Abstract

Recent ethnographic research undertaken with coastal inhabitants of the Taltal district on the Andean coast of South America facilitates corroboration of the development of a shared territorial map, with the extended family as a basic nucleus. These families, notwithstanding centuries of the imposition of the Encomienda system and mining industry, have historically occupied the rural territory from the housing/productive space of the majada, whose settlement led to a strong system of alliances predating the early historical period. The tracing of local family networks is presented here from the Almendares family registry, currently one of the groups defined as Changos or Camanchacos.