Angol
Encyclopedia
Angol is a commune and capital city
Capital City
Capital City was a television show produced by Euston Films which focused on the lives of investment bankers in London living and working on the corporate trading floor for the fictional international bank Shane-Longman....

 of the Malleco Province in the Araucanía Region
Araucanía Region
The IX Araucanía Region is one of Chile's 15 first order administrative divisions and comprises two provinces: Malleco in the north and Cautín in the south....

 of southern Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

. It is located at the foot of the Nahuelbuta Range
Nahuelbuta Range
The Nahuelbuta Range or Cordillera de Nahuelbuta is a mountain range in Bio-Bio and Araucania Region, southern Chile. It is located along the Pacific coast and forms part of the larger Chilean Coast Range...

 and next to the Vergara River
Vergara River
Vergara River is a river located in the Intermediate Depression of Chile. The river rises at the junction of the Malleco and Rehue rivers, close to the city of Angol.Nahuelbuta Range barrier forces the river to flow northward. At the latitude of the town of Renaico, the Vergara is joined by its...

, that permitted communications by small boats to the Bío-Bío River
Bío-Bío River
The Biobío River is the second largest river in Chile. It originates from Icalma and Galletué lakes in the Andes and flows 380 km to the Gulf of Arauco on the Pacific Ocean....

 and Concepción
Concepción, Chile
Concepción is a city in Chile, capital of Concepción Province and of the Biobío Region or Region VIII. Greater Concepción is the second-largest conurbation in the country, with 889,725 inhabitants...

. This strategic position explains the successive foundations of this city during the Arauco War
Arauco War
The Arauco War was a conflict between colonial Spaniards and the Mapuche people in what is now the Araucanía and Biobío regions of modern Chile...

. It was first founded in 1553 as a "conquistador
Conquistador
Conquistadors were Spanish soldiers, explorers, and adventurers who brought much of the Americas under the control of Spain in the 15th to 16th centuries, following Europe's discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus in 1492...

" fort of Confines, the fort was later destroyed and rebuilt several times and it was not until the Pacification of Araucania in late 19th century that it was rebuilt with the name of Angol. The city has a current population of approximately 49,000. Within the electoral divisions of Chile, it belongs to the 48th electoral district
Electoral district
An electoral district is a distinct territorial subdivision for holding a separate election for one or more seats in a legislative body...

 and the 14th senatorial circumscription
Senate of Chile
The Senate of the Republic of Chile is the upper house of Chile's bicameral National Congress, as established in the current Constitution of Chile.-Composition:...

.

History

Modern Angol was first founded in 1553 as the conquistador
Conquistador
Conquistadors were Spanish soldiers, explorers, and adventurers who brought much of the Americas under the control of Spain in the 15th to 16th centuries, following Europe's discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus in 1492...

 fort of Los Confines by Pedro de Valdivia
Pedro de Valdivia
Pedro Gutiérrez de Valdivia or Valdiva was a Spanish conquistador and the first royal governor of Chile. After serving with the Spanish army in Italy and Flanders, he was sent to South America in 1534, where he served as lieutenant under Francisco Pizarro in Peru, acting as his second in command...

, the fort was later that year abandoned and destroyed by the Mapuche after the Battle of Tucapel
Battle of Tucapel
The Battle of Tucapel is the name given to a battle fought between Spanish conquistador forces led by Pedro de Valdivia and Mapuche Indians under Lautaro that took place at Tucapel, Chile on December 25, 1553...

. In 1560, the city was established by Governor García Hurtado de Mendoza with the name of San Andrés de Angol, after his father the viceroy of Peru, the location to the north of the site of the old fort. It was commonly called Ciudad de Los Infantes for the infantrymen that had been assigned to build the city.

It was attacked and destroyed in 1599, by the Mapuches following the Disaster of Curalaba
Disaster of Curalaba
The Disaster of Curalaba is the name given to a battle between Spanish conquerors led by Martín García Óñez de Loyola and Mapuche people led by Pelantaru on a place called Curalaba , in southern Chile...

. In 1611 the city was rebuilt by Luis Merlo de la Fuente
Luis Merlo de la Fuente
Luis Merlo de la Fuente Ruiz de Beteta was a Spanish colonial official who briefly served as the Royal Governor of Chile, in 1610–11.He was born in Valdepeñas, Spain to Luis Merlo de la Fuente and Maria Ruiz de Betena. He went to America, specifically Panama, in 1588 in the capacity of an oidor or...

 a little more to the south with the name of San Luis de Angol but it did not prosper. In 1637 Governor Francisco Laso de la Vega
Francisco Laso de la Vega
Francisco Laso de la Vega y Alvarado was a Spanish soldier who served as Royal Governor of Chile from December of 1629 to May of 1639. Victor in many battles against the Mapuche in the Arauco War....

, refounded it with the name of San Francisco de la Vega, but in 1641, it was abandoned by the terms of the Peace of Quillin with the Mapuche. It was repopulated by Tomás Marín de Poveda
Tomás Marín de Poveda
Tomás López Marín y González de Poveda, 1st Marquis of Cañada Hermosa was a Spanish colonial administrator who served as Royal Governor of Chile.-Early life:...

 in 1695, with the name of Santo Tomás de Colhue, but it was attacked and destroyed again in the Mapuche Rising of 1723 and one last time in their rising in 1766, from which it never recovered.

The present city of Angol was founded definitively by Cornelio Saavedra Rodríguez
Cornelio Saavedra Rodríguez
Cornelio Saavedra Rodríguez was a Chilean politician and military figure who played a major role in the Occupation of the Araucanía....

, on the 6th of December, 1862 as a fortress and base for his campaign for the Pacification of Araucania. Declared a city in 1871, it was connected by railroad with Santiago in 1876. In 1881 it was the base for the final campaign of pacification. Subsequently it was the economic and administrative center and departure point for the Chilean and foreign colonists that occupied the lands around it.

Angol was affected by the 8.8 magnitude 27 February 2010 earthquake
2010 Chile earthquake
The 2010 Chile earthquake occurred off the coast of central Chile on Saturday, 27 February 2010, at 03:34 local time , having a magnitude of 8.8 on the moment magnitude scale, with intense shaking lasting for about three minutes. It ranks as the sixth largest earthquake ever to be recorded by a...

. A US military field hospital was deployed to the city to treat casualties from the tremblor and subsequent tsunami.

Líder
Líder
Líder is a Chilean hypermarket chain originally owned and operated by Distribución y Servicio but sold to American Wal-Mart in 2009.-Overview:...

 will be the first hypermarket to open business in the city while Cencosud's Santa Isable
Santa Isabel (supermarkets)
Supermercados Santa Isabel are a chain of supermarkets throughout Chile, Peru, Ecuador and Paraguay, owned by Cencosud. The markets are an average of 1,500 square meters.-Origins:Santa Isabel was founded in Valparaíso, Chile in 1976 by Eduardo Elberg...

 supermarkets is also considering entering the market.

Demographics

According to the 2002 census
Census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...

 by the National Statistics Institute
National Statistics Institute (Chile)
The National Statistics Institute of Chile is a state-run organization of the Government of Chile, created in the second half of the 19th century and tasked with performing a general census of population and housing, then collecting, producing and publishing official demographic statistics of...

 (INE), Angol spans 1194.4 sqkm and at that time had 48,996 inhabitants; of these, 43,801 (89.4%) lived in urban area
Urban area
An urban area is characterized by higher population density and vast human features in comparison to areas surrounding it. Urban areas may be cities, towns or conurbations, but the term is not commonly extended to rural settlements such as villages and hamlets.Urban areas are created and further...

s and 5,195 (10.6%) in rural areas. At that time, there were 23,770 men and 25,226 women. The population grew by 6.0% (2,770 persons) between the 1992 and 2002 censuses.

Administration

As a commune, Angol is a third-level administrative division of Chile administered by a municipal council
Municipal council
A municipal council is the local government of a municipality. Specifically the term can refer to the institutions of various countries that can be translated by this term...

, headed by an alcalde
Alcalde
Alcalde , or Alcalde ordinario, is the traditional Spanish municipal magistrate, who had both judicial and administrative functions. An alcalde was, in the absence of a corregidor, the presiding officer of the Castilian cabildo and judge of first instance of a town...

 who is directly elected every four years. The 2008-2012 alcalde is Enrique Neira Neira (ILE).

Within the electoral divisions of Chile, Angol is represented in the Chamber of Deputies
Chamber of Deputies of Chile
The Chamber of Deputies of the Republic of Chile is the lower house of Chile's bicameral Congress. Its organisation and its powers and duties are defined in articles 42 to 59 of Chile's current constitution....

 by Gonzalo Arenas (UDI) and Mario Venegas (PDC
Christian Democratic Party
Christian democratic parties are those political parties that seek to apply Christian principles to public policy. The underlying Christian democracy movement emerged in 19th-century Europe, largely under the influence of Catholic social teaching, and it continues to be influential in Europe and...

) as part of the 48th electoral district, (together with Renaico, Collipulli
Collipulli
Collipulli is a city and commune forming part of the Malleco Province in the Araucanía Region in southern Chile. Its name means "coloured lands" in the Mapuche language spoken in the area. It has a population of 22,354 and an area of...

, Ercilla
Ercilla, Chile
Ercilla is a Chilean town and commune in the Malleco Province, Araucanía Region. Its name is a tribute to Alonso de Ercilla, who wrote La Araucana.-Demographics:...

, Los Sauces
Los Sauces
Los Sauces is a Chilean town and commune in the Malleco Province, Araucanía Region.-Demographics:According to the 2002 census of the National Statistics Institute, Los Sauces spans an area of and has 7,581 inhabitants . Of these, 3,638 lived in urban areas and 3,943 in rural areas...

, Purén
Purén
Purén is a city and commune in Malleco Province of Araucanía Region, Chile. It is located in the west base of the Nahuelbuta mountain range . The economical activity of Purén is based in forest exploitation and agriculture...

, Lumaco
Lumaco
Lumaco is a town and commune in Malleco Province in the Araucanía Region of Chile. Its name in Mapudungun means "water of luma". Lumaco is located to northeast of Temuco and from Angol...

 and Traiguén
Traiguén
Traiguén is a Chilean city and commune in the Malleco Province, Araucanía Region.-Demographics:According to the 2002 census of the National Statistics Institute, Traiguén spans an area of and has 19,534 inhabitants . Of these, 14,140 lived in urban areas and 5,394 in rural areas...

). The commune is represented in the Senate
Senate of Chile
The Senate of the Republic of Chile is the upper house of Chile's bicameral National Congress, as established in the current Constitution of Chile.-Composition:...

 by Alberto Espina Otero (RN
National Renewal (Chile)
National Renewal , is a liberal conservative political party belonging to the Chilean right-wing political coalition Coalition for Change in conjunction with the Independent Democratic Union and the Chile First movement...

) and Jaime Quintana Leal (PPD
Party for Democracy
The Party for Democracy is a political party in Chile; it is social democratic in its political orientation. It was founded in December 1987 by Ricardo Lagos, who aimed at forming a legal social democratic party . The party continued to function after the defeat of Pinochet...

) as part of the 14th senatorial constituency (Araucanía-North).

Source


External links

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