Chical Co

Chical Co lies in Puelmapu, the Mapuche country east of the Andes, a broad territory across much of the Pampas and Patagonia. Movement between open plains and mountain valleys shaped settlement and exchange here. Herds, routes and seasonal foods supported communities on the eastern side of the Andes. The land lay beyond the mountain core often associated with the Mapuche, yet it formed part of the same wider world.

From the late eighteenth century Mapuche groups crossing the Andean passes traded livestock and goods with Spanish and creole towns, and the Pampas became a route of raiding and exchange in which Mapuche leaders held wide influence.