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Los Ríos Region

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Los Ríos Region

The Los Ríos Region (Spanish: Región de Los Ríos, pronounced [los ˈri.os], lit. Region of the Rivers) is one of Chile's 16 regions, the country's first-order administrative divisions. Its capital is Valdivia. It began to operate as a region on October 2, 2007, having been created by subdividing the Los Lagos Region in southern Chile. It consists of two provinces: Valdivia and the newly created El Ranco Province, which was formerly part of Valdivia Province.

The region's main economic sector is the wood industry, mainly in timber harvesting from insignis pine and eucalyptus and pulp processing. Animal husbandry, the industrial sector and tourism are also of note.

The capital of Los Rios Region is Valdivia.

The region's 12 communes are distributed between 2 provinces. These are:

Valdivia is part of Northern Patagonia as its wild virgin forest embrace the Patagonian Cordillera following the river Calle Calle down to the Pacific Ocean. It is known in Patagonia the term " Bosque Valdiviano" referring to the primitive virgin forest found in the cordillera valleys of Valdivia which include dense masses of native trees. These Forest are present in some parts of Northern Patagonia both in Chile and Argentina.

In the beginning of the Chilean Republic, Valdivia was one of the original eight provinces established. The reason for the incorporation was not so much the value of Valdivia, per se, but to minimize the threat to Chilean independence posed by Spaniards in the territory. As German Chilean immigrants arrived in the city during the mid 19th century, the local economy started to develop industries. By 1900, Valdivia was the third most industrialized city in Chile, however, a period of decline started with the world wars. After the Great Chilean earthquake in 1960, Valdivia fell deeper into decline. Much of the city was destroyed and many people left the city.

In 1974 the military junta reorganized the political divisions of Chile deciding that Valdivia was no longer adequate to be a "first class administrative territory" capital. Hence, it was reclassified into a province within Los Lagos Region and Puerto Montt was designated capital. Valdivians greatly resented this decision because they felt they were better suited to be the capital than Puerto Montt, holding forth the following arguments:

On October 19, 2005 Chilean President Ricardo Lagos signed a bill allowing for the creation of Los Ríos Region ("The Rivers Region"). The bill was approved by Congress on December 19, 2006; it was signed into law on March 16, 2007 and published on April 5, 2007. According to the Roman numeral designation, currently used in Chile, this region is number XIV (fourteenth). However, steps are being taken to no longer refer to the regions by numbers.

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