Puerto Montt
| Puerto Montt Meli Pulli |
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| — City and Commune — | |||
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 Puerto Montt
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| Coordinates (city): 41°28′S 72°56′W / 41.467°S 72.933°WCoordinates: 41°28′S 72°56′W / 41.467°S 72.933°W | |||
| Country | Chile | ||
| Region | Los Lagos | ||
| Province | Llanquihue | ||
| Founded as | Melipulli | ||
| Founded | 12 February 1853 | ||
| Government[1] | |||
| • Type | Municipality | ||
| • Alcalde | Rabindranath Quinteros Lara (PS) | ||
| Area[2] | |||
| • Total | 1,673 km2 (645.9 sq mi) | ||
| Elevation | 14 m (46 ft) | ||
| Population (2002 Census)[2] | |||
| • Total | 175,938 | ||
| • Density | 105.2/km2 (272.4/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) | ||
| Area code(s) | 56 + | ||
| Website | Municipality of Puerto Montt | ||
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. The commune spans an area of 1,673 km2 (646 sq mi) and had a population of 175,938 in 2002. It is located 1,055 km to the south of the capital, Santiago. 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.
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[edit] 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 11 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.
[edit] 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]
[edit] 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.
| Climate data for Puerto Montt | |||||||||||||
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| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Average high °C (°F) | 19.6 (67.3) |
19.2 (66.6) |
17.8 (64.0) |
15.2 (59.4) |
12.7 (54.9) |
10.7 (51.3) |
10.3 (50.5) |
11.1 (52.0) |
12.8 (55.0) |
14.4 (57.9) |
16.6 (61.9) |
18.5 (65.3) |
14.9 (58.8) |
| Average low °C (°F) | 9.4 (48.9) |
9.1 (48.4) |
8.0 (46.4) |
6.7 (44.1) |
6.0 (42.8) |
4.1 (39.4) |
3.9 (39.0) |
4.0 (39.2) |
4.2 (39.6) |
5.5 (41.9) |
7.2 (45.0) |
8.6 (47.5) |
6.4 (43.5) |
| Rainfall mm (inches) | 90.1 (3.547) |
93.3 (3.673) |
98.9 (3.894) |
143.3 (5.642) |
234.1 (9.217) |
223.8 (8.811) |
228.7 (9.004) |
208.5 (8.209) |
145.9 (5.744) |
120.9 (4.76) |
111.9 (4.406) |
103.1 (4.059) |
1,802.5 (70.965) |
| % humidity | 81 | 83 | 85 | 86 | 87 | 87 | 86 | 84 | 83 | 82 | 81 | 80 | 83.8 |
| Avg. rainy days (≥ 0.1 mm) | 13 | 12 | 15 | 20 | 24 | 24 | 23 | 21 | 19 | 17 | 18 | 16 | 222 |
| Source no. 1: Meteolología Interactiva [3] | |||||||||||||
| Source no. 2: ClimateTempInfo[4] | |||||||||||||
[edit] 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. Other major cities and towns around Lake Llanquihue include Osorno, Valdivia, Puerto Varas, the industrial town of Llanquihue, the cultural town of Frutillar, and Puerto Octay, all adding importance to Puerto Montt and the region.
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. It is the fastest-growing city in southern Chile, mainly because of the explosive growth of the salmon industry's enterprises.
- Salmon aquaculture
Puerto Montt is often referred to as The Salmon Capital of Chile. The city is configured as the hub of the largest salmon aquaculture industry in the world, closely followed by Norway. Hatcheries, fisheries and packing plants are all 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.
[edit] 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 2008–2012 alcalde is Rabindranath Quinteros Lara (PS).[1]
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).
[edit] Gallery
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The city of Puerto Montt in 1895
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Coastal stroll of Puerto Montt
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Angelmo, Puerto Montt
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View of Puerto Montt's sea-side downtown in foreground and Osorno volcano in the background
[edit] References
- ^ a b (Spanish) "Municipality of Puerto Montt". http://www.puertomonttchile.cl/. Retrieved 1 January 2011.
- ^ a b c d (Spanish) "National Statistics Institute". http://www.ine.cl/canales/chile_estadistico/censos_poblacion_vivienda/censo_pobl_vivi.php. Retrieved 13 December 2010.
- ^ "Información climatológica de estaciones chilenas". Departmento de Geophysica. 2011. http://www.atmosfera.cl/HTML/climatologia/DATOS/CHILECENTRO.HTM. Retrieved on December 8, 2011.
- ^ "Puerto Montt Climate Guide to the Average Weather & Temperatures with Graphs Elucidating Sunshine and Rainfall Data & Information about Wind Speeds & Humidity:". ClimateTempInfo. 2011. http://www.puerto-montt.climatetemp.info/. Retrieved on December 8, 2011.
[edit] External links
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