Huasco

The Huasco valley descends from the Andes through the dry north of Chile towards the Pacific. Its river and tributaries support cultivated land amid a landscape of mountains and desert. Indigenous communities occupied the valley before the Spanish arrival, and the upper basin remained a distinct centre of indigenous life throughout the colonial period.

In the eighteenth century the inhabitants of Huasco Alto defended their lands against attempts to survey and delimit them as a colonial Indian town. They cultivated small vineyards and used pastures in the mountains. The upper valley of the Tránsito River was known as the valley of the natives, while the neighbouring El Carmen valley came to be associated with Spanish settlement. Farther downstream, the Spanish founded the villa of San Ambrosio de Ballenary in 1789, choosing an inland position less exposed to attack from the sea.