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	1,673.0 km2 (645.9 sq mi)
Elevation	14 m (46 ft)
Population (2012 Census)[3]
• Total	218,858
• Density	130/km2 (340/sq mi)
• Urban	192,473
• Rural	26,385
Sex[3]
• Men	107,748
• Women	111,110
Time zone	CLT (UTC−4)
• Summer (DST)	CLST (UTC−3)
Postal code	5480000
Area code(s)	56 + 65
Climate	Cfb
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 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.

At the start of March 1969, approximately 90 landless persons received advice from Socialist member of parliament Luis Espinoza due to the local authority never granting them any land they needed to build homes. On March 4, 1969, they settled on farmland belonging to an absentee landlord. Having been denied titles by the local authorities, these families simply moved onto the empty, unoccupied land. They did so seeking squatters' rights, and without making any payment of rent. Some four or five days later, the local Police Chief Rolando Rodríguez Marbán reassured the squatters that they would not be disturbed and could proceed with their home construction. However, a change of plans by the ministry of the interior quickly led to new orders.

At midnight on March 9, Luis Espinoza was charged with breaking the law, arrested, and moved to the city of Valdivia. Following direct orders from Interior Minister Edmundo Pérez Zujovic, 250 armed policemen launched an assault on the squatting families that dawn. Eight of the landless persons were shot dead. All of the newly built homes were burned to the ground. The massacre is poignantly memorialized by singer-songwriter Víctor Jara in his song Preguntas por Puerto Montt.

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 which was succeeded by Salvador Allende's Unidad Popular.

Demographics

According to the 2002 census of the National Statistics Institute, Puerto Montt spans an area of 1,673 km² (646 sq mi);^[2] according to the 2012 census it has 218,858 inhabitants (107,748 men and 111,110 women). Of these, 192,473 (87.9%) lived in urban areas and 26,385 (12.1%) in rural areas. The population grew by 24.4% (42,920 persons) between the 2002 and 2012 censuses.^[3]

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. For the 41st parallel south, closer to the equator than to the south pole, Puerto Montt is much cooler than areas further inland in terms of summer temperatures, due to cool ocean currents nearby. This is compounded by the lack of a sizeable landmass on those parallels in the southern hemisphere (see also Wellington, New Zealand, which is also at a similar latitude). That means that Puerto Montt has much cooler summers than areas at similar distances from the equator in the northern hemisphere, with the only exception being the Northern California coastline, also being affected by cool Pacific currents.

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.

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 1862

• 

  Angelmó, Puerto Montt

• 

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

References

Notes

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

< Communes and municipalities in Los Lagos Region > Osorno Osorno Puerto Octay Puyehue Río Negro Purranque San Juan de la Costa San Pablo Llanquihue Calbuco Cochamó Fresia Frutillar Llanquihue Maullín Los Muermos Puerto Montt Puerto Varas Chiloé Ancud Castro Chonchi Curaco de Vélez Dalcahue Puqueldón Queilén Quellón Quemchi Quinchao Palena Chaitén Futaleufú Hualaihué Palena