The archaeologist Manuel Gamio referred to Chalchihuites as a "culture of transition" between the Mesoamerican civilizations and the so-called Chichimeca hunter-gatherers who lived in the arid plateau of central Mexico.

However, in this transition zone, climatic changes caused continual shifts in the available resource base, discouraging most attempts at creating permanent settlements.

It founded by the Spanish captain Martin Perez in 1556 of a community from Guadalajara, in the first years after the conquest, became known as a mining center since 1591, when a group of Spaniards and Tlaxcalans were to be placed there by order of the viceroy Don Luis de Velasco.

The municipality dates from the same period as that of Sombrerete; From immemorial time it was part of the Mayor's Office of the same name, having constitutional character the year of 1824.

The main ones, considering their population from the 2020 Census, are: The municipality of Chalchihuites is physically located in the Sierra Madre Occidental and Mesa Central.