Pelluhue
Encyclopedia
Pelluhue is a town and commune in the Cauquenes Province
of central Chile
's eighth region of Maule
.
, on the south by Cobquecura
(Ñuble Province
), on the east by Cauquenes
and on the west by the Pacific Ocean
. Its seat is the town of Curanipe
.
is the municipal seat, Pelluhue has a greater population, both permanent and seasonal. According to the 2002 census
of the National Statistics Institute
, Pelluhue spans an area of 371.4 sqkm and has 6,414 inhabitants (3,408 men and 3,006 women). Of these, 3,877 (60.4%) lived in urban area
s and 2,537 (39.6%) in rural areas. Because of its appeal as a tourism
and retirement
center, Pelluhue has been steadily growing over the last two decades. Its population increase rate has been one of the highest in the Maule Region
, growing by 17.2% (943 persons) between the 1992 and 2002 censuses.
s. Pelluhue evolved from a humble fishermen's cove
to a crowded summer resort
in less than 50 years. The town's population swells to over several thousand in the summer week-ends when vacationers from the hinterland
(Cauquenes
, Linares
, Talca
, Parral
) visit the seaside
.
Curanipe has a more "patrician" past, having been already a well-known and secluded coastal resort for the Cauquenes elite and a proud "minor port", in the mid- and late 19th century and early 20th century. Both Pelluhue and Curanipe were part of the municipality of Chanco until 1979. The municipality
and commune (Spanish
:comuna) of Pelluhue was officially created on October 26, 1979, when both towns, together with their adjacent territories, formed a new municipality.
The Curanipe parish church
of Santo Toribio is a preserved religious building overlooking the town.
From the ecclesiastical point of view, Pelluhue belongs to the Parish
of Curanipe, of the Diocese of Linares
, Chile.
, headed by an alcalde
who is directly elected every four years. The 2008-2012 alcalde is Carlos Zúñiga Villaseñor (UDI).
Within the electoral divisions of Chile, Pelluhue is represented in the Chamber of Deputies
by Guillermo Ceroni (PPD
) and Ignacio Urrutia (UDI) as part of the 40th electoral district, (together with Longaví
, Retiro
, Parral
, Cauquenes
and Chanco). The commune is represented in the Senate
by Hernán Larraín
(UDI) and Ximena Rincón González (PDC
) as part of the 11th senatorial constituency (Maule-South).
, lies the semi-isolated beach of Tregualemu, next to which there are two old, large rural houses of Chile
an colonial style.
The "Los Ruiles
" National Reserve
is a park
in the easternmost part of the municipality, located in the foothills
of the "Cordillera de la Costa
". A small oasis next to the road that connects Chanco
and Cauquenes
, the park contains many native species
of trees and plants. Several of them are unique to the region and some are in danger of extinction
. The reserve
has a surface of 29 hectares. There is a reception area, several picnic tables and two footpaths.
measuring 8.8 on the Richter scale, and its associated tsunami
that left 60 ft fishing vessels in the streets, the towns "covered in mud" and hundreds of homes "completely gone", as reported by the press. Scores of bodies have been found in the area and an estimated 300 homes were destroyed in Pelluhue alone. The commune of Pelluhue lies close to the town of Cobquecura
, the reported epicenter
of the earthquake.
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...
of central 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...
's eighth region of Maule
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...
.
Geography
The commune of Pelluhue has an area of 371.4 sqkm and is bordered on the north by ChancoChanco (Chile)
Chanco is a Chilean commune located in Cauquenes Province, Maule Region.-Geography:Chanco is bordered on the north by Constitución and Empedrado ; on the south by Pelluhue; on the east by Cauquenes, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean...
, on the south by Cobquecura
Cobquecura
Cobquecura is a town and commune in the Ñuble Province of Chile's eighth region of Biobío . The town is located on the northwest Pacific coast of the Ñuble Province about southwest of the national capital of Santiago.On February 27, 2010 Cobquecura was the epicenter of the huge earthquake and...
(Ñuble Province
Ñuble Province
Ñuble Province is one of four provinces of the Chilean region of Biobío . It spans an area of and is administratively constituted by 21 communes. It has a population of 441,604 inhabitants. Its capital is the city of Chillán.-History:...
), on the east by Cauquenes
Cauquenes
Cauquenes, a city and commune in Chile, is the capital of the Cauquenes Province and is located in the Maule Region.-History:According to the historical records of Alonso de Ercilla, Cauquenes was originally inhabited by an indigenous community of the Promaucaes, known as the Cauqui by the Inca or...
and on the west by the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
. Its seat is the town of Curanipe
Curanipe
Curanipe is a town and seat of the municipality of Pelluhue, Province of Cauquenes, in VII Maule Region of Chile....
.
Demography
Although CuranipeCuranipe
Curanipe is a town and seat of the municipality of Pelluhue, Province of Cauquenes, in VII Maule Region of Chile....
is the municipal seat, Pelluhue has a greater population, both permanent and seasonal. 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...
, Pelluhue spans an area of 371.4 sqkm and has 6,414 inhabitants (3,408 men and 3,006 women). Of these, 3,877 (60.4%) 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 2,537 (39.6%) in rural areas. Because of its appeal as a tourism
Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
and retirement
Retirement
Retirement is the point where a person stops employment completely. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours.Many people choose to retire when they are eligible for private or public pension benefits, although some are forced to retire when physical conditions don't allow the person to...
center, Pelluhue has been steadily growing over the last two decades. Its population increase rate has been one of the highest 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...
, growing by 17.2% (943 persons) between the 1992 and 2002 censuses.
History
Both towns, Pelluhue and Curanipe, are nowadays popular coastal resortResort
A resort is a place used for relaxation or recreation, attracting visitors for holidays or vacations. Resorts are places, towns or sometimes commercial establishment operated by a single company....
s. Pelluhue evolved from a humble fishermen's cove
Cove
A cove is a small type of bay or coastal inlet. They usually have narrow, restricted entrances, are often circular or oval, and are often inside a larger bay. Small, narrow, sheltered bays, inlets, creeks, or recesses in a coast are often considered coves...
to a crowded summer resort
Seaside resort
A seaside resort is a resort, or resort town, located on the coast. Where a beach is the primary focus for tourists, it may be called a beach resort.- Overview :...
in less than 50 years. The town's population swells to over several thousand in the summer week-ends when vacationers from the hinterland
Hinterland
The hinterland is the land or district behind a coast or the shoreline of a river. Specifically, by the doctrine of the hinterland, the word is applied to the inland region lying behind a port, claimed by the state that owns the coast. The area from which products are delivered to a port for...
(Cauquenes
Cauquenes
Cauquenes, a city and commune in Chile, is the capital of the Cauquenes Province and is located in the Maule Region.-History:According to the historical records of Alonso de Ercilla, Cauquenes was originally inhabited by an indigenous community of the Promaucaes, known as the Cauqui by the Inca or...
, Linares
Linares, Chile
Linares is a Chilean city and commune located in the Maule Region and lies in the fertile Chilean Central Valley, south of Santiago and south of Talca, the regional capital...
, Talca
Talca
Talca is a city and commune in Chile located about south of Santiago, and is the capital of both Talca Province and Maule Region . As of the 2002 census, the city had a population of 193,755....
, 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...
) visit the seaside
Coast
A coastline or seashore is the area where land meets the sea or ocean. A precise line that can be called a coastline cannot be determined due to the dynamic nature of tides. The term "coastal zone" can be used instead, which is a spatial zone where interaction of the sea and land processes occurs...
.
Curanipe has a more "patrician" past, having been already a well-known and secluded coastal resort for the Cauquenes elite and a proud "minor port", in the mid- and late 19th century and early 20th century. Both Pelluhue and Curanipe were part of the municipality of Chanco until 1979. The municipality
Municipality
A municipality is essentially an urban administrative division having corporate status and usually powers of self-government. It can also be used to mean the governing body of a municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district...
and commune (Spanish
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) of Pelluhue was officially created on October 26, 1979, when both towns, together with their adjacent territories, formed a new municipality.
The Curanipe parish church
Parish church
A parish church , in Christianity, is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish, the basic administrative unit of episcopal churches....
of Santo Toribio is a preserved religious building overlooking the town.
From the ecclesiastical point of view, Pelluhue belongs to the Parish
Parish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...
of Curanipe, of the Diocese of Linares
Diocese of Linares, Chile
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Linares, or "Diócesis de San Ambrosio de Linares", was established in Linares, Chile by Pope Pius XI on October 18, 1925 by means of the Bulla Notabiliter Aucto....
, Chile.
Administration
As a commune, Pelluhue 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 Carlos Zúñiga Villaseñor (UDI).
Within the electoral divisions of Chile, Pelluhue 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
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...
) 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...
, Cauquenes
Cauquenes
Cauquenes, a city and commune in Chile, is the capital of the Cauquenes Province and is located in the Maule Region.-History:According to the historical records of Alonso de Ercilla, Cauquenes was originally inhabited by an indigenous community of the Promaucaes, known as the Cauqui by the Inca or...
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).
Attractions and tourism
In the southernmost corner of the municipality, which borders the Bío Bío RegionBío-Bío Region
The VIII Biobío Region , one of the fifteen first-order administrative divisions in Chile, comprises four provinces: Arauco, Biobio, Concepción, and Ñuble.The capital of the Region is Concepción...
, lies the semi-isolated beach of Tregualemu, next to which there are two old, large rural houses of 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...
an colonial style.
The "Los Ruiles
Los Ruiles
"Los Ruiles National Reserve" is a small nature reserve located in the easternmost part of the municipality of Pelluhue, Province of Cauquenes, Maule Region, Chile...
" National Reserve
Park
A park is a protected area, in its natural or semi-natural state, or planted, and set aside for human recreation and enjoyment, or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. It may consist of rocks, soil, water, flora and fauna and grass areas. Many parks are legally protected by...
is a park
Park
A park is a protected area, in its natural or semi-natural state, or planted, and set aside for human recreation and enjoyment, or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. It may consist of rocks, soil, water, flora and fauna and grass areas. Many parks are legally protected by...
in the easternmost part of the municipality, located in the foothills
Foothills
Foothills are geographically defined as gradual increases in elevation at the base of a mountain range. They are a transition zone between plains and low relief hills to the adjacent topographically high mountains.-Examples:...
of the "Cordillera de la Costa
Cordillera de la Costa
Cordillera de la Costa may refer to the following mountain ranges:* Cordillera de la Costa, Chile: see Chilean Coast Range* Cordillera de la Costa, Venezuela: see Coastal Range, Venezuela...
". A small oasis next to the road that connects Chanco
Chanco (Chile)
Chanco is a Chilean commune located in Cauquenes Province, Maule Region.-Geography:Chanco is bordered on the north by Constitución and Empedrado ; on the south by Pelluhue; on the east by Cauquenes, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean...
and Cauquenes
Cauquenes
Cauquenes, a city and commune in Chile, is the capital of the Cauquenes Province and is located in the Maule Region.-History:According to the historical records of Alonso de Ercilla, Cauquenes was originally inhabited by an indigenous community of the Promaucaes, known as the Cauqui by the Inca or...
, the park contains many native species
Endemic (ecology)
Endemism is the ecological state of being unique to a defined geographic location, such as an island, nation or other defined zone, or habitat type; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsewhere. For example, all species of lemur are endemic to the...
of trees and plants. Several of them are unique to the region and some are in danger of extinction
Extinction
In biology and ecology, extinction is the end of an organism or of a group of organisms , normally a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and recover may have been lost before this point...
. The reserve
Nature reserve
A nature reserve is a protected area of importance for wildlife, flora, fauna or features of geological or other special interest, which is reserved and managed for conservation and to provide special opportunities for study or research...
has a surface of 29 hectares. There is a reception area, several picnic tables and two footpaths.
Earthquake
On February 27, 2010, Pelluhue and Curanipe were partially destroyed by an earthquake2010 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...
measuring 8.8 on the Richter scale, and its associated tsunami
Tsunami
A tsunami is a series of water waves caused by the displacement of a large volume of a body of water, typically an ocean or a large lake...
that left 60 ft fishing vessels in the streets, the towns "covered in mud" and hundreds of homes "completely gone", as reported by the press. Scores of bodies have been found in the area and an estimated 300 homes were destroyed in Pelluhue alone. The commune of Pelluhue lies close to the town of Cobquecura
Cobquecura
Cobquecura is a town and commune in the Ñuble Province of Chile's eighth region of Biobío . The town is located on the northwest Pacific coast of the Ñuble Province about southwest of the national capital of Santiago.On February 27, 2010 Cobquecura was the epicenter of the huge earthquake and...
, the reported epicenter
Epicenter
The epicenter or epicentre is the point on the Earth's surface that is directly above the hypocenter or focus, the point where an earthquake or underground explosion originates...
of the earthquake.