|This article may be expanded with text translated from the
corresponding article in the Spanish Wikipedia. (December 2009)|
The Chilote mythology or Chilota mythology is formed by the
myths, legends and beliefs of the people who live in the Chiloé
Archipelago, in the south of Chile. This mythology, reflects the
importance of the sea in the life of Chilotes. Chilote mythology
is based on a mixture of indigenous religions (the Chonos and
Huilliches) that live in the Archipelago of Chiloé, and the
legends and superstitions brought by the Spanish Conquistadores,
who in 1567 began the process of conquest in Chiloé and with it
the fusion of elements that would form a separate mythology.
Chilota mythology flourished, isolated from other beliefs and
myths in Chile, due to the separation of the archipelago from
the rest of the Spanish occupation in Chile, when the Mapuches
occupied or destroyed by all the Spanish settlements between the
Bío-Bío River and the Chacao channel following the disaster of
Curalaba in 1598.