In Chilean historiography, Colonial Chile () is the period from 1600 to 1810, beginning with the Destruction of the Seven Cities and ending with the onset of the Chilean War of Independence. During this time, the Chilean heartland was ruled by Captaincy General of Chile. The period was characterized by a lengthy conflict between Spaniards and native Mapuches known as the Arauco War. Colonial society was divided in distinct groups including Peninsulars, Criollos, Mestizos, Indians and Black people.
Relative to other Spanish colonies, Chile was a "poor and dangerous" place.
Society
Societal groups
The Chilean colonial society was based on a caste system. Local of criollos (American-born Spaniards) enjoyed privileges such as the ownership of encomiendas (Indian labour jurisdictions). Moreover, they were allowed to access some public charges like corregidor or alférez. Mestizos initially made up a small group. In time, they made up the bulk of Chilean society, becoming more numerous than indigenous peoples. Mestizos were not a homogeneous group and were judged more by appearance than by actual ancestry. Indigenous people enjoyed the lowest prestige among societal groups in colonial Chile; many of them were used as cheap labour in encomienda but their numbers decreased over time due to diseases and miscegenation. Pehuenche, Huilliche, and Mapuche living south of La Frontera were not part of the colonial society since they were outside the de facto borders of Chile.
Spanish agriculture, centered on the hacienda, absorbed most of the scattered and declining indigenous populations of Central Chile. Thus populations that had previously lived apart in their own villages (pueblo de indios) from their Spanish masters begun to live in Spanish estancias. In Central Chile the dwindling population of Picunche occurred in parallel to import of Mapuche and Huilliche slaves from Araucanía and Chiloé, as well as the arrival of indigenous people from Peru, Tucumán and the transfer of encomienda Huarpes from Cuyo. This mix of disparate populations cohabitating with the Spanish contributed to the loss of indigenous identities.
For many years, Spanish-descent settlers and religious orders imported African slaves to the country, which in the early 19th century constituted 1.5% of the national population. Despite this, the Afro-Chilean population was negligible, reaching a height of only 2,500 – or 0.1% of the total population – during the colonial period. While a minority black slaves had special status due to their high cost of import and maintenance. Black slaves were often used as housekeepers and other posts of confidence. Peninsulares, Spaniards born in Spain, were a rather small group in late colonial times, some of them came as government officials and some other as merchants. Their role in high government positions in Chile led to resentment among local criollos. Mixing of different groups was not uncommon although marriage between members of the different groups was rare.
During late colonial times new migration pulses took off leading to large numbers of Basque people settling in Chile mingling with landowning criollos, forming a new upper class. Scholar Luis Thayer Ojeda estimates that during the 17th and 18th centuries fully 45% of all immigrants in Chile were Basques. Compared to other Spanish colonies in the Americas the proportion of women among and merchants among Spanish immigrants to Chile were lower and the proportion of non-Spanish immigrants (e.g. French, Irish) higher.
In 1812, the Diocese of Concepción conducted a census to the south of the Maule river, however, this did not include the indigenous population – at that time estimated at 8,000 people – nor the inhabitants of the province of Chiloé. It put the total population at 210,567, of which 86.1% was native Spaniards and 10% were Indian, with a remaining 3.7% of Africans, mulattos, and mestizo descent. Other estimates in the late 17th century indicate that the population reached a maximum total of 152,000, consisting of 72% whites and mestizos, 18% Indians, and 10% blacks and mulattos.
Sex and marriage
Indigenous women in the colonial society were noted, from a Spanish point of view, for their sexual liberalism and engaged often sexually with men from other ethnicities. The same was true for the black slaves who due to their "many" intercourses with other groups were strictly prohibited by law to engage in sexual activities with other ethnicities in order to avoid the proliferation of black individuals.