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History of Pichilemu


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Pichilemu was inhabited by Promaucaes, a pre-Columbian tribal group, until the Spanish conquest of Chile. They were hunter-gatherers and fishermen who lived primarily along the Cachapoal and Maule rivers. The remaining Promaucaes were assimilated into Chilean society through a process of hispanicization and mestization after the conquest of Chile.

Aureliano Oyarz�n, professor of pathology at University of Chile, investigated pre-Ceramic middens from Pichilemu and Cahuil. His book Cr�nicas de Pichilemu�C�huil (Chronicles of Pichilemu�C�huil) was published posthumously, in 1957. Tom�s Guevara published two volumes of Historia de Chile, Chile Prehisp�nico (History of Chile, Pre-Hispanic Chile) in 1929, which discusses theindigenous center of Apalta, the Pichilemu middens, the Malloa petroglyphs, a stone cup from Nancagua, and pottery finds inPeralillo.

Jos� Toribio Medina (1852�1930), who was a writer and historiographer, spent most of his life in Colchagua Province, and completed his first archeological investigations in Pichilemu. In 1908, he published Los Restos Ind�genas de Pichilemu (English: The Indigenous Remains of Pichilemu), in which he stated that the Indians that were inhabiting Pichilemu when the Spaniards arrived at Chile were Promaucaes, part of the Topocalma encomienda, given on January 24, 1544, by Pedro de Valdivia to Juan G�mez de Almagro, therefore establishing Pichilemu.

During the colonial and Republican periods, agriculture was promoted by the government. Many Chilean haciendas (estates) were successful during this time, including the Pichileminian Hacienda San Antonio de Petrel. Part of the land where San Antonio de Petrel was created was given by the Captaincy General of Chile to Bartolom� de Rojas y Puebla in 1611, who later acquired more lands in order to establish it. San Antonio de Petrel produced leather, jerky, soles, tallow, and cordovan, as well as other products which would later be exported to Peru, or sold in
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