Quechua language

Quechua
Kechua
Qhichwa simi Runa simi
Native to	Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.
Region	Central Andes
Ethnicity	Quechua
Native speakers	8.9 million (2007)
Language family	Quechuan languages Quechua
Dialects	Quechua I     Ancash     Alto Pativilca–Alto Marañón–Alto Huallaga     Yaru     Wanka     Yauyos–Chincha Quechua II     Cajamarca–Cañaris     Northern       Kichwa (Ecuador)       Lowland Peruvian     Southern
Writing system	Latin
Official status
Official language in	Peru Bolivia Ecuador
Language codes
ISO 639-1	qu
ISO 639-2
ISO 639-3
Glottolog	quec1387
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters.

Quechua /ˈkɛtʃwə/, also known as runa simi ("people's language"), is an indigenous language family, with variations spoken by the Quechua peoples, primarily living in the Andes and highlands of South America. Derived from a common ancestral language, it is the most widely spoken language family of indigenous peoples of the Americas, with a total of probably some 8–10 million speakers. It is perhaps most widely known for being the main language of the Inca Empire, and was disseminated by the colonizers throughout their reign.

Quechua had already expanded across wide ranges of the central Andes long before the expansion of the Inca Empire. The Inca were one among many peoples in present-day Peru who already spoke forms of Quechua. In the Cusco region, Quechua was influenced by local languages such as Aymara. The Cuzco variety of Quechua developed as quite distinct. In similar ways, diverse dialects developed in different areas, related to existing local languages, when the Inca Empire ruled and imposed Quechua as the official language.

After the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire in the 16th century, Quechua continued to be used widely by the indigenous peoples as the "general language;" many Spanish learned it in order to communicate with them. Clergy of the Catholic Church adopted Quechua to use as the language of evangelization. Given its use by the Catholic missionaries, the range of Quechua continued to expand in some areas.

In the late 18th century, colonial officials ended administrative and religious use of Quechua, banning it from public use in Peru after the Túpac Amaru II rebellion of indigenous peoples. The Crown banned even "loyal" pro-Catholic texts in Quechua, such as Garcilaso de la Vega's Comentarios Reales.