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Puerto Montt
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Puerto Montt
Puerto Montt (Mapuche: Meli Pulli) 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 has a population of 245,902 in 2017. 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 through its strategic position at the southern end of the Chilean Central Valley being a gateway city into the Chiloé Archipelago, the Llanquihue and Nahuel Huapi lakes and Western Patagonia.
Puerto Montt has gained renown and grown significantly through the rise of Chile to become the second largest salmon producer of the world during the 1990s and 2000s. However, the Chilean salmon aquaculture crisis of the late 2000s resulted in severe unemployment and exposed weaknesses in the local economy. The city's cultural endowment mixes elements of Chilean-Spanish culture with a German heritage. The city has attracted a significant number of newcomers from all over Chile in the last 30 years[which?] in search of employment opportunities.[citation needed]
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 by the colonial government. The expedition was entrusted to Bernardo Philippi, a German naturalist and cartographer, but after his death in 1851, Vicente Perez Rosales took over his duties, and by the end of September started to chop trees at Reloncaví sound using local woodsman coming from Huar, Maillen, Huelmo and Calbuco Mainly. By December, after the forest was cut down, the area was burned to clear the land in anticipation of completing the settlement plan. 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.[citation needed] It was named after Manuel Montt, President of Chile between 1851 and 1861, who set in motion the German immigration.[citation needed]
In 1912, the city was connected by train to Santiago, making it an important point of entry into Chilean Patagonia and augmenting its commercial development. By 1950, it had a population of 27,500, and the city was rapidly urbanizing. However, the 1960 Valdivia earthquake destroyed much of Puerto Montt, collapsing the port and the train station along with many building and houses. Eventually the city recovered, becoming once again an important urban centre as well as a port of national interest.
At the start of March 1969, approximately 90 landless people received poor advice from Socialist Member of Parliament Luis Espinoza.[citation needed] The families were never granted land needed to build their homes. On March 4, 1969, the families settled on empty, unoccupied farmland owned by an absentee landlord.[citation needed] The families sought squatters' rights. Approximately four to five days after moving onto the land, the local Police Chief Rolando Rodríguez Marbán assured the squatters that they would not be disturbed, and could proceed with their home construction. Unfortunately, the Ministry of the Interior changed their orders, which led to tragic results.[citation needed]
On midnight on March 9, Espinoza was charged with breaking the law, arrested, and moved to the city of Valdivia, where he was held. Following direct orders from the Minister of Interior Edmundo Pérez Zujovic, 250 armed policemen launched an assault on the squatting families at dawn. Eight squatters were shot dead. Two squatters, a 9-month child and an adult later died from their wounds. The newly built homes were decimated. The massacre is poignantly memorialized by singer-songwriter Víctor Jara in his song Preguntas por Puerto Montt.
By 1979, Puerto Montt was nominated and later become the Capital of Los Lagos Region, thereby becoming the principal administrative, political and commercial centre of Southern Chile.
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Puerto Montt
Puerto Montt (Mapuche: Meli Pulli) 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 has a population of 245,902 in 2017. 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 through its strategic position at the southern end of the Chilean Central Valley being a gateway city into the Chiloé Archipelago, the Llanquihue and Nahuel Huapi lakes and Western Patagonia.
Puerto Montt has gained renown and grown significantly through the rise of Chile to become the second largest salmon producer of the world during the 1990s and 2000s. However, the Chilean salmon aquaculture crisis of the late 2000s resulted in severe unemployment and exposed weaknesses in the local economy. The city's cultural endowment mixes elements of Chilean-Spanish culture with a German heritage. The city has attracted a significant number of newcomers from all over Chile in the last 30 years[which?] in search of employment opportunities.[citation needed]
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 by the colonial government. The expedition was entrusted to Bernardo Philippi, a German naturalist and cartographer, but after his death in 1851, Vicente Perez Rosales took over his duties, and by the end of September started to chop trees at Reloncaví sound using local woodsman coming from Huar, Maillen, Huelmo and Calbuco Mainly. By December, after the forest was cut down, the area was burned to clear the land in anticipation of completing the settlement plan. 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.[citation needed] It was named after Manuel Montt, President of Chile between 1851 and 1861, who set in motion the German immigration.[citation needed]
In 1912, the city was connected by train to Santiago, making it an important point of entry into Chilean Patagonia and augmenting its commercial development. By 1950, it had a population of 27,500, and the city was rapidly urbanizing. However, the 1960 Valdivia earthquake destroyed much of Puerto Montt, collapsing the port and the train station along with many building and houses. Eventually the city recovered, becoming once again an important urban centre as well as a port of national interest.
At the start of March 1969, approximately 90 landless people received poor advice from Socialist Member of Parliament Luis Espinoza.[citation needed] The families were never granted land needed to build their homes. On March 4, 1969, the families settled on empty, unoccupied farmland owned by an absentee landlord.[citation needed] The families sought squatters' rights. Approximately four to five days after moving onto the land, the local Police Chief Rolando Rodríguez Marbán assured the squatters that they would not be disturbed, and could proceed with their home construction. Unfortunately, the Ministry of the Interior changed their orders, which led to tragic results.[citation needed]
On midnight on March 9, Espinoza was charged with breaking the law, arrested, and moved to the city of Valdivia, where he was held. Following direct orders from the Minister of Interior Edmundo Pérez Zujovic, 250 armed policemen launched an assault on the squatting families at dawn. Eight squatters were shot dead. Two squatters, a 9-month child and an adult later died from their wounds. The newly built homes were decimated. The massacre is poignantly memorialized by singer-songwriter Víctor Jara in his song Preguntas por Puerto Montt.
By 1979, Puerto Montt was nominated and later become the Capital of Los Lagos Region, thereby becoming the principal administrative, political and commercial centre of Southern Chile.
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