Puerto Montt

Puerto Montt Meli Pulli
City and Commune
Coastal stroll of Puerto Montt
Flag Coat of arms Location of the Puerto Montt commune in Los Lagos Region Puerto Montt Location in Chile
Coordinates (city): 41°28′S 72°56′W / 41.467°S 72.933°W / -41.467; -72.933Coordinates: 41°28′S 72°56′W / 41.467°S 72.933°W / -41.467; -72.933
Country	Chile
Region	Los Lagos
Province	Llanquihue
Founded as	Melipulli
Founded	12 February 1853
Government[1]
• Type	Municipality
• Alcalde	Gervoy Paredes Rojas (PS)
Area[2]
• Total	1,673 km2 (646 sq mi)
Elevation	14 m (46 ft)
Population (2002 Census)[2]
• Total	175,938
• Density	110/km2 (270/sq mi)
• Urban	155,895
• Rural	20,043
Sex[2]
• Men	87,825
• Women	88,113
Time zone	CLT (UTC−4)
• Summer (DST)	CLST (UTC−3)
Postal code	54800000
Area code(s)	56 + 65
Twin cities
•  Quebec City	Canada
Website	Official website (Spanish)

Puerto Montt is a port city and commune in southern Chile, located at the northern end of the Reloncaví Sound in the Llanquihue Province, Los Lagos Region, 1,055 km to the south of the capital, Santiago. The commune spans an area of 1,673 km² (646 sq mi) and had a population of 175,938 in 2002. It is bounded by the communes of Puerto Varas to the north, Cochamó to the east and southeast, Calbuco to the southwest and Maullín and Los Muermos to the west. Founded as late as 1853 during the German colonization of southern Chile, Puerto Montt soon outgrew older neighboring cities due to its strategic position at the southern end of the Chilean Central Valley being a gateway city into Chiloé Archipelago, Llanquihue and Nahuel Huapi lakes and Western Patagonia.

Puerto Montt has gained renown and grown significantly due to the rise of Chile as the second largest salmon producer of the world during the 1990s and 2000s. However, the Chilean salmon aquaculture crisis of the late 2000s resulted at least temporarily in severe unemployment and exposed weaknesses in the local economy. The city's cultural heritage mixes elements of Chiloé culture with German heritage although the city has attracted a significant number of newcomers from all over Chile in the last 30 years due to employment opportunities.

History

Originally, the site was covered by a thick forest and was called Melipulli (which means Four hills in Mapudungun). It was selected as an entrance to Lake Llanquihue when its proximity to the open sea was discovered. In the summer of 1851, an expedition arrived from Chiloé to begin the clearing of the area and the building of houses for the new inhabitants. The city itself was founded on February 12, 1853, after government-sponsored immigration from Germany that began in 1848 populated the region and integrated it politically to the rest of the country. It was named after Manuel Montt, President of Chile between 1851 and 1861, who set in motion the German immigration.

On March 4, 1969, approximately 90 landless squatters decided to settle on otherwise unoccupied farmland — without any title, right, or payment of rent — belonging to an absentee landlord. The squatters received advice from Socialist member of parliament Luis Espinoza due to the local authority never granting them any land they wanted to build houses. Five days later, local Police Chief Rolando Rodríguez Marbán reassured the squatters that they would not be disturbed and could proceed with their home construction. However, new orders received from the ministry of the interior the following day led to a change of plans: at midnight on March 9, Espinoza was charged with breaking the law, arrested, and moved to the city of Valdivia. At dawn, 250 policemen launched an assault on the squatters, following direct orders from Interior Minister Edmundo Pérez Zujovic. The final result was that all newly built homes were burned to the ground and 8 squatters were shot dead.^{[citation needed]}

The massacre of Puerto Montt and the public outcry that followed were major factors contributing to the defeat of Eduardo Frei's party in the Chilean presidential election of 1970 and was thus succeeded by Salvador Allende's Unidad Popular.^{[citation needed]} The events were described by singer-songwriter Víctor Jara in his song Preguntas por Puerto Montt.

Demographics

According to the 2002 census of the National Statistics Institute, Puerto Montt spans an area of 1,673 km² (646 sq mi) and has 175,938 inhabitants (87,825 men and 88,113 women). Of these, 155,895 (88.6%) lived in urban areas and 20,043 (11.4%) in rural areas. The population grew by 35.4% (45,968 persons) between the 1992 and 2002 censuses.^[2]

Climate

Puerto Montt has a wet oceanic climate (Köppen Cfb) with heavy rainfall throughout the year and only a very minor drying trend in the summer. Although temperatures are consistently cool, frosts are very rare and occur only a couple of times per month in the winter.

Economy

Puerto Montt is the capital of the Los Lagos Region and the Llanquihue Province, and the main sea port at the lower end of Chile's western continental land. The city is the principal commercial, services, and financial hub of the of Chilean Northern Patagonia—Zona Austral. As the geographic region's main port, Puerto Montt is often considered the 'capital' of Chilean Patagonia.^{[citation needed]}

Puerto Montt is also the gateway to the Chiloé Archipelago and Chiloé Island across the Chacao Channel, and the many other smaller islands in Chile's inland Sea of Chiloé.

The city's economy is now based upon agriculture, cattle, and forestry on the surrounding islands, and fishing and salmon aquaculture in the fjords and nearby Pacific Ocean.

Salmon aquaculture

The city is configured as the hub of one of the largest salmon aquaculture industries in the world. Hatcheries, fisheries and packing plants are mostly located south of Puerto Montt. Fresh salmon is flown daily to world markets and frozen salmon is shipped by ocean to all destinations. The tremendous growth of the region, mainly due to the salmon industry, but also due to rapid expansion of forestry, cattle, and tourism, has proven the massive economic potential of Puerto Montt and its surrounding area.

Airports

Puerto Montt has the El Tepual Airport, where two airlines operate regular flights to and from Santiago, Punta Arenas, Balmaceda, Concepción, Temuco and Bariloche (Argentina). The airlines operating at the airport are LAN Airlines (the country's largest) and Sky Airline. The flight time to Santiago is approximately two hours.

Administration

As a commune, Puerto Montt is a third-level administrative division of Chile administered by a municipal council, headed by an alcalde who is directly elected every four years. The 2012-2016 alcalde is Gervoy Paredes Rojas

Within the electoral divisions of Chile, Puerto Montt is represented in the Chamber of Deputies by Marisol Turres (UDI) and Patricio Vallespín (PDC) as part of the 57th electoral district, (together with Cochamó and Maullín, Calbuco). The commune is represented in the Senate by Camilo Escalona Medina (PS) and Carlos Kuschel Silva (RN) as part of the 17th senatorial constituency (Los Lagos Region).

Gallery

• 

  The city of Puerto Montt in 1895

• 

  Angelmó, Puerto Montt

• 

  View of Puerto Montt's sea-side downtown in foreground and Osorno volcano in the background

References

External links

• Municipality of Puerto Montt
• Puerto Montt City Guide
• Satellite view of Puerto Montt Google Maps

Centre of Puerto Montt

See also

• Tenglo Island

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