Puruhá
The Puruhá (after the Spanish plural Puruháes also incorrectly Puruhae ) are an ethnic group of the Kichwa in the Ecuadorian province of Chimborazo , which includes about 200,000 people in about 780 communities. The origin of the name is unknown.
The Puruhá are politically organized in the association MICH (Movimiento Indígena de Chimborazo), which in turn is a member of ECUARUNARI .
Before the arrival of the Incas , the Puruhá had no central rule, but regional chiefs. The Puruhá have their origins as a people in the cool interandine main valley of Ecuador, where they cultivated corn, potatoes and quinoa , as well as agaves, the fibers of which they traded. Coca , cotton and paprika were grown in warm valleys . The Puruhá knew copper processing as well as artful weaving . In ancient times, the Puruhá worshiped the deities of the Chimborazo and Tungurahua volcanoes . There should also have been human sacrifices .
Until around the 18th century, the Puruhá spoke a Yunka language (Puruhá) , a language related to the Muchik and the Old Kañari . The resettlement policy, begun under the Incas and continued under the Spaniards in the viceroyalty of Peru , favored the linguistic assimilation of the Kichwa . The Chimborazo-Kichwa spoken by the Puruhá is one of the most widely spoken Kichwa dialects. In many Puruhá parishes there have been schools with intercultural bilingual education for several years . The standard Kichwa ( Shukllachishka Kichwa ) is used.