[1] The Changos were not a distinct tribe or ethnic group; rather, the term is used to refer to many disparate communities of indigenous people living along the northern Chilean and southern Peruvian coast in the Pre-Columbian era.

Therefore, "chango" describes a loose grouping of maritime peoples who shared a similar way of life rather than a common history or ethnicity.

[10] Some older works starting with Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna (1869) claim the Changos people extended once as far south as Valparaíso (33° S), but clear evidence for this is lacking.

Despite their geographical isolation, the Changos traded with inland tribes, exchanging shellfish, dried fish, animal hide, guano, fat and shells for wool, fruit, maize and coca.

Chango cave paintings include images of men hunting and fishing and sea creatures such as seals, turtles and whales.