Mocha Island

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Carahue coastal area with Mocha Island in the distance.

Mocha (Sp: Isla Mocha) is a small Chilean island located west of the coast of Arauco Province in the Pacific Ocean. The island is approximately 48 square kilometers in area, with a small chain of mountains running north-south. In Mapuche mythology the souls of dead people visit travels west to this island. Mocha Island was regularly visited by pirates from the Netherlands and England. Francis Drake and Olivier van Noort are known to have used the island as a supply base, Drake visiting it during his circumnavigation of the globe and being seriously hurt by hostile Mapuches that inhabited the island. The island today is home to the Mocha Island National Reserve, a nature preserve that covers approximately 45% of the island's surface.

[edit] History

Depiction of Isla Mocha during an incursion by a Dutch pirate fleet in 1616. From the book that narrates the adventures of Dutch pirate Joris Van Spilberger.

It was historically inhabited by an indigenous population known as the Lafkenches. It is noted as the location of numerous historic shipwrecks. The waters off the island are a popular place for recreational sea fishing.

The waters off the island are also noted as the home to a famous 19th century sperm whale, Mocha Dick, the inspiration for the fictional whale Moby Dick in the 1851 novel Moby-Dick by Herman Melville.