Name of the Group: Quechua

Language Family: The Quechua language is polysynthetic and agglutinative; it uses suffixes profusely and affiliation is its main trait.
A distinctive feature of Quechua grammar is the almost complete regularity of its morphological processes, besides the absence of concordance between nouns and adjectives, and of grammatical genre (Parker, 1976:26; Plaza, 1983).

Social Organization: Quechua expansion at the time of the Inca Empire extended throughout the Andes and the western South American coast, encompassing territories that now pertain to Colombia, Perú, Bolivia, northern Chile and Argentina. Author Muñoz Reyes underlines that Quechua expansion absorbed a series of peoples that forsake their native tongues and traditions in favor of those of the Inca.
Today Quechuas constitute the ethnic group with the widest land occupation and linguistic distribution in Bolivia. The language is spoken in the following regions:
a) Valles de Cochabamba, the mining district, east of Oruro, and part of northern Potosí. These are the more numerous Quechua groups and the most important. Those settled east of Oruro and in the mining district, share traits with Cochabamba valley communities.
b) In Chuquisaca and the rest of Potosí Quechuas are second in number and are monolingual, particularly in Chuquisaca. In the southern Potosí region the situation is altogether different, with a larger degree of bilingualism present and an ongoing, accelerated hispanization process.
c) North of La Paz, a pre-Columbian Quechua enclave is characterized by a dialect somewhat different from the rest of the country’s Quechua groups, and a high level of monolingual use in the native tongue. It encompasses the provinces of Muñecas, Bautista Saavedra and Franz Tamayo.
d) In Santa Cruz, particularly in the northeastern region, in the provinces of Ichilo and Santiesteban, near to a hundred thousand Quechua-speaking settlers came from Cochabamba, Potosí and Chuquisaca (Albó 1976, pág. 15-19).

Political Organization: Researcher Verónica Cereceda describes the structure of an ayllu north of Potosí, as follows: one leader wields maximum authority over the whole of the community. His second, or Kuraka, may be elected from any of the farms and may pertain to any of the social strata. The sole requirement is a correct reputation. Under the second in command are the four Jilancos. This four-square division of the Ayllu is observed elsewhere and must derive from the same myth of origins as the Tahuantinsuyo. In each of the 14 farms there is a local authority: the jilakata or mayor.

Economy: The major Quechua activities are agriculture and stockbreeding. However, it must be emphasized that the productivity of their lands is the base of the economy. Variety of crops is conditioned by the settlement’s region, therefore the highlands yield products not found in the valleys, and vice versa.
In general, in rural communities diet is made up of the harvested crops. Grasslands provide food for stock, thus rounding up nutrition, even if slightly, with proteins, eggs and cheese.

Culture: Traditional crafts favored by Quechuas are fundamentally weaving and ceramics. Weaving still keeps most of its originality in techniques, as well as in design. They use wool from their sheep, llama and alpaca to make their garments (poncho, chaquetilla, ch'ullu, ch'uspas). Quechuas excel in ceramics and pottery destined to household use and to trade.

From: Peoples and Languages of Bolivia, 1985, Instituto Boliviano de Cultura (IBC), Pedro Plaza Martínez and Juan Carvajal Carvajal.