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Quechua, the Inca Language of the Indigenous Andes

New York Latin Culture Magazine
Indigenous woman and child in Sacred Valley, Peru. Courtesy quinet.

Indigenous woman and child in Sacred Valley, Peru. Courtesy quinet.

Quechua is an Indigenous language family of the Peruvian Andes and Andes communities in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia and Ecuador.

It was the language of the ancient Inca Empire. The use of Quechua spread beyond the Inca lands throughout the Andes. Like many elements of Indigenous culture, the use of Quechua was once suppressed as a means of control.

Today it is the main Indigenous language of South America and one of the official languages of Peru and Bolivia. In metropolitan New York, you can hear Quechua spoken in Queens, NYC and Paterson, New Jersey.

Abya Yala is the Quechua term for the Americas.

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