Puerto Montt


Puerto Montt or 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 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 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. It was selected as an entrance to Lake Llanquihue when its proximity to the open sea was discovered. 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. It was named after Manuel Montt, President of Chile between 1851 and 1861, who set in motion the German immigration.
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.

1969 violence

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 and two, a 9-month child and an adult, died afterwards. 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.

Late 20th century

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.

Demographics

According to 2017 census, Puerto Montt has 245,902 inhabitants which 25,759 live in rural areas and 220,143 in urban areas. Of 218,858 inhabitants from 2012 census the population grew 12.36%.
From overall population, 52,483 belong to indigenous people with it being 50,247 Mapuche, 314 Aymara people, 73 Rapa Nui people, 19 Lican Antai, 84 Quechua people, 27 Colla, 136 Diaguita, 114 Kawésqar, 38 Yahgan, 175 other and 1,256 declared but not belong to current classification or didn't respond to which one.
About 1.46% are immigrant belonging to Peru 199, Colombia 596, Venezuela 269, Bolivia 40, Argentina 1,527, Haiti 44, Ecuador 194, South America 157, Central America and the Caribbean 153, North America 52, Europe 242, Asia 83, Africa 16, Oceania 6 and No declared 17.

Climate

Puerto Montt has a wet oceanic climate with heavy rainfall throughout the year but a drying trend in the summer. Although temperatures are consistently below, 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. That means that Puerto Montt has much cooler summers than areas at similar distances from the equator in the northern hemisphere.

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 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
El Tepual Airport is the main commercial airport serving the city. Three airlines operate regular flights to and from Santiago, Punta Arenas, Balmaceda, and Antofagasta. The airlines operating at the airport are Latam Airlines, Sky Airline and JetSmart. The flight time to Santiago is approximately two hours.
Additionally, Marcel Marchant Aerodrome connects the city with remote locations within the Patagonian Fjords.

Administration

As a commune, Puerto Montt is a third-level administrative division of Chile administered by a municipal council, headed by an Alcalde with 10 councilors and represented in the Chamber of Deputies by 5 members and in the Senate by 2 people and with support of a Regional Council of 6 members.
Since 2012 the current Mayor has been Gervoy Paredes Rojas whom was reelected at 2016 Municipal elections with an end term up to 2020 and the current members of the council are Fernado España España, Sonia Hernandez Asencio, Luis Matamala Almonacid, Veronica Sanchez Silva, Juan Carlos Cuitiño Uribe, Rodrigo Wainraihgt Galilea, Fernando Orellana Perez, Marcia Muñoz Cochifas, Hector Ulloa Aguilera and Leonardo Gonzales Saez.
Within the electoral division of chile, Representatives of Puerto montt, District 26 in the Chambers of Deputies 2018-2022 are Jenny Álvarez Vera, Gabriel Ascencio Mansilla, Alejandro Santana Tirachini, Carlos Kuschel Silva and Alejandro Bernales.
The current Representatives in the Senate period 2014-2022 are Rabindranath Quinteros Lara and Ivan Moreira Barros.
Regional councilors members 2018-2022 are Ricardo Kuschel Silva, Jaime Brahm Barril, Juan Ortiz Roble, Manuel Rivera Altamirano, Juan Carcamo Carcamo and Valentina Alvarez.

Education

Puerto Montt has 175 registered school varying from educational levels such as pre-school, primary school, secondary school, special school as well as technical-professional and adult schools.
Universities