Migration, colonization, and the shifting narratives of ancient Andean origins

Migration, colonization, and the shifting narratives of ancient Andean origins

In the Quechua-speaking highlands where the Incas built their empire more than 500 years ago, farmers and herders used the concept of pacha—movement across space and time—to shape local identities. They believed that their ancestors emerged onto wild landscapes in the South American Andes when the universe was created, and that they wandered until they found places they could transform for human habitation and subsistence.