Caldera is a port city in the Copiapó Province

Copiapó Province

Copiapó Province is one of three provinces of the northern Chilean region of Atacama . Its capital is the city of Copiapó.-Geography and demography:...

 of the Atacama Region

Atacama Region

The Atacama Region is one of Chile's 15 first order administrative divisions. It comprises three provinces, Chañaral, Copiapó and Huasco. It is bordered to the north by Antofagasta, to the south by Coquimbo, to east with Provinces of Catamarca, La Rioja and San Juan of Argentina, and to west with...

 in northern 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 has an excellent harbor, protected by breakwaters, being the port city for the productive mining district centering on Copiapó

Copiapó

Copiapó is a city in northern Chile, located about 40 miles east of the coastal town of Caldera. Founded on December 8, 1744, it is the capital of Copiapó Province and Atacama Region....

 to which it is connected by the first railroad constructed in Chile.

Geography and climate

Caldera lies about 75 km (47 mi) west of Copiapó at the Pacific. The climate is very dry and hot, because of its location on the Atacama desert's coast. However, lately the climate has become colder due to the climatic change. The commune spans an area of 4666.6 sqkm.

History

In 1687, Englishman

English people

The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...

 Edward Davis reached the Playa Bahia Inglesa

Bahía Inglesa

Bahia Inglesa is a village and beach located near the port of Caldera in Atacama Region, Chile.With a population of 135 inhabitants , it owes its name to the visit of the English privateer Edward Davis. Bahia Inglesa is renowned for its white sands and warm waters, as well as its accommodations...

 6 km (4 mi) south of Caldera. In 1840, William Wheelwright

William Wheelwright

William Wheelwright was a businessman who played an essential role in the development of steamboat and train transportation in Chile and other parts of South America...

 of the Pacific Steam Navigation Company

Pacific Steam Navigation Company

The Pacific Steam Navigation Company was a commercial shipping company that operated in the Pacific coast of South America, and was the first to use steam ships for commercial traffic in the Pacific Ocean.-History:...

 visited the region of Caldera. On his proposal the first railway was created in the year of 1851 from Caldera to Copiapó. Its inauguration was on Christmas Day in 1851. Caldera became an important port for the exportation of minerals. The city itself was officially founded on 23 September 1850.

The city has been struck by earthquakes and tsunamis several times the major ones being that of 1868, 1877 and 1922

1922 Vallenar earthquake

The 1922 Vallenar earthquake was a magnitude 8.5 earthquake that occurred in the Atacama Region of Chile, near the border with Argentina on November 11, 1922 at 04:32 UTC...

.

Demographics

In 1903, 2,130 people lived in Caldera. 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...

 of 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...

, Caldera had 13,734 inhabitants (7,237 men and 6,497 women). Of these, 13,540 (98.6%) 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 194 (1.4%) in rural areas. The population grew by 13.9% (1,673 persons) between the 1992 and 2002 censuses.

Tourist attractions

The church of San Vicente de Paul (dated 1862) and the cave of Padre Negro are worth visiting. Padre Velásquez painted biblical motifs in the cave in 1978. There is a nice beach at Bahía Inglesa.

Caldera also has a paleontological museum, the Museo Paleontológico de Caldera.

Economy

Mainstays of the economy are copper ore mining and cultivation of citrus plants which are exported via the port. Fishing and tourism play also an important role. The nice beaches attract many visitors.

Administration

As a commune, Caldera 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...

 (mayor

Mayor

In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....

) who is directly elected every four years. The 2008-2012 mayor is Brunilda González Ánjel (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...

).

Within the electoral divisions of Chile, Caldera 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 Mr. Alberto Robles (PRSD

Social Democrat Radical Party

The Social Democratic Radical Party is a social democratic party in Chile.The party is a member of Socialist International....

) and Mr. Giovanni Calderón (UDI) as part of the 6th electoral district, (together with Tierra Amarilla

Tierra Amarilla, Chile

Tierra Amarilla is a Chilean commune and city in Copiapó Province, Atacama Region. According to the 2002 census, the commune population was 12,888 and has an area of 11,191 km².-Demographics:...

, Vallenar

Vallenar

Vallenar is a city and commune in Atacama Region, Chile. It is the capital of the Huasco Province and is located in the valley of the Huasco River. Vallenar has 47,000 inhabitants. Its main activities are farming and mining...

, Freirina

Freirina

Freirina is a Chilean commune and town in Huasco Province, Atacama Region. The commune spans an area of .-Demographics:According to the 2002 census by the National Statistics Institute, Freirina had 5,666 inhabitants; of these, 3,469 lived in urban areas and 2,107 in rural areas. At that time,...

, Huasco

Huasco, Chile

Huasco is a Chilean city and commune, in the Huasco Province, Atacama Region.The port city of Huasco is located 50 km west of Vallenar and close to the town of Huasco Bajo, which lies on the southern bank of the Huasco River and only a few km from its mouth...

 and Alto del Carmen

Alto del Carmen

Alto del Carmen is a Chilean commune and village in Huasco Province, Atacama Region. The commune spans an area of .-Demographics:According to the 2002 census of the National Statistics Institute, Alto del Carmen had 4,840 inhabitants , making the commune an entirely rural area...

). 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 Isabel Allende Bussi (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 Baldo Prokurica Prokurica (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...

) as part of the 3rd senatorial constituency (Atacama Region).

External links

Municipality of Caldera