Kolla People

Fiesta comunitaria

The Kolla people live in the north of Chile, in the creeks and canyons of Chañaral province of the Atacama Region, between the cities of Potrerillos, El Salvador, Diego de Almagro and Copiapó.

The Kollas reached Chile in two different periods: first, it is suggested, at the end of the Tiwanaku empire, in the Xth century. A second wave of immigration coming from the Argentinean northeast took place by the end of the XIXth century, coinciding with the Pacific War.

Most of them came from Tinogasta and Fiambala, increasing their numbers between 1880 and 1890.

Currently, the territory occupied by Kolla includes the Cordillera and Pre-cordillera and the high plateaus of Copiapo and Chanaral provinces in the Third Region. Its main limits are: Encantada creek in the north and Copiapo river in the south, area where transhumance is practiced between the two and four thousand meters of altitude.