Cunco is a

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

and

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

Cautín Province Cautín Province ( es, Provincia de Cautín) is one of two Provinces of Chile, provinces in the southern Chilean Regions of Chile, region of La Araucanía Region, La Araucanía (IX), bounded on the north by Arauco Province, Arauco and Malleco Prov ...

Araucanía Region The Araucanía ( ), La Araucanía Region ( es, Región de La Araucanía ) is one of Chile's 16 first-order administrative divisions, and comprises two provinces: Malleco in the north and Cautín in the south. Its capital and largest city is Te ...

. The town is located 60 km southeast of the city of

Temuco Temuco () is a city and commune, capital of the Cautín Province and of the Araucanía Region in southern Chile. The city is located south of Santiago. The city grew out from a fort of the same name established in 1881 during Chile's invasion ...

and 77 km west of Icalma International Pass. The major geographical features of this commune are the

Allipén River Allipén River is a river located in the La Araucanía Region of Chile. It is formed at the junction of the rivers Trufultruful and ''Zahuelhue'', near Melipeuco. The basin of the river comprises approximately 36 percent of the Conguillío Natio ...

and the Colico Lake.

History

Cunco was founded by Colonel Gregorio Urrutia in 1883 as a frontier fort, between the marshes Cunco and Nahuelcura, and close to a tributary to the Allipén river. The arrival of the railroad at the beginning of the twentieth century accelerater its urban development. It changed legal status to "commune" on 20 August 1918. In 1918 Cunco was the ending point of the first flight by an airplane across the

Andes The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...

, when

Luis Candelaria Luis Candelaria (29 October 1892 - 23 December 1963), was an Argentine Army officer and military aviator who was the first to cross the Andes by aeroplane, in April 1918. First crossing of the Andes by aeroplane Though the Andes have been cro ...

flew from

Zapala Zapala is a city and touristic destination in the Patagonian province of Neuquén, Argentina with about 32,000 inhabitants according to the . The city is located at the geographic center of the province at the confluence of national and provincia ...

, Argentina, on April 13.

Demographics

According to the 2002

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...

of the

National Statistics Institute National Institute of Statistics may refer to: *National Institute of Statistics of Bolivia *National Institute of Statistics of Cambodia *National Institute of Statistics and Census of Costa Rica *National Institute of Statistics and Census of Nica ...

, Cunco spans an area of and has 18,703 inhabitants (9,203 men and 9,500 women). Of these, 8,806 (47.1%) lived in

urban area An urban area, built-up area or urban agglomeration is a human settlement with a high population density and infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas are created through urbanization and are categorized by urban morphology as cities, t ...

s and 9,897 (52.9%) in

rural area In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are descri ...

s. The population grew by 2% (364 persons) between the 1992 and 2002 censuses.

Administration

As a

, Cunco is a third-level

administrative division of Chile The administrative division or territorial organization of Chile exemplifies characteristics of a unitary state. State administration is functionally and geographically decentralized, as appropriate for each authority in accordance with the law. ...

administered by a communal council, headed by an

alcalde Alcalde (; ) is the traditional Spanish municipal magistrate, who had both judicial and administrative functions. An ''alcalde'' was, in the absence of a corregidor, the presiding officer of the Castilian '' cabildo'' (the municipal council) a ...

who is directly elected every four years. The 2008-2012 alcalde is Patricio Mittersteiner Garrido. The communal council has the following members: * Osvaldo Inostroza Mora * Danilo Urrutia Cárcamo * Rene Sepulveda Ceballos * Patricio Oakley Oviedo * Cristian Moraga Lagos * Alfonso Coke Candia Within the

electoral divisions of Chile Chile has two distinct electoral division systems: * To elect members of the Chamber of Deputies and of the Senate, Chile is divided into several electoral divisions, namely electoral districts and senatorial constituencies. * To elect members of ...

, Zapallar belongs to the 52nd electoral district and 15th senatorial constituency.

References

External links

Gobierno Regional de la Araucanía: Cunco

Munipalidad de Cunco

Porta Cunco
(Independent Website) {{Communes in Araucanía Region 19th-century fortifications in Chile Communes of Chile Populated places in Cautín Province 1883 establishments in Chile