Cauquenes
Encyclopedia
Cauquenes, a city and commune 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...

, is the capital of the Cauquenes Province
Cauquenes Province
Cauquenes Province is one of four provinces of the central Chilean region of Maule . The provincial capital is the city of Cauquenes.-Geography and demography:The provincial capital, Cauquenes, lies approximately southwest of Santiago...

 and is located in the Maule Region
Maule Region
The VII Maule Region is one of Chile's 15 first order administrative divisions. Its capital is Talca. The region takes its name from the Maule River which, running westward from the Andes, bisects the region and spans a basin of about 20,600 km2...

.

History

According to the historical records of Alonso de Ercilla
Alonso de Ercilla
Alonso de Ercilla y Zúñiga was a Spanish nobleman, soldier and epic poet from the Basque Country. While in Chile he fought against the Araucanians, and there he began the epic poem La Araucana, considered the greatest Spanish historical poem. This heroic work in 37 cantos is divided into three...

, Cauquenes was originally inhabited by an indigenous community of the Promaucaes
Promaucaes
Promaucaes, Promaucas or Purumaucas ; pre-Columbian Mapuche tribal group that lived in the present territory of Chile, south of the Maipo River basin of Santiago, Chile and the Itata River,...

, known as the Cauqui by the Inca or cauquenes by the Spanish and that gave their name to Cauquenes River
Cauquenes river
The Cauquenes River is a tributary of the Perquilauquén River, and traverses Cauquenes Province, in the Maule Region of Chile. It is born in the Cordillera de la Costa, near Cauquenes. After passing to the south of the latter city it is joined by the Tutuvén River...

. They lived to the south of the Maule River
Maule river
The Maule river is one of the most important rivers of Chile and is inextricably linked to this country's pre-Hispanic times, the country's conquest, colonial period, wars of Independence, modern history, agriculture , culture , religion, economy and politics...

 and north of the Itata River
Itata River
The Itata River flows in the Bío-Bío Region, southern Chile.Until the Conquest of Chile the Itata was the natural limit between the Mapuche, located to the south, and Picunche, to the north.-References:* . - External links :*...

 and owned a settlement in the place where the city lies today. The city of Cauquenes was founded on May 9, 1742, de "Villa of Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes de José de Manso del Tutuvén", in the land located between the rivers Tutuvén and Cauquenes
Cauquenes river
The Cauquenes River is a tributary of the Perquilauquén River, and traverses Cauquenes Province, in the Maule Region of Chile. It is born in the Cordillera de la Costa, near Cauquenes. After passing to the south of the latter city it is joined by the Tutuvén River...

, that the Promaucae cacique
Cacique
Cacique is a title derived from the Taíno word for the pre-Columbian chiefs or leaders of tribes in the Bahamas, Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles...

(chieftain) Ascensio Galdámez and his wife Micaela de Araya donated to the Kingdom of Spain. Cauquenes' founder was the then Governor
Governor
A governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...

 of the Kingdom of Chile, José Antonio Manso de Velasco
José Antonio Manso de Velasco
José Antonio Manso de Velasco y Sánchez de Samaniego, 1st Count of Superunda was a Spanish soldier and politician who served as governor of Chile and viceroy of Peru.-As Governor of Chile:...

. The name of the city changed with time. With the law of 20 August 1826, which created the Maule Province, it became called "Villa de Cauquenes", and finally on 22 December of that year, it acquired the title of "Cauquenes".

Cauquenes is a toponym from the term "cauque", a salmonid species extinct today that inhabited the rivers of the area.

27 February 2010 earthquake

Cauquenes was damaged by the 8.8 magnitude 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...

 and subsequent tsunami. Restoring power in the city in the immediate aftermath was impossible because of damage from the tsunami.

Demography

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...

, Cauquenes spans an area of 2126.3 sqkm and has 41,217 inhabitants (20,092 men and 21,125 women). Of these, 30,771 (74.7%) 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 10,446 (25.3%) in rural areas. Between the 1992 and 2002 censuses, the population grew by 2.3% (938 persons).

Other localities in the commune of Cauquenes include the following:
  • Sauzal, pop: 521
  • Quella
    Quella
    Quella is a Chilean village in the commune of Cauquenes in the Maule Region.- Population :The population of Quella is approximately 350 inhabitants....

    , pop: 346
  • Santa Sofía, pop: 612

Administration

As a commune, Cauquenes 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 Juan Carlos Muñoz Rojas (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...

).The municipal council has the following members:
  • Hernán Valenzuela Sepúlveda (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...

    )
  • Luis Ceroni García (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...

    )
  • Guillermo García González (UDI)
  • Domingo Leiva Mena (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...

    )
  • Manuel Vergara Del Río (RN)
  • Alejandra Concha Urrutia (PPD)


Within the electoral divisions of Chile, Cauquenes 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 Guillermo Ceroni (PPD) and Ignacio Urrutia (UDI) as part of the 40th electoral district, (together with Longaví
Longaví
Longaví is a Chilean city and commune located in Linares Province, one of the four provinces that make up the Maule Region, in the geographical center of Chile.-Geography:...

, Retiro
Retiro
Retiro might refer to the following:*Retiro, Antioquia, a municipality in the Colombian department of Antioquia*Retiro, Buenos Aires, a neighbourhood in Buenos Aires, Argentina...

, Parral
Parral, Chile
Parral is a city and commune and in the Linares Province of central Chile's seventh region of Maule.-History:Parral was founded in 1795 by the Viceroy of Peru, Ambrosio O'Higgins...

, Pelluhue
Pelluhue
Pelluhue is a town and commune in the Cauquenes Province of central Chile's eighth region of Maule.-Geography:...

 and Chanco). 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 Hernán Larraín
Hernán Larraín
Hernán Larraín Fernández is a conservative Chilean lawyer, university lecturer, and politician; he is a current Senator and former President of the Senate, and is also currently serving as the president of the Independent Democrat Union. Larraín was elected to the Senate representing the 11th...

 (UDI) and Ximena Rincón González (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 11th senatorial constituency (Maule-South).

External links

Municipality of Cauquenes "Ficha Comunal de Cauquenes"
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