San Bernardo (Chile)

- 33.6 - 70.716666666667Koordinaten: 33 ° 36 ' S, 70 ° 43 ' W

San Bernardo is a city in Chile ( Región Metropolitana de Santiago). It has 244.400 inhabitants ( as of 2004).

Geography

San Bernardo is in the greater Santiago. The city is located in the south of Santiago and belongs to the province of Maipo. You additionally includes the cities of Buin, Paine and Calera de Tango.

San Bernardo is located at an altitude of 540 m on the Rio Maipo and has an area of 155 km ².

To San Bernardo was built by the year 2010, a large natural park called Parque Metropolitano Sur, Cerros de Chena. with around 12 hectares. At its heart are the two mountains Cerro Chena and Cerro Pucara.

History

From 1811 began work on the size Maipo channel, which should ensure the water supply in the area around San Bernardo and Santiago. The work was partly set in the Revolutionary War. 1819 Bernardo O'Higgins sent 200 convicts to speed up the channel works. The work continued until 1827. Then President Ramon Freire y Serrano gave the channel to the public free.

On February 9, 1821, the resort town of San Bernardo in the Senate was decided. It obtained its city rights on 27 September 1830.

On July 16, 1955, in the city of a serious train crash in which 50 people died occurred. More suffered serious injuries.

Until the 1980s, here also the main workshops of the Chilean State Railways Empresa de los Ferrocarriles del Estado were, what were the most important employers in the city for many decades. Today ( 2009) is only an empty building it. The remaining area was overbuilt with houses. Only the S-Bahn station Maestranza ( workshop ) still remembers it.