Music of Chile Music of Chile Chilean music refers to all kinds of music developed in Chile, or by Chileans in other countries, from the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors to the modern day. It also includes the native pre-Columbian music from what is today Chilean territory. Prior to the arrival of the European conquerors, the modern national borders that make up the Americas did not exist, so one cannot refer to music from "Chile", or any other South American country, from this time. However, music existed in the Americas for centuries before European conquest, and many of the characteristics and instruments of
History of Chile descended partly from the most ancient settlers). No elaborate, centralized, sedentary civilization reigned supreme. The Araucanians, a fragmented society of hunters, gatherers, and farmers, constituted the largest Native American group in Chile. A mobile people who engaged in trade and warfare with other indigenous groups, they lived in scattered family clusters and small villages. Although the Araucanians had no written language, they did use a common tongue. Those in what became central Chile were more settled and more likely to use irrigation. Those in the south combined slash-and-burn agriculture with hunting. Of the three Araucanian groups, the one that mounted