The Elqui River starts in the west Andes and flows into the Pacific Ocean near the Chilean city of La Serena.

[citation needed] The invasive plant species Limnobium laevigatum is present in the river which is its northernmost locale in Chile.

[4] It is generally accepted that incorporation of north-central Chile to the Inca Empire was through warfare which caused a severe depopulation in the Transverse Valleys of Norte Chico, the wider Diaguita homeland.

[6][7] After or during conquest Incas would have settled foreign tribes in Elqui Valley,[7] and ended up imposing Quechua placenames on the local geography.

[4][7] Chronicler Diego de Rosales tells of an anti-Inca rebellion in the Diaguita lands of Coquimbo and Copiapó concurrent with the Inca Civil War.