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La Calera, Chile
La Calera is a city and commune in the Quillota Province of central Chile's fifth region of Valparaíso.
La Calera is located 66 km (41 mi) northeast of Valparaíso, and 118 km (73 mi) northwest of Santiago, in the Aconcagua River Valley. Its area is 60.5 km2 (23 sq mi). La Calera borders Nogales to the north and west, Hijuelas to the east, and La Cruz to the south.
The city of La Calera is partly enclosed by Route 5 and Route 60.
La Calera's name comes from the production of quicklime (Spanish "cal") that is obtained from the processed limestone (Spanish: piedra caliza) (calcium carbonate), extracted from the hills at the south of the town, which were already exploited by the Chilean and Peruvian natives for some 400 years previously. Therefore, La Calera means "quicklime mine".
Established by the Jesuits as a settlement of the Jesuit reduction, the estate of La Calera belonged to the Jesuits up to 1767, to the expulsion of Jesuits by the decree of King Charles III of Spain from 1 March 1767. The Bavarian Jesuit missionary Karl von Haimhausen was prominent in the area's early development. The turning point came in 1842, when it was acquired by Bolivian citizen Ildefonso Huici (father of socialite Eugenia Errázuriz) who started industrialising it using local resources. By 1844, a small town had emerged consisting mainly in a number of workers' dwellings located around the factories and production centres established in it, giving life to what La Calera is today.
Due to its strategic crossroads location on the central valley and the pioneering and entrepreneurial work of locals and immigrants (Palestinians, Germans, Italians), La Calera has managed to remain a significant commercial and services centre to the interior of the Valparaiso Region, even though it is not the capital city of the Province. It also remains an important industrial base, employing a fair share of the rural population around it.
According to data from the Census 2002 by the National Statistics Institute, the commune's population was 49,503 inhabitants (24,134 men and 25,369 women). Of these, 47,836 (96.6%) lived in urban areas and 1,667 (3.4%) in rural areas. Its 2007 estimated population was 50,644.[citation needed] La Calera holds 3.21% of the total population of the region. The city's central location in between Santiago de Chile and Valparaiso on the coast made the city of La Calera a true crossroads of industrial development.
Amongst the important immigrant communities set in La Calera before 1950, Palestinians and Italians stand out, the former making it the town with the largest proportion of Palestinian ascendancy in Latin America.[citation needed] The small but well prominent Palestinian community was recently reported in international news media.[citation needed] Even a former Mayor of the city was of Palestinian descent.[specify] Italians as well as French immigrants have established a thriving agricultural economy.
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La Calera, Chile
La Calera is a city and commune in the Quillota Province of central Chile's fifth region of Valparaíso.
La Calera is located 66 km (41 mi) northeast of Valparaíso, and 118 km (73 mi) northwest of Santiago, in the Aconcagua River Valley. Its area is 60.5 km2 (23 sq mi). La Calera borders Nogales to the north and west, Hijuelas to the east, and La Cruz to the south.
The city of La Calera is partly enclosed by Route 5 and Route 60.
La Calera's name comes from the production of quicklime (Spanish "cal") that is obtained from the processed limestone (Spanish: piedra caliza) (calcium carbonate), extracted from the hills at the south of the town, which were already exploited by the Chilean and Peruvian natives for some 400 years previously. Therefore, La Calera means "quicklime mine".
Established by the Jesuits as a settlement of the Jesuit reduction, the estate of La Calera belonged to the Jesuits up to 1767, to the expulsion of Jesuits by the decree of King Charles III of Spain from 1 March 1767. The Bavarian Jesuit missionary Karl von Haimhausen was prominent in the area's early development. The turning point came in 1842, when it was acquired by Bolivian citizen Ildefonso Huici (father of socialite Eugenia Errázuriz) who started industrialising it using local resources. By 1844, a small town had emerged consisting mainly in a number of workers' dwellings located around the factories and production centres established in it, giving life to what La Calera is today.
Due to its strategic crossroads location on the central valley and the pioneering and entrepreneurial work of locals and immigrants (Palestinians, Germans, Italians), La Calera has managed to remain a significant commercial and services centre to the interior of the Valparaiso Region, even though it is not the capital city of the Province. It also remains an important industrial base, employing a fair share of the rural population around it.
According to data from the Census 2002 by the National Statistics Institute, the commune's population was 49,503 inhabitants (24,134 men and 25,369 women). Of these, 47,836 (96.6%) lived in urban areas and 1,667 (3.4%) in rural areas. Its 2007 estimated population was 50,644.[citation needed] La Calera holds 3.21% of the total population of the region. The city's central location in between Santiago de Chile and Valparaiso on the coast made the city of La Calera a true crossroads of industrial development.
Amongst the important immigrant communities set in La Calera before 1950, Palestinians and Italians stand out, the former making it the town with the largest proportion of Palestinian ascendancy in Latin America.[citation needed] The small but well prominent Palestinian community was recently reported in international news media.[citation needed] Even a former Mayor of the city was of Palestinian descent.[specify] Italians as well as French immigrants have established a thriving agricultural economy.