About the Quechua people and Chinchero, Peruwritten by Peter Hudson
- The population of Peru is estimated at 28,674,757
- The majority of Peruvians are Spanish-speaking
- Approximately 19% of the population speak Quechua
- Poverty in Peru is most severe in remote rural areas
- Close to one fourth of Peruvians live in extreme poverty
- 18.1% of the population live on less than $1 US per day.
- The poorest of the poor are indigenous peoples living in remote areas in the southern highlands.
- About 73% of the indigenous Quechua communities live below the poverty line.
- Rural women are most affected, nearly 70% are extremely poor.
- The roots of rural poverty include: high rates of illiteracy, particularly among women, lack of essential services such as education, lack of proper rights to land, poor infrastructure compounded with racism and distain for Indigenous languages.
- Urban migration has increased the urban populations in Peru from 35.4% in 1940 to 73% today.
- Increasing migration to and contact with urban areas in the past decades threaten the survival of the Quechua culture and language.
About QuechuaThose who speak Quechua as their first language are called Quechua Indians. They share between them, approximately forty-six languages within the Quechua language group. Numbering around twelve million people, they constitute the largest population of Indian people in the Americas and live mostly in Columbia, Ecuador, Argentina and Peru, where there are thought to be between three and four and a half million speakers.
The Peruvian Quechua refer to themselves as “the people” or Runa. Quechua culture originated in central Peru at least a thousand years before the rise of the Inca Empire. Quechua became the unifying language in the Incan Empire 600 years ago. However, while the Inca dominated the Quechua people, their way of life was not changed drastically until the Spanish conquest.
The Spanish concentrated the Quechua in larger more populous villages then they were accustomed to. They also required them to produce unfamiliar crops at the expense of their own food supply. The Spanish system of forced labour did not provide any welfare for the labourer and his or her family. The Quechua lead isolate lives as marginal farmers high in the Andes. This marginalization has resulted in extreme poverty. The poorest of the poor in Peru are said to be indigenous peoples living in remote areas in the southern highlands.
Poverty in Quechua CommunitiesApproximately 73% of Quechua communities live below the poverty line. Rural women are the most affected. The majority of rural women are poor and nearly 70% are extremely poor. The roots of rural poverty in Peru include: high rates of illiteracy, particularly among women, lack of essential services such as education, lack of secure rights to land, poor transportation infrastructure compounded with racism and disdain for Indigenous languages.
Lack of opportunities for rural people, have caused a massive migration to urban areas. Rural migration has increased the urban populations in Peru from 35.4% in 1940 to 73% today.
With migration to urban centers it appears that the use of Quechua is declining. Quechua urban residents interviewed in Cusco claimed to speak Quechua to their children but admitted in some cases their children were not able to speak the language well. Many of the children were uncomfortable in Quechua and preferred Spanish.
The common perception is that Quechua speakers are uneducated and inferior to Spanish speakers. Approximately half the parents commented that their relatives no longer wish to speak Quechua; that they consider it “ugly” or “are ashamed” or do not want to appear to be “from the country.” The linguistic pattern evidenced among these migrants to urban areas indicate that there are threats to the survival of the language.
In spite of the prevalence and antiquity of the Quechua language, and the fact that it’s considered an official language, Spanish remains the language of power in all regions of Peru. Many Quechua-speaking Peruvians need to learn Spanish in order to function in their own country. The use of Quechua language was seen as a mark of Indian inferiority and parents often forbade their children from speaking it, preferring Spanish and sometimes English instead.
Discrimination Against QuechuaThe negative attitude many Spanish-speaking Peruvians have towards the Quechua make matters worse. Many view Quechua, an oral language generally considered to be difficult if not impossible to write, as an archaic language spoken by Indians. There exists a strange dichotomy between the pride in the history and culture of the Inca Empire (promoted by the government and tourist sectors) and the disdain with which living descendants of this empire are regarded.
The unfortunate result is that many Quechua speakers hide their linguistic roots. It is rarely taught in schools. Quechua is rarely seen in the media. Not a single newspaper or magazine is published in Quechua. The only written Quechua to be found is in academic works or songbooks for musicians or courses in Quechua offered in a couple universities and schools. A few radio stations do broadcast music, news, or personal announcements for people in isolated communities. These stations are either private or partially financed by NGOs. They are not protected by the government.
The Peruvian government has not been completely unsympathetic and are making efforts to implement some linguistic programs. The Ministry of Education in Cusco is laying the groundwork for a program called “bicultural and bilingual.” There is criticism that this program is being implemented from the “top down” with little input from the Quechua speaking community. The program’s main goals appears to be to incorporate minority children as quickly as possible into the Spanish speaking mainstream and will do little to affect real change on the in the prevailing perception of Quechua as a second class language.
It has been estimated that half of the languages existent today will disappear during the next century. Although a superficial glance gives the impression that Quechua is not in imminent danger, a closer look reveals that within the Peruvian context, Quechua plays a secondary role to Spanish. What support it receives from the government is mainly theoretical. As we move into the twenty-first century with increasing migration to urban centers, and the homogenization of cultures, the Quechua language will continue to lose ground. If Quechua is to play a true role as an official language of Peru, only the first steps on a long journey have been taken.
ChincheroChinchero, situated on a plain 3800 meters in the Peruvian Andes, has a population of 20,000 Quechua speakers. This village is built on the historic remains of the ancient hacienda of Tupac Inca Yupanqui. The hillside surrounding Chinchero was transformed into a group of terraces. Large rooms were built above the terraces and were used for administrative and religious functions.
The primary economic activity of the town is potato agriculture but tourism has increased over the years. The tourist economy has created a new market for traditional weaving. Unfortunately the tourist market is arguably spurring the deterioration of the traditional weaving practice. Tourists are buying synthetic yarns woven in lower quality patterns because they are cheaper. Tourists are encouraged to pay attention to the quality of the yarn and the intricacy of the patterns to promote the traditional weaving practices of the Quechua.
Machu PicchuMachu Picchu, considered one of the seven wonders of the world, often referred to as the “Lost City of the Incas” means either “old peak” or “manly peak” in Quechua. It is located at a height of almost twenty-five hundred meters above the Urumbamba Valley, about 70 km north of Cusco.
It was built between 1460 and 1470 AD by Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui, an Incan ruler, at the height of the Incan Empire. Almost 100 years later it was abandoned, as the Empire collapsed under Spanish conquest. Although it was located near the capital, it was never found and destroyed by the Spanish. Over the centuries, the surrounding jungle grew to enshroud the site and few knew of its existence. While locals have always known about its existence, it was “discovered” in 1911, by archeological Hiram Bingham.
In the late Inca period, about 1200 people lived in and around Machu Picchu, most of them women, children and priests. Most of the structures were built of granite blocks cut with stone or bronze tools and smoothed. The blocks fit perfectly together with no mortar. The blocks fit so well together that even the thinnest knife blade can’t be forced between the stones.
Another unique thing about Machu Picchu is the integration of the architecture into the landscape. Existing stone formations were used in the construction of structures, water flows through cisterns and stone channels and temples hang on steep precipices.
One of the most important things found in Machu Picchu is the Intihuatana, which is a column of stone rising from a block of stone the size of a grand piano. Intihuatana literally means, “for tying the sun.”
As the winter solstice approached, a priest would hold a ceremony to tie the sun to the stones to prevent the sun from disappearing altogether. Spaniards destroyed many of the Intihuatanas that they found in Peru but they never found the sacred one in Machu Picchu. The presence of numerous temples and spiritual structures proves that Machu Picchu held spiritual significance for the Inca.
