Qupayapu

Copayapu lay in the Copiapó valley, a cultivated ribbon of land in the dry north of Chile. Before the Spanish conquest its inhabitants combined agriculture and herding with craftwork in pottery, metal and wood. Early accounts distinguish the authority of Aldequín in the lower valley from that of Gualenica farther inland.

The Inca brought the valley into their southern dominions, where their rule appears to have involved an alliance with Diaguita groups from valleys farther south, and archaeological finds show the presence of Diaguita pottery during this period of imperial rule. The Spanish expedition of Diego de Almagro reached the valley in 1536. In 1744 a Spanish villa, San Francisco de la Selva, was founded in the valley, later becoming known as Copiapó.