Ayllus

Ayllu is a traditional Andean social unit found among Quechua- and Aymara-speaking communities in the central Andes. It denotes a kin-based community or extended family that shares land and resources and traces its descent from a common ancestor. Ayllus function as both social and economic units, organizing labor, allocating land, and maintaining collective memory and ritual obligations. The size and composition of an ayllu vary, but membership is typically hereditary and tied to kinship networks.

Within an ayllu, land and means of production are held collectively, and decisions are made by elders or an elected leader, often known as curaca or kuraca, with customary assemblies guiding major matters. The ayllu traditionally organized productive activities through mutual aid practices such as ayni (reciprocal labor) and its associated ceremonies. Members contributed labor for the benefit of the whole, including agriculture, herding, and communal infrastructure, while harvests and resources were shared according to local rules.

During the Inca Empire, ayllus formed the basic building blocks of rural society and were integrated into the ritual and tax system, with mit’a labor obligations transmitted through kin groups. The Spanish conquest and colonial land reforms disrupted ayllu autonomy, transforming land into haciendas and introducing new forms of property and administration. In many countries today, ayllus persist as Indigenous communities or communal landholding units, recognized in law as part of campesino or indigenous rights, and still influence local governance and social identity in Andean rural areas.