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Quechua
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Quechua women in Peru's Sacred Valley Map of South America highlighting in purple the regions where Quechuan languages are spoken, primarily along the Andes Mountains in Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and smaller areas in Colombia, Chile, and northern Argentina. Farmer Justina Chipa, wearing traditional Andean clothing with a yellow-trimmed hat, sorts a large pile of potatoes outdoors in Pisac, Peru, with mountains in the background.
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Quechua women in Peru's Sacred Valley
Quechua women in Peru's Sacred Valley United by related languages, Quechua peoples comprise many distinct communities with diverse traditions and customs.

Quechua

people
Also known as: Runa Simi
Written by
Katie Angell
Katie Angell is Associate Editor at Encyclopedia Britannica, covering topics related to Latin America. She holds an MA from Vanderbilt University and is pursuing a PhD in Political Science.
Katie Angell
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Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
Britannica Editors
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Quechua, term that refers to both a family of Indigenous languages of the Andes and, more broadly, the people who speak those languages. Quechua-speaking populations are distributed across a wide territory extending from southern Colombia and Ecuador through Peru and Bolivia and into northwestern Argentina and northern Chile. Rather than constituting a single, unified ethnic group, Quechua peoples encompass diverse communities with distinct local histories, identities, and cultural practices. Quechua languages long predate the rise...

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