TheInga people are an indigenous ethnic group native to portions ofColombia,Ecuador, andPeru with a claimed historical relation to theIncas.^{[citation needed]}

They speak a dialect ofQuechua known asInga Kichwa, which likely was introduced through both relations with the Incas as well as aJesuit mission that was briefly established in the region. Quechua, being used as an administrative language in theAndes Mountains since theIncan Empire and well into the SpanishViceroyalty of Peru, would have definitely been taught. It's believed that the language being shared via the mission led to it being commonly understood by almost all the locals, and later laid the groundwork for the Inga identity to form.^{[citation needed]}

Many today live traditionally inSibundoy Valley, though are largely found across the borders of Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.^{[citation needed]}

Almost all Inga people arebilingual in Inga andSpanish, which has caused fear that the Inga language might be anendangered language.

Francisco Tandioy Jansasoy is currently involved in the creation of an Inga–Spanish–English dictionary and accompanying pedagogic trilingual material for its use in universities and in the Inga-speaking communities of Colombia.^[1] There has been significantlinguistic andanthropological work done in the past 30 years pertaining to the Inga peoples.