The contemporary name Puchuncaví comes from “Puchuncahuin” in mapudungun which means where parties abound.   At the same time, the name has been interpreted differently as “Party remains” or “The end of parties”

There are no exact dates to pinpoint the beginning of the town Puchuncaví and it is presumed that when the Spaniards arrived there was a shantytown with the same name. 

Puchuncaví was one of the stations along the famous “ Camino del Inca” (the Inca Way), a stone path, a yard and a half wide, connecting the central area of Chile with Cuzco, the capital city of the Inca Empire.

An Inca magistrate known as a “Curaca”, or a direct representative of the Empire, lived in this locality and was responsible for collecting taxes, harvests etc and enforcing Imperial authority amongst the local natives.  

When the Spaniards arrived, the conqueror Pedro de Valdivia gave control of the Puchuncaví valley to one of his soldiers, the Italian Milán Vicenzo del Monte who was a nephew of Pope Julio II.

His descendants subdivided the land amongst his heirs and at the end of the 17th century several of them were still the principal owners. On 8th December, 1691, the Puchuncaví Parish was created by the Presbyterian Juan Manuel Benavides Mujica, who had been the War Chaplain in the Chilean War of Independence; this is recorded in the parish archives. 

In the year 1840, Puchuncaví was promoted to the status of a small town and from 1883 onwards it was at times the provincial capital. In 1894, the first district called “Quintero-Puchuncaví” was formed and was made up of neighbours from these two areas.

In 1925 the district of Puchuncaví was created in a joint agreement with Quintero. This event was welcomed, although the interest and patriotism which defined this district was later frustrated.

In1929 the President of the Republic Don Carlos Ibáñez del Campo, issued a decree, annexing the low budget districts and consequently Puchuncaví was eliminated. The order complicated things because Puchuncaví now fell under the administration of Quintero. A new Puchuncavï district was eventually created after a long period of Quintero administration and after many efforts had been made by the Quintero authorities and important neighbours.

In 1943 The Quintero District Corporation decided to consolidate the separation of these two towns. After a series of meetings with neighbours and the authorities, they succeeded. Law Nº 7.866 was approved on 13th September 1944 stating that Puchuncaví was now a district with eight sectors: Placilla de Puchuncaví, La Laguna, La Canela, San Antonio, Pucalán, Melosillas, Los Maitenes, Campiche, La Greda, Las Ventanas, La Chocota and Horcón, under the office of the President of the Republic don Juan Antonio Ríos Morales.