A poncho is a kind of plainly formed, loose outer garment originating in the Americas, traditionally and still usually made of fabric, and designed to keep the body warm. Ponchos have been used by the Native American peoples of the Andes, Patagonia, and the Valley of Mexico since pre-Hispanic times, in places now under the territory of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela, and have also become familiar in parts of the U.S. A rain poncho is made from a watertight material designed to keep the body dry from the rain.
Araucanos and Huasos in Chile, 19th century.
A market scene Ruana in Bogotá, circa 1860.
A Peruvian chalán dancing marinera on a Peruvian Paso horse.
Swiss Alpenflage poncho.
Quechua, also called Runasimi in Southern Quechua, is an indigenous language family that originated in central Peru and thereafter spread to other countries of the Andes. Derived from a common ancestral "Proto-Quechua" language, it is today the most widely spoken pre-Columbian language family of the Americas, with the number of speakers estimated at 8–10 million speakers in 2004, and just under 7 million from the most recent census data available up to 2011. Approximately 13.9% of Peruvians speak a Quechua language.
The vocabulary of the general language of the Indians of Peru, called Quichua (1560). From Domingo de Santo Tomás the first writer in Quechua.
Act of Argentine Independence, written in Spanish and Quechua (1816)