Chiloé Island

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Location of Chiloé in Chile

Chiloé Island (Spanish: "Isla de Chiloé"), also known as Isla Grande de Chiloé "Big Island of Chiloé", is a South American island off the coast of Chile, in the Pacific Ocean. The island is located in southern Chile, in the 10th Region (X Región), also known as Región de Los Lagos, one of the thirteen regions into which the country is divided. It is the main island of the Chiloé Archipelago.

1 Geography
2 Climate
3 History
4 Demographics and economy
5 Culture
- 5.1 Mythology
6 See also
7 Sources and External links

[edit] Geography

Ferry used between Chilean mainland and Chiloé Island.

Chiloé Island (8,394 km², 3241 sq mi), is the second largest island in Chile (and the fifth in South America), after the Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego. It is separated from the Chilean mainland by the Chacao Strait ("Canal de Chacao") to the north, and by the Gulf of Ancud and the Gulf of Corcovado to the east; the Pacific ocean lies to the west, and the Chonos Archipelago lies to the south, across the Gulf of Corcovado. The island is 190 km (118 mi) from north to south, and averages 55-65 km wide (35 to 40 mi). The capital is Castro, on the east side of the island; the second largest town is Ancud, at the island's northwest corner, and there are several smaller port towns on the east side of the island, such as Quellón, Dalcahue and Chonchi.

Chiloé Province includes all the Chiloé Archipelago except the Grupo Desertores islands, plus the Isla Guafo. The area of Chiloé province is 9181 km² (3546 sq mi). The administrative center of the province is Castro, while the episcopal see of the Roman Catholic bishopric is Ancud. Chiloé province is part of the Los Lagos Region (Región de los Lagos), which mainly includes the Chilean lakes region on the mainland north of Chiloé. The administrative center of the region is Puerto Montt.

Chiloé Island

Chiloé and the Chonos Archipelago are a southern extension of the Chilean coastal range, which runs north and south, parallel to the Pacific coast and the Andes Mountains. The Chilean Central Valley lies between the coastal mountains and the Andes, of which the Gulfs of Ancud and Corcovado form the southern extension. Mountains run north and south along the spine of the island. The east coast is deeply indented, with several natural harbors and numerous smaller islands.

[edit] Climate

Chiloe runs from 41º 47' S to 43º 26' S latitude, and has a humid, cool temperate climate. The western side of the island is rainy and wild, home to the Valdivian temperate rain forests, one of the world's few temperate rain forests. Chiloé National Park (Parque Nacional de Chiloé) is located on the Island's western shore and includes part of the coastal range.

The eastern shore, in the rain shadow of the interior mountains, is warmer and drier, and home to almost all of Chiloé's population, agriculture and aquaculture, which includes prairies, potatoes and Atlantic salmon.

[edit] History

Chiloé's first known inhabitants are the Chonos, a nomadic people. Later Huilliche (a part of Mapuche) came from mainland and settled in the eastern shore, practicing agriculture and fishing.

In 1567 the island was first claimed by Spain, which was exploring and claiming most of South America and many neighbouring islands, and established a settlement at Castro in 1567, which later became the seat of a Jesuit mission, and was capital of the province until the founding of Ancud in 1768.

In 1784 Chiloé Island was made a direct dependency of the colonial the viceroyalty of Peru, while continental Chile was a captaincy-general within the viceroyalty.

In December 1817 the island became the last stronghold of Spanish loyalists with the arrival of supporter forces fleeing the Chilean mainland, from which it is separated by Mapuche territory, where a long war of independence resumed after a Spanish reoccupation. A Chilean expedition led by Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald failed to reconquer it. On 15 January 1826 the Spanish forces surrender to a military expedition led by Ramon Freire, and the island is fully incorporated into the now independent republic of Chile (which Spain would only recognize in 1844).

The last Spanish Military governors were :

Mariano Osorio December 1817 - 1818
Antonio de Quintanilla 1818 - 15 January 1826

Charles Darwin visited Chiloé during the summer of 1834–1835, writing about his impressions of southern Chile in his diaries [1].

During the colonization of the Patagonia by Chile and Argentina, a lot of chilotes migrated to the mainland to work in cattle farming.

The cathedral in Ancud was totally destroyed and Castro was badly damaged by the Great Chilean Earthquake of 1960, widely considered to be the most powerful ever recorded. In 1982, the provincial capital, after over 200 years, was returned to Castro.

[edit] Demographics and economy

The population of the province with its ten municipalities according to the 2002 census was 154,775; of this, 44% lived in rural areas, according to the Instituto Nacional de Estadisticas (INE). Chiloé's people are known as Chilotes.

Salmon aquaculture, tourism, agriculture and timber are the mainstays of the island economy.

[edit] Culture

In part because of its physical isolation from the rest of Chile, Chiloé has a very special architecture and local culture. The Spanish, who arrived in the 16th century, and Jesuit missionaries who followed, constructed hundreds of small wooden churches in an attempt to bring Christianity to a pagan land; the result was a mixing of Catholicism and pagan beliefs. These unique buildings have been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.