Arauco, Chile
Encyclopedia
Arauco is a city and commune (Spanish
: comuna) in Chile
, located in Arauco Province
in the Biobio Region. The meaning of Arauco means Chalky Water in Mapudungun
. The region was a Moluche
aillarehue
. The Spanish settlements founded here during the Conquest of Chile
were destroyed on numerous occasions by the Mapuche
during the Arauco War
.
the first governor of Chile, founded a fort, named San Felipe de Rauco or de Araucan. It was 12 km (7 mi) east of the location of the modern city of Arauco in the part of the valley immediately on the South or left bank of the Carampangue River
at the point where on the opposite bank it receives the riachuelo of Conumo. Valdivia planned it to be the base for a city he planned to found. The Mapuche destroyed the fort in 1554, after killing Valdivia's insane mother-in-law. It was raised again after the battle of Quiapo
, by García Hurtado de Mendoza in 1559. Destroyed again in 1563 it was rebuilt again in 1566 by Rodrigo de Quiroga
and became a small town, that remained so without growing until being transferred to the current site of the city of Arauco.
to the seacoast, four kilometers to southwest of the mouth of the Carampangue River located between its beach on the Bay of Arauco
and the hill on the southwestern side of the place called cerro de Colocólo. The lands for the site were ceded by the cacique Colocólo, and it was named Villa de San Ildefonso de Arauco. However, six years later, Martín García Óñez de Loyola
transferred it to its present site, a fort raised on the slope of the Cerro Colocólo and gave it the name of Ciudad de San Felipe de Araucan. In the great Mapuche Uprising of 1598, that followed the death of Governor Loyola, it was destroyed by the Mapuche once again. It was recovered by Governor Alonso de Ribera
in 1603, it continued to be harassed by the Mapuche until its inhabitants were forced to leave it in another great rising in 1655. Governor Ángel de Peredo
recovered it in 1662 and Governor Francisco de Meneses Brito
in 1665. Under the government of Don Juan Henríquez de Villalobos
its fort was reconstructed in 1673, and served as the defense of the town until it was destroyed almost completely by the earthquake
of February 20, 1835
. It still suffered from the hostilities of the Mapuche in their uprisings of 1723 and 1766 and during the war of Independence in the assault that they made on it on June 4, 1817, with their royalist allies. Population began to gather around this fort and it became the city of Araucan (later Arauco) on December 7, 1852. Later it became the capital of the department of Araucan and now Commune of Arauco in the Arauco Province
.
of Population and Housing by the National Statistics Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas or INE) the commune of Arauco spans an area of 956.1 sqkm had 34,873 inhabitants; of these, 24,269 (69.6%) lived in urban area
s and 10,604 (30.4%) in rural areas. At that time, there were 17,603 men and 17,270 women. The population grew by 17.6% (5,216 persons) between the 1992 and 2002 censuses.
, headed by an alcalde
who is directly elected every four years. The 2008-2012 alcalde is Mauricio Alarcón Guzmán (ILE).
Within the electoral divisions of Chile, Arauco is represented in the Chamber of Deputies
by Manuel Monsalve (PS
) and Iván Norambuena (UDI) as part of the 46th electoral district, (together with Lota
, Lebu
, Curanilahue
, Los Álamos
, Cañete, Contulmo
and Tirúa
). The commune is represented in the Senate
by Victor Pérez Varela (UDI) and Mariano Ruiz -Esquide Jara (PDC
) as part of the 13th senatorial constituency (Biobío-Coast).
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
: comuna) in 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...
, located in Arauco Province
Arauco Province
Arauco Province is one of four provinces of the Chilean region of Biobío . It spans a coastal area of just south of the mouth of the Biobío River, the traditional demarcation between the nation's major natural regions, Zona Central and Zona Sur...
in the Biobio Region. The meaning of Arauco means Chalky Water in Mapudungun
Mapudungun
The Mapuche language, Mapudungun is a language isolate spoken in south-central Chile and west central Argentina by the Mapuche people. It is also spelled Mapuzugun and sometimes called Mapudungu or Araucanian...
. The region was a Moluche
Moluche
Moluche or Nguluche is a dialect of the Mapuche language Mapudungun that is also the ethnic description of the Mapuche peoples speaking that language. At the beginning of the Conquest of Chile by the Spanish Empire the Moluche lived in what came to be known as Araucanía...
aillarehue
Aillarehue
Aillarehue or Ayllarehue Aillarehue or Ayllarehue Aillarehue or Ayllarehue (from the (mapudungun: ayllarewe/ayjarewe: " nine rehues"); a confederation of rehues or familiar clans (lof) that dominated a region or province. It was the old administrative and territorial division of the Mapuche,...
. The Spanish settlements founded here during the Conquest of Chile
Conquest of Chile
The Conquest of Chile is a period in Chilean historiography that starts with the arrival of Pedro de Valdivia to Chile in 1541 and ends with the death of Martín García Óñez de Loyola, in the Battle of Curalaba in 1598 or alternatively with the Destruction of the Seven Cities. This was the period...
were destroyed on numerous occasions by the Mapuche
Mapuche
The Mapuche are a group of indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina. They constitute a wide-ranging ethnicity composed of various groups who shared a common social, religious and economic structure, as well as a common linguistic heritage. Their influence extended...
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...
.
Old Arauco
In 1552 Pedro de ValdiviaPedro 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 first governor of Chile, founded a fort, named San Felipe de Rauco or de Araucan. It was 12 km (7 mi) east of the location of the modern city of Arauco in the part of the valley immediately on the South or left bank of the Carampangue River
Carampangue River
Carampangue River is a small river in Arauco Province, Biobío Region of Chile. It has its main source in the hill of la Piedra, South of the Heights of Purgatorio in the Nahuelbuta Range southwest...
at the point where on the opposite bank it receives the riachuelo of Conumo. Valdivia planned it to be the base for a city he planned to found. The Mapuche destroyed the fort in 1554, after killing Valdivia's insane mother-in-law. It was raised again after the battle of Quiapo
Battle of Quiapo
Battle of Quiapo in the Arauco War was the final battle in the campaign of García Hurtado de Mendoza against the Mapuche under the toqui known as Lemucaguin or Caupolicán the younger...
, by García Hurtado de Mendoza in 1559. Destroyed again in 1563 it was rebuilt again in 1566 by Rodrigo de Quiroga
Rodrigo de Quiroga
Rodrigo de Quiroga López de Ulloa was a Spanish conquistador of Galician origin. He was twice the Royal Governor of Chile.-Early life:...
and became a small town, that remained so without growing until being transferred to the current site of the city of Arauco.
Arauco
The population of old Araucan was moved in 1590 by Governor Don Alonso de SotomayorAlonso de Sotomayor
Alonso de Sotomayor y Valmediano was a Spanish conquistador from Extremadura, and a Royal Governor of Chile.-Early life:He was born in Trujillo, in the province of Extremadura, the son of Gutiérrez de Sotomayor e Hinojosa and Beatriz de Valmediano...
to the seacoast, four kilometers to southwest of the mouth of the Carampangue River located between its beach on the Bay of Arauco
Bay of Arauco
Bay of Arauco or Bahia de Araucan, is a bay located on the coast of the Arauco Province, of the Biobío Region of Chile. The bay, is between the mountains of the Nahuelbuta Range to the east and to the west the Santa Maria Island and northwest the Pacific Ocean. It is south and west of the Bay of...
and the hill on the southwestern side of the place called cerro de Colocólo. The lands for the site were ceded by the cacique Colocólo, and it was named Villa de San Ildefonso de Arauco. However, six years later, Martín García Óñez de Loyola
Martín García Óñez de Loyola
Don Martín García Óñez de Loyola was a Spanish Basque soldier and Royal Governor of Chile.-Early life:...
transferred it to its present site, a fort raised on the slope of the Cerro Colocólo and gave it the name of Ciudad de San Felipe de Araucan. In the great Mapuche Uprising of 1598, that followed the death of Governor Loyola, it was destroyed by the Mapuche once again. It was recovered by Governor Alonso de Ribera
Alonso de Ribera
Alonso de Ribera de Pareja was a Spanish soldier and twice Spanish royal governor of Chile .-Early life:...
in 1603, it continued to be harassed by the Mapuche until its inhabitants were forced to leave it in another great rising in 1655. Governor Ángel de Peredo
Ángel de Peredo
Ángel de Peredo was born in 1623, in the small town of Queveda in Cantabria, Spain, and was a Knight of the Order of Santiago.He was the President of the Real Audiencia of Chile and then temporary Royal Governor of Chile from May 1662 to February of 1664...
recovered it in 1662 and Governor Francisco de Meneses Brito
Francisco de Meneses Brito
Francisco de Meneses Brito was Royal Governor of Chile between 1664 and 1667.-Sources:...
in 1665. Under the government of Don Juan Henríquez de Villalobos
Juan Henríquez de Villalobos
Juan Henríquez de Villalobos ; Spanish soldier and administrator who, after participation in various European wars, was designated as governor of Chile by Mariana of Austria. In this position, between October 1670 and April 1682, he became, according to Chilean historiography, the epítome of the...
its fort was reconstructed in 1673, and served as the defense of the town until it was destroyed almost completely by the earthquake
Earthquake
An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. The seismicity, seismism or seismic activity of an area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time...
of February 20, 1835
1835 Concepción earthquake
The 1835 Concepción earthquake occurred near the neighboring cities of Concepción and Talcahuano in Chile on February 20 at 15:30 local time and has an estimated magnitude of 8.2 Mfa or 8.1 Ml. The earthquake triggered a tsunami which caused the destruction of Talcahuano. A total of at least 50...
. It still suffered from the hostilities of the Mapuche in their uprisings of 1723 and 1766 and during the war of Independence in the assault that they made on it on June 4, 1817, with their royalist allies. Population began to gather around this fort and it became the city of Araucan (later Arauco) on December 7, 1852. Later it became the capital of the department of Araucan and now Commune of Arauco in the Arauco Province
Arauco Province
Arauco Province is one of four provinces of the Chilean region of Biobío . It spans a coastal area of just south of the mouth of the Biobío River, the traditional demarcation between the nation's major natural regions, Zona Central and Zona Sur...
.
Demographics
According to the 2002 censusCensus
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...
of Population and Housing by the National Statistics Institute (Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas or INE) the commune of Arauco spans an area of 956.1 sqkm had 34,873 inhabitants; of these, 24,269 (69.6%) 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 10,604 (30.4%) in rural areas. At that time, there were 17,603 men and 17,270 women. The population grew by 17.6% (5,216 persons) between the 1992 and 2002 censuses.
Administration
As a commune, Arauco is a third-level administrative division of Chile administered by a municipal councilMunicipal 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 Mauricio Alarcón Guzmán (ILE).
Within the electoral divisions of Chile, Arauco 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 Manuel Monsalve (PS
Socialist Party of Chile
The Socialist Party of Chile is a political party, that is part of the center-left Coalition of Parties for Democracy coalition. Its historical leader was the late President of Chile Salvador Allende Gossens, who was deposed by General Pinochet in 1973...
) and Iván Norambuena (UDI) as part of the 46th electoral district, (together with Lota
Lota, Chile
Lota is a city and commune located in the center of the Chile on the Gulf of Arauco. It lies within the Concepción Province of the Biobío Region.-History:...
, Lebu
Lebu, Chile
Lebu is a port city and commune in central Chile administered by the Municipality of Lebu. Lebu is also the capital of Arauco Province in Bío-Bío Region...
, Curanilahue
Curanilahue
Curanilahue is a Chilean commune and city in Arauco Province, Biobío Region.-Demographics:According to the 2002 census of the National Statistics Institute, Curanilahue spans an area of and has 31,943 inhabitants . Of these, 30,126 lived in urban areas and 1,817 in rural areas...
, Los Álamos
Los Álamos
Los Álamos is a Chilean commune and city in Arauco Province, Biobío Region.-Demographics:According to the 2002 census of the National Statistics Institute, Los Álamos spans an area of and has 18,632 inhabitants . Of these, 16,394 lived in urban areas and 2,238 in rural areas...
, Cañete, Contulmo
Contulmo
Contulmo is a Chilean town and commune in Arauco Province, Biobío Region. Colonized by Germans of Berlin since 1884.-Geography:...
and Tirúa
Tirúa
Tirúa is a Chilean commune and town in Arauco Province, Biobío Region.-Demographics:According to the 2002 census of the National Statistics Institute, Tirúa spans an area of and has 9,664 inhabitants . Of these, 2,508 lived in urban areas and 7,156 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 Victor Pérez Varela (UDI) and Mariano Ruiz -Esquide Jara (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 13th senatorial constituency (Biobío-Coast).