ABSTRACT
IT is impossible to derive from existing records an entirely trustworthy statement concerning the number of the inhabitants of Chile in the eighteenth century. A reasonable estimate is that there were 80,000 in 1700, 120,000 in 1740, and 259,646 in 1778. The last number is that given by the returns of the first census. At the close of the colonial period, there were probably somewhat less than half a million. Of these the province, or intendancy, of Santiago had the larger number. The greater part of the inhabitants were engaged in agriculture and lived scattered throughout the country, but later, on account of the danger of attacks by the Indians, many of them were induced to live in towns.
