Cautín Province

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Cautín Province is a province in the Araucanía Region of southern Chile, bounded on the north by Arauco and Malleco provinces, on the east by Argentina, on the south by Valdivia Province, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean. Its area is officially estimated at 5,832 sq. m. (15,100 km²). Cautin lies within the temperate agricultural and forest region of the south, and produces wheat, cattle, lumber, tan-bark and fruit. The state central railway from Santiago to Puerto Montt crosses the province from north to south, and the Cautin, or Imperial, and Tolten rivers (the latter forming its southern boundary) cross from east to west, both affording excellent transportation facilities.

The province once formed part of the territory occupied by the Araucanian Indians, and its present political existence dates from 1887. Its population, in 1905, was 96,139, of whom a large percentage were European immigrants, principally Germans. The capital is Temuco, on the Cautín River, which has grown from a population of 7,078 in 1895, to over 300,000 in 2002. The principal towns besides Temuco are Lautaro and Nueva Imperial, both of historic interest because they were fortified Spanish outposts in the long struggle with the Araucanians.