Chonchi

Chonchi is a city and Samtgemeinde ( Comuna ) in Chile on the island of Chiloé in the Región de los Lagos.

Location and size

The integrated municipality is situated on the east coast of the island of Chiloé and covers an area of ​​1362.1 km ². It consists of the city and Chonchi following villages:

• Rauco
• Quinched
• Vilupulli
• Teupa
• Terao
• Petanes
• Notue
• Quiao
• Huillinco
• Cucao

Population

The 2002 census showed a population of 12 572 inhabitants ( 6453 male and 6119 female ) for Chonchi. Of the inhabitants lived 4588 (36.5% ) in the city itself Chonchi and 7984 (63.5 %) in the ten members of the community villages. From 1992 to 2002 the population rose by 18.3 % ( 1945 people).

History

Chonchi was initially a mission station of the Jesuits in a village of indigenous Huilliche a school, in 1755 150 children were taught. The city itself was founded in 1767 on the orders of the then governor of the island of Chiloé, Don Guil y Gonzaga, and had 315 inhabitants in 1787 (80 Europeans and 235 Huilliche ). With the independence of Chile from Spain in 1818, the importance of the city grew. A 1833 census revealed that Chonchi was the most important town in the south of the island of Chiloe. It was in 1836 officially declared a municipality. From 1880 there has been a significant upturn in the forestry on Chiloe, from the also benefited the city Chonchi, and as a result, the port was expanded. He served primarily the export of cypress wood and grain. In Calle Centenario, connecting the port to the main central square of the town and the church, the first representative, wooden dwellings of wealthy patrician families, that are worth seeing today emerged. At the port, many people lived in wooden stilt houses. On June 21, 1886, born in Chonchi Manuel Jesús Andrade Bórquez, who composed the anthem of Chiloé.

In the 1930 census there was a population of 14 546, and from 1953 Chonchi was connected to the next larger town of Castro by a good road, so a bus was set up - by then the city was dependent on the vessel connection. When the devastating earthquake of 1960 caused considerable damage in Chonchi, including almost all of stilt houses were destroyed in the lower part of the city. On January 13, 2002, several of the declared National Cultural Monument wooden buildings fell into the street Calle Irarrazabal a major fire. Towards the end of the 20th century began in Chonchi with the advent of salmon farming and the development of tourism in southern Chile, a new economic boom.

Architecture and Sights

Chonchi is on Chiloé also called Ciudad de los Tres Zab, which means " city of the three -storey " means: In this comparison, the area on the harbor with the local market Feria Artesanal corresponds to the ground floor whilst to the first floor the slightly higher part of the city in area of ​​the museum and the second floor corresponding to the area around the town square with the church.

• In Chonchi are - in contrast to other comparable cities in the island of Chiloé - numerous residential buildings of wood from the late 19th and the early 20th century received, especially in the commercial street Calle Centenario. You remember the time of the economic boom by the burgeoning forestry. Featured older houses are also available at the Plaza, the main central square of the city, which is applied not square, but triangular in Chonchi in contrast to the other cities of Chiloé.
• The main attraction of the town is the Church of San Carlos de Borromeo, one of the 16 wooden churches of Chiloé, which have been declared by UNESCO in November 2000 as a World Heritage Site. The construction of the church was begun in 1754, interrupted several times and in 1859 completed. The church was built to protect from moisture on a flat stone base, and was used primarily the wood of the larch and especially the southern beech that will not rot even in the humid climate of southern Chile. As with the other wooden churches of Chiloé, not a single nail of metal was used because metal on Chiloé was very scarce during construction. Instead came rivets made ​​of wood used. The church was declared a national heritage in 1971 and extensively renovated in 1995-96 for the first time. The tower collapsed in 2002 in a storm and was built from 2004 to 2005 again, on this occasion there was a re- restoration of the church, consisting of three ships and can be reached from the main central square of the city by a portico with five arches.
• Another wooden church still was declared a World Heritage Site In the field of community Chonchi: San Antonio de Padua in the village Vilupulli the north of the church on a hill, whose name means in the language of Huilliche " Snake Hill". The church, whose tower is one of the highest of the island was inaugurated on January 16, 1872 and declared on 26 July 1971 for the National Cultural Property. Like the other wooden churches of Chiloé Island it has a gable tab consists of three sections with a tent roof. You can reach the church by a portico with columns and five arches. As with the other wooden churches on Chiloe is to enter through a separate door from the portico of each of the three naves.
• The Regional Museum Museo de las Tradiciones Chonchinas is housed in a magnificent town house on Calle Centenario. The ground floor displays exhibits from the living culture of the upper classes from the beginning of the 20th century, while the first floor and the third floor to represent the everyday life of the lower stratum of Chonchi in the 20th century.
• Interesting is also the cemetery west of the city. On him numerous grave sites can be seen in the form of small wooden churches from shingles.
• The fortress Fuerte Tauco was built in 1780 on the bay Fiordo de Castro, to secure the waterway to Castro. However, the system never came as a fortress to advantage.

Environment

In the field of community Chonchi are the lakes Lago Huillinco, Lake Tarahulín, Lago and Lago sodium Tepuhueico and the largest part of the National Park Chiloé.

Huillinco is a village on Lake Huillinco with 943 inhabitants ( 2002), most of which are Huilliche, which among other the cemetery with tombs in the form of small churches of larch is worth seeing.

Cucao is one of the few places on the west coast of the island. It is a village with 424 inhabitants ( 2000) at the entrance to the National Park Chiloé, which among other a 700 m long forest trail and a small open-air Museumn are worth seeing.

Transport links

From the provincial capital, 23 km away Chonchi Castro can be reached via the good -developed national road 5 on which repeatedly run daily buses in both directions. In the ten members of the community Chonchi villages lead part asphalt, part gravel roads that are passable in all weather conditions.

In the south of the municipality Chonchi consists of the small ferry dock Puerto Huichas hourly connection to the island Lemuy with a car ferry.

The nearest airport is located on the mainland in Puerto Montt.