Diaguita in the context of La Rioja Province, Argentina

Inca rule in Chile was brief, lasting from the 1470s to the 1530s when the Inca Empire was absorbed by Spain. The main settlements of the Inca Empire in Chile lay along the Aconcagua, Mapocho and Maipo rivers. Quillota in Aconcagua Valley was likely the Incas' foremost settlement. The bulk of the people conquered by the Incas in Central Chile were Diaguitas and part of the Promaucae (also called Picunches). Incas appear to have distinguished between a "province of Chile" and a "province of Copayapo" neighboring it to the north. In Aconcagua Valley the Incas settled people from the areas of Arequipa and possibly also the Lake Titicaca.

Indigenous peoples in Chile or Native Chileans (Spanish: Chilenos nativos), are Chileans who have predominant or total Amerindian or Rapa Nui ancestry. According to the 2017 census, almost 2,185,792 people declare having Indigenous origins. Most Chileans are of partially Indigenous descent; however, Indigenous identification and its legal ramifications are typically reserved to those who self-identify with and are accepted within one or more Indigenous groups.

The Mapuche, with their traditional lands in south-central Chile, account for approximately 80% of the total Indigenous population. There are also small populations of Aymara, Quechua, Atacameño, Qulla (Kolla), Diaguita, Yahgan (Yámana), Rapa Nui and Kawésqar (Alacalufe) people in other parts of the country, as well as many other groups such as Caucahue, Chango, Picunche, Chono, Tehuelche, Cunco and Selkʼnam.

Cacán (also Cacan, Kakán, Kakana, Calchaquí, Chaka, Diaguita, and Kaka) is an extinct language that was spoken by the Diaguita and Calchaquí tribes in northern Argentina and Chile. It became extinct during the late 17th century or early 18th century. The language was documented by the Jesuit Alonso de Bárcena, but the manuscript is lost. Genetic affiliation of the language remains unclear, and due to the limited number of known words, it has not been possible to conclusively link it to any existing language family, though past proposals have included a link with Kunza and the essentially unknown Humahuaca.

The name Diaguita is from Cacán tiac-y-ta 'village inhabitant'.

Native Argentines (Spanish: Argentinos nativos), also known as Indigenous Argentines (Spanish: Argentinos indígenas), are Argentines who have predominant or total ancestry from one of the 39 groups of Indigenous peoples officially recognized by the national government. As of the 2022 census [INDEC], some 1,306,730 Argentines (2.83% of the country's population) self-identify as Indigenous or first-generation descendants of Indigenous peoples.

The most populous Indigenous groups were the Aonikenk, Kolla, Qom, Wichí, Diaguita, Mocoví, Huarpes, Mapuche and Guarani. Many Argentines also identify as having at least one Indigenous ancestor; a genetic study conducted by the University of Buenos Aires in 2011 showed that more than 56% of the 320 Argentines sampled were shown to have at least one Indigenous ancestor in one parental lineage and around 11% had Indigenous ancestors in both parental lineages.

The Norte Chico region is one of five natural regions of continental Chile, as defined by the government agency CORFO in 1950. Its northern border is formed by the limit with the Far North, to the west lies the Pacific Ocean, to the east the Andes mountains and Argentina, and to the south the Zona Central natural region. Although from a strictly geographic point of view, this natural region corresponds to the Chilean territory between the rivers Copiapó and Aconcagua. Traditionally, the Norte Chico refers to the zone comprising the regions of Atacama and Coquimbo. This region was home to the Diaguita people.

Ricardo Eduardo Latcham Cartwright (Thornbury, England, 5 March 1869 – Santiago, Chile, 16 October 1943) was an English-Chilean archaeologist, ethnologist, folklore scholar and teacher.

Born and raised near Bristol, England, as Richard Edward Latcham, he immigrated as a young man to Chile. There he became known for his ethnological and archeological work related to the indigenous Mapuche, Diaguita and Chango peoples.