Puruhá

The Puruhá ( after the Spanish majority Puruháes also wrong Puruhae ) are an ethnic group of the Kichwa in the Ecuadorian province of Chimborazo, which includes approximately 200,000 people in about 780 communities.

The origin of the name is unknown.

The Puruhá are in the ME Association ( Movimiento Indígena de Chimborazo ) organized politically, which in turn is a member of ECUARUNARI.

Before the arrival of the Incas, there were at the Puruhá no central government, but regional chiefs.

The Puruhá their origins as a people in the cool Interandean main valley of Ecuador, where they grew corn, potatoes and quinoa, as well as agave, with the fibers of which they acted. In warm valleys were coca, grown cotton and paprika. The Puruhá knew copper processing, as well as artful weaving.

In ancient times the Puruhá worshiped the deities of the volcanoes Chimborazo and Tungurahua. It should also have been human sacrifices.

Still about until the 18th century spoke the Puruhá a Yunka language ( Puruhá ), a the Muchik and the Alt- KANARI related language. The resettlement policy, begun under the Incas and continued under the Spanish in the Viceroyalty of Peru, favored the linguistic assimilation to the Kichwa. The language spoken by the Puruhá Chimborazo Kichwa is one of the most widely spoken dialects of Kichwa. In many communities Puruhá there for some years with schools and intercultural bilingual education. Here, the standard Kichwa ( Kichwa Shukllachishka ) will be used.