Chile

Culture and heritage

The richness of Chile’s traditions, and the inventive spirit of modern Chileans, combine to sustain an extremely varied and rich cultural life.

The Chilean culture begins at the prehispanic period with the first humans at the actual Chilean territory 13.000 years ago, frequent village invaders (Mapuches and lates Incas) that conformed the ancestral culture and its origin that was found by the first Spanish conquers. As a vestige of their existence numerous archeological deposits that are part of the present Chilean cultural patrimony. The arrival of the Spanish conquer is without a doubt the most important cultural change in Chile, the writing is introduced; there is a religion change from animistic and polytheist to a monotheist and the mixed of beliefs origins a Chilean mythology. There was a change of economical structure of the period, changes occur and the land exploitation changed the nourishing base, from the maize to wheat and vegetables, domestic fowl, hog and bovine cattle. The introductions of the horse and its use for all the economical activities, military and recreational was the base of the birth of the “huasa” culture or Chilean creole.