Qillu Uta

Quillota lies on the Aconcagua River in central Chile, between the Andes and the Pacific coast. The fertile valley was inhabited before the Spanish conquest, and an Inca administrative centre stood here on a road connecting it with the north. Early colonial accounts associate the lower valley with the indigenous leader Tanjalongo.

In 1717 the Spanish founded the villa of San Martín de Concha de Quillota beside the river. The foundation order sought to bring the scattered inhabitants of the district together in the new town. A parish church, council house and prison were planned around a central square, from which streets were to be laid out. The town thus became an important local administrative centre within an older inhabited valley.

The later city of Valparaíso lies here.