Guaitecas Archipelago in the context of "Chono people"

Gulf of Corcovado (Spanish: Golfo de Corcovado) is a large body of water separating the Chiloé Island from the mainland of Chile. Geologically, it is a forearc basin that has been carved out by Quaternary glaciers. Most of the islands of Chiloé Archipelago are located in the gulf. The area is next to the Chiloé National Park.

In colonial times the Gulf of Corcovado was a major obstacle that prevented major contact between the Spanish settlers in Chiloé Archipelago and the southern Chonos living in the archipelagoes of Guaitecas and Chonos. In the early 17th-century, Jesuits rounded the gulf instead of crossing it when traveling south by dalcas from their base in Castro.

Agriculture in Chile has a long history dating back to the Pre-Hispanic period. Indigenous peoples practised varying types of agriculture, from the oases of the Atacama Desert to as far south as the Guaitecas Archipelago (43° S). Potato was the staple food in the populous Mapuche lands. Llama and chilihueque herding was practised by various indigenous groups.

The arrival of the Spanish disrupted in many places local agriculture as indigenous populations shrank and mining rose to prominence. Mapuches in south-central Chile adopted sheep, wheat and the horse from the Spanish. Further south in Chiloé apple trees and pigs proved successful introductions into local potato-based agriculture. As the Spanish were repulsed from much of southern Chile, Central Chile became increasingly populated and exploited with husbandry becoming the most prominent agricultural activity in Spanish-ruled areas in the 17th century. In parallel to husbandry vineyards did also become more important. Spanish agriculture, centered on the hacienda, absorbed most of the scattered and declining indigenous populations of Central Chile. Much land in Central Chile was cleared with fire during this period. On the contrary open fields in southern Chile were overgrown as indigenous populations declined due to diseases introduced by the Spanish and warfare.