Kawésqar in the context of Kawésqar language

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.

Caucahue is an ethonym used by Chonos and the Huilliche and Spanish of Chiloé for a group of canoe-faring people that inhabited the archipelagoes south of the Gulf of Penas. The term is one of the various ethnonyms recorded by the Spanish in the 18th century in the fjords and channels of Patagonia. The Caucahue spoke a different language from the Chono. Archaeologist Ricardo Alvarez posits that the Caucahue and other groups appeared relatively late in colonial records because this was the time when contact became more common. Alvarez also posits the Caucahue disappeared from the historical record by merging into the Kawésqar to the south and the people of Chiloé to the north. According to historian Ximena Urbina and co-workers the Caucahue are essentially ancient Kawésqar. "Caucahues" described in sources as "gigantic" may have been Tehuelches.