Short answer
Alpacas come from the high Andes of South America — mainly Peru, Bolivia and Chile — where they were domesticated from the wild vicuña.
Alpacas were domesticated by Andean peoples roughly 6,000-7,000 years ago from the vicuña, a wild camelid of the high grasslands. Their fiber was so valued that the Inca reserved the finest textiles for royalty.
Today about 80% or more of the world's alpacas still live in Peru, mostly on the Altiplano above 3,800 m. Large numbers were exported to the United States from 1984, followed by Australia, New Zealand, the UK and Europe.
Learn more
The History of Alpacas: From the Inca to Modern FarmsVicuña (Vicugna vicugna)Raising Alpacas in Peru
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