Evidence ranging from historical records, local agriculturalists, and DNA analyses strongly supports the hypothesis that the most widely cultivated variety of potato worldwide, Solanum tuberosum tuberosum, is indigenous to the Chiloé Archipelago, and has been cultivated by the local indigenous people since before the Spanish conquest.

[3] Historian Renato Cárdenas and botanist Carolina Villagrán counted about "300 names used for potatoes grown in Chiloé at different times".

[4] Cultivation of the coraíla variety introduced by Servando Coraíl was dominant in the early 20th century, but discontinued when the cultivar was repeatedly struck by potato blight in the 1950s and 1960s.

[4] Preservation efforts of the many varieties began in the 1960s when agronomist Andrés Contreras travelled Chiloé Archipelago in search of small gardens where local elderly women had grown potatoes over many generations.

[12] The Guaitecas Archipelago formed the southern limit of Pre-Hispanic agriculture[13] as noted by the mention of the cultivation of potatoes by a Spanish expedition in 1557.