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Quechua

(Encyclopedia)Quechua, Kechua kēchˈwä [key], linguistic family belonging to the Andean branch of the Andean-Equatorial stock of Native American languages (mainly in South America). Encompassing far more native ...

Kechua

(Encyclopedia)Kechua: see Quechua; Native American languages. ...

Tungurahua

(Encyclopedia)Tungurahua [Quechua,=throat of fire], snow-capped volcano, 16,479 ft (5,203 m) high, central Ecuador, c.85 mi (135 km) SE of Quito. Its eruptions typically occur at intervals of 80 to 100 years. In th...

Aymara

(Encyclopedia)Aymara īmäräˈ [key], Native South Americans inhabiting the Lake Titicaca basin in Peru and Bolivia. The originators of the great culture represented by the ruins of Tiahuanaco were very likely Aym...

Choquequirao

(Encyclopedia)Choquequirao [Quechua,=cradle of gold], Inca site in Peru, about 95 mi (155 km) W of Cuzco. Lying at 9,950 ft (3,030 m), in the spurs of the Salkantay mountain range above the Apurímac River, it is s...

Inca

(Encyclopedia)Inca ĭngˈkə [key], pre-Columbian empire, W South America. The name Inca may specifically refer to the emperor, but is generally used to mean the empire or the people. When Francisco Pizarro lande...

Pachacamac

(Encyclopedia)Pachacamac päˌchäkämäkˈ [key], ruins of a walled Native American settlement, Peru, about 25 mi (40 km) SE of Lima in the Lurin Valley. This site, which contains a number of pyramids, was conside...

Natives, South American

(Encyclopedia)Natives, South American, aboriginal peoples of South America. In the land mass extending from the Isthmus of Panama to Tierra del Fuego, Native American civilizations developed long before the coming ...

Andes

(Encyclopedia)Andes ănˈdēz [key], mountain system, more than 5,000 mi (8,000 km) long, W South America. The ranges run generally parallel to the Pacific coast and extend from Tierra del Fuego northward, across t...

Native American languages

(Encyclopedia)Native American languages, languages of the native peoples of the Western Hemisphere and their descendants. A number of the Native American languages that were spoken at the time of the European arriv...

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