe that the Quechua language spread up and down the Andes as a lingua franca, or trade language, long before the Inca adopted it.

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Likewise, pre-Inca peoples developed the characteristic economic and cultural practices still associated with modern Quechua. Quechua farming techniques have adapted to the ecological demands of the varied Andean landscape, a steep continuum of warm valleys, high plains, and cold upper slopes. They use sophisticated irrigation systems to water their fields and often preserve food by freeze-drying it in the cold mountain air. Llama and alpaca herds supply meat, wool, grease, fertilizer, fuel, and leather. These animals also serve as beasts of burden.

Quechua-speaking groups built bridges and roads throughout the Andes, many routes of which are still in use today. Quechua artisans produce high-quality textiles and pottery. Traditional religious practices include the ceremonial use of coca leaf and pilgrimages to sacred mountains, known as apus.

Even though the Spanish destroyed most Quechua cities and religious centers when they conquered the Inca Empire in 1532, many aspects of the distinctive Quechua way of life survive. Between 1532 and the 1820s, the Quechua homelands were incorporated into Spain’s vast colonial empire in South America. During this period, great numbers of Andean people died from European diseases. Under Spanish rule, the Viceroyalty of Peru built up an elite group of bilingual native nobles, called kurakas, to collect taxes and force other native people to work for the Spanish. Quechua and Aymara miners produced huge quantities of silver, which were sent to Europe.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, the Quechua language was widely written using the Roman alphabet. Most Quechua writings were used for religious purposes in the Roman Catholic Church. A few Quechua writers authored books of their own. The best known of these authors, Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala, wrote a 1,000-page illustrated chronicle detailing Quechua folkways and history.

Andean peoples launched innumerable revolts against Spanish rule during the 1700s. The rebellion of 1780, led by a wealthy Cuzco native, Tupac Amarú II (see Tupac Amarú), posed a serious military challenge to Spain. After the Spanish suppressed this rebellion, they banned Quechua language and culture from politics and education. During the 1820s, the Spanish colonies of South America rebelled against Spain and succeeded in establishing themselves as independent republics. These new Andean republics did little to change conditions for the Quechua people. Although the population eventually recovered from the drastic effects of European diseases, most Quechua continued to endure poverty and racial discrimination. The fortunes of the Quechua reached a low point in the early 20th century.

In 1975 Peru recognized Quechua, alongside Spanish, as an official language. Quechua is one of the few native languages of the Americas to receive such official recognition. Nonetheless, many Peruvians still look down upon Quechua culture and language. During the 1980s, a Maoist guerrilla group, known as the Shining Path, killed many Quechua as part of its terrorist campaign to topple the Peruvian government. The Peruvian government forces sent to fight the Shining Path in the highlands committed similar atrocities in the Quechua zones and elsewhere. This wave of violence spurred the Quechua to develop new forms of political self-defense, such as village militias. In 2003 a government-appointed Truth and Reconciliation Commission found that 75 percent of those killed in Peru during the Shining Path insurgency were Quechua-speaking Indians. The commission estimated the total death toll at nearly 70,000, twice as many as previously believed.

For many years, the Quechua and other native peoples of the Andean highlands reacted to racism by seeking to “de-Indianize” their public identities. However, increased political activism and the emergence of a relatively wealthy business sector specializing in textiles and tourism, have contributed to a new pride among Native Americans in some parts of the Andes, especially in Ecuador and Bolivia.

In Bolivia, Quechua peasants played a leading role in the 1952 revolution that led to sweeping changes in that country’s political and economic affairs. Bolivia’s Native American majority has remained strongly mobilized. In Ecuador, a confederation of Native American groups, including the Quechua, staged a nonviolent uprising to reclaim their land and cultural rights in 1990. In the 1990s, many Quechua leaders have participated in pan-Andean meetings designed to foster multiculturalism and feelings of Quechua solidarity across national boundaries.