Cisnes River

The Río Cisnes ( Spanish for " swan river " ) is a river in southern Chile.

Geography

It rises in the Pampa Westpatagoniens that there marks the border between Chile and Argentina at the Continental Divide. It flows in a westerly direction crossing the Andes, to its confluence with the Puyuhuapi Fjord in Puerto Cisnes. Its catchment area is a relatively narrow strip between 44 ° 25 'and 45 ° 00' south latitude, with an area of ​​5464 km ² are covered by forest 58%.

Early Settlements

In the Pampa at Cerro Chueco, at the headwaters of the Río Cisnes, archaeologists found 11,400 years old traces of human settlement. South of it a camp of nomads tehuelche was found. Stones and ceramics of the natives have been dated to the years 660 and 1210 AD. It is believed that this camp was used until the late 19th century and over again until it was occupied between 1880 and 1920 by colonists who left their bottles, cans and ammunition remains there.

Discovery

In the austral summer 1766/67 the Jesuit priest José García Alsué discovered during a four -month mission trip through the islands westpatagonischen the mouth of the river Cisnes and wore his observation in a card. First time in 1873 managed a Hydrographic Commission, headed by Enrique Simpson Baeza ( Rear-Admiral of the Chilean Navy ) the precise mapping of Puyuhuapi Fjord and on this occasion the river was called the Río Cisnes (, Swan River ') because there swans were sighted.

The first systematic study was commissioned by the Chilean government in the summer of 1897/98 by the German geographer Hans Steffen under an expedition whose goal was to find the Continental Divide, for the purpose of defining the border between Chile and Argentina. Also present were Carlos Sands, a technical draftsman, for surveying and Robert Krautmacher († 1937), a teacher of German school in Puerto Montt, as a naturalist. When they reached the mouth they saw flocks of swans on the 250 meter wide river there.

Colonization

Archaeological research indicates that since about 1880 colonists arrived in the Pampa at the headwaters of the Río Cisnes. In 1906 there was the Estancia Río Cisnes furnished.

Around 1940, the colonization of Puerto Cisnes (, Swan Harbor ') began by fishermen and loggers of Chiloé, farm workers in the haciendas on the Rio Cisnes and immigrants from Argentina. The first settlement was located right at the mouth of the Río Cisnes. It was later abandoned due to frequent floods and moved further north, where there is today Puerto Cisnes.