Los Lagos Region

Región de los Lagos is a region in southern Chile (Region X).

The landscape is marked by many lakes, forests and mountains. The huge island of Chiloé is a very popular tourist destination. The region extends from Osorno to about Chaitén after the south.

The region is divided into the four provinces of Osorno, Llanquihue, Chiloé and Palena; the largest cities are:

  • Capital Puerto Montt 175,000 inhabitants
  • Osorno 142,000 inhabitants
  • Ancud 40,000 inhabitants
  • Castro 39,000 inhabitants
  • Puerto Varas 33,000 inhabitants
  • Calbuco 31,000 inhabitants
  • Purranque 20 949 inhabitants
  • Frutillar 15,000 inhabitants
  • Chaitén 3,500 inhabitants

History

In 1544, Juan Bautista Pastene explored on behalf of Pedro de Valdivia Valdivia the area of today. 1552 reached Pedro de Valdivia Llanquihue Lake. The area was inhabited by the Mapuche. It always came back to heavy fighting, which lost the Spaniards often. Therefore, the area south of Valdivia, except the island of Chiloé remained uninhabited for a long time by the Spaniards, as their cities were destroyed again and again at Indian attacks. The island of Chiloé remained long spanish, even after independence. You could be conquered until 1826. From 1846 German immigrants populated the area around Lake Llanquihue. They founded the capital Puerto Montt in 1853. Region has later also a larger number of Swiss immigrants offered a new home. 1960, much of the region by a devastating earthquake has been affected.

Tourism

The X region is certainly one of the tourist areas in Chile. The landscape is dotted by lakes and forests. The 866 km ² Llanquihue Lake, Osorno Volcano, fishing and hiking in the nearby mountains are among the most popular tourist attractions.

Osorno is a center of German immigrants in the region, a very German influenced city. It is worth a trip to Lake Rupanco. Also marked are many German cities on Lake Llanquihue, especially Puerto Octay and Frutillar.

The capital Puerto Montt was also founded by Germans. The port of Puerto Montt is valid from port of departure for trips to Tierra del Fuego and the Strait of Magellan.

The island of Chiloe is a great tourist destination, especially the Chiloé National Park in the west of the giant island is often visited.

In the south of the region in the province of Palena Chaitén lies with the private 2700 km ² nature park Pumalin. It was built by American Douglas Tompkins through large purchases of land from the mid- 60s. The land was later handed over to the non-profit organization Fundación Pumalin. The park is particularly interesting for ecotourism.

Economy

The port of Puerto Montt serves as a port of departure for the whole of southern Chile. Puerto Montt is also the starting point of the huge highway Carretera Austral, which extends far to the south of Chile.

Agriculture plays an important role in addition to tourism, especially livestock and dairy farming. Due to the many lakes and coasts and the fishing is one of the important sources of income.

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