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Columbia Encyclopedia entry: Quechua
Quechua, Kechuaboth: kĕch'ooə, –wä, or Quichuakēch'wä, 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.
Wikipedia search results for: Quechua
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Quechua is a Native American language family spoken primarily in the Andes of South America, derived from an original common ancestor language, Proto-Quechua. It is the most widely spoken language family of the indigenous peoples of the Americas, with a total of probably some 6 to 8 million speakers. Some speakers of Quechua also call it 'runa simi', literally 'people speech', although 'runa' here has the more specific sense of indigenous Andean people. There are few sharp boundaries between what might be identified as specific 'languages' within the Quechua family, which consists of large zones of dialect continua, although three major...more »
Columbia Encyclopedia search results: Quechua
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  • Aymara

    Aymara, Native South Americans inhabiting the Lake Titicaca basin in Peru and Bolivia. The originators of the great culture represented by the ruins of Tiahuanaco were very likely Aymara speak...

  • Pachacamac

    Pachacamac, ruins of a walled Native American settlement, Peru, about 25 mi (40 km) SE of Lima in the Lurin Valley. This site, which contains a number of pyramids, was considered one of the mo...

  • Inca

    Inca, pre-Columbian empire, W South America. The name Inca may specifically refer to the emperor, but is generally used to mean the empire or the people. Centered at Cuzco, Peru, the empire at...

  • Andes

    Andes, mountain system, more than 5,000 mi (8,000 km) long, W South America. The ranges run generally parallel to the Pacific coast and extend from Tierra del Fuego northward, across the equat...

  • Natives, South American

    Natives, South American, aboriginal peoples of South America. In the land mass extending from the Isthmus of Panama to Tierra del Fuego, Native American civilizations developed long before the...

  • Bolivia

    Bolivia, officially Republic of Bolivia, republic (2005 est. pop. 8,858,000), 424,162 sq mi (1,098,581 sq km), W South America. One of the two inland countries of South America, Bolivia is shu...

  • Native American languages

    Native American languages, languages of the native peoples of the Western Hemisphere and their descendants. A number of the Native American languages that were spoken at the time of the Europe...

  • Ecuador

    Ecuador [Span., = equator], officially Republic of Ecuador, republic (2005 est. pop. 13,364,000), 109,483 sq mi (283,561 sq km), W South America. Ecuador is bounded on the north by Colombia, o...

  • Peru, country, South America

    Peru, Span. Perú, officially Republic of Peru, republic (2005 est. pop. 27,926,000), 496,220 sq mi (1,285,210 sq km), W South America. It borders on the Pacific Ocean in the west, on Ecuador a...

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