Place of origin
The Andes
The high Andes are the home of the world's finest animal fibers. Andean peoples domesticated the alpaca for its fleece thousands of years ago, and reserved the wild vicuna, the finest fiber of all, for Inca royalty, gathering it in communal roundups and shearing it under law before releasing the herds.
Further reading
- The Fabric of Civilization: How Textiles Made the World by Virginia Postrel
A history of textiles and the trade routes that carried them, including the Andean fiber and dyeing traditions covered here.