Melinka 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 ...

an town in

Aysén Province Aysén Province ( es, Provincia de Aysén) is one of four provinces of the Chilean region of Aysen (XI). Its capital is Puerto Aysén. Demographics The province had a 2002 population of 23,498 according to the census by the National Statistics I ...

Aysén Region The Aysén del General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo Region ( es, Región de Aysén, , '), often shortened to Aysén Region or Aisén,Examples of name usage1, official regional government site refers to the region as "Región de Aysén"., Chile's of ...

. It is located on Ascención Island and is the administrative center of the commune of

Guaitecas Guaitecas is Chilean commune located in Guaitecas Archipelago which are part of Aysén Province and Region. The administrative centre is Melinka, the only port and town in the wider Chonos Archipelago. Demographics According to the 2002 census of ...

since 1979. The town is on a small peninsula off the main island, and shelters a small harbor. The island is in the

Guaitecas Archipelago Guaitecas Archipelago is a sparsely populated archipelago in the Aisén region of Chile. The archipelago is made up of eight main islands and numerous smaller ones. The eight largest islands are from northwest to southeast: Gran Guaiteca, Ascenci ...

, at the southern end of the

Gulf of Corcovado Gulf of Corcovado () is a large body of water separating the Chiloé Island from the mainland of Chile. Geologically, it is a forearc basin that has been carved out by Quaternary glaciers. Most of the islands of Chiloé Archipelago are located in ...

. Melinka is served by Melinka Airport and is connected by gravel road to the hamlets of

Repollal Repollal (lit. place of cabbages) is group of hamlets in Ascención Island of Guaitecas Archipelago, southern Chile. Repollal consists from north to south of three hamlets; Repollal Alto, Repollal Medio and Repollal Bajo. All the hamlets lie to t ...

. Melinka is culturally similar to

Chiloé Archipelago The Chiloé Archipelago ( es, Archipiélago de Chiloé, , ) is a group of islands lying off the coast of Chile, in the Los Lagos Region. It is separated from mainland Chile by the Chacao Channel in the north, the Sea of Chiloé in the east and t ...

but its inhabitants custom to bring dogs on board in their travels is likely rooted in native Chono traditions. In 2017 Melinka had a population of 1329 inhabitants down from 1411 in 2002.

History

Prior to its founding in 1860 the location of Melinka was known as ''Puerto Arenas'' (literally "Port Sand") by whalers who visited the area regularly. Melinka was founded in 1860 by the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

immigrant, Felipe Arnold Westhoff. Westhoff had been commissioned to supply

railway sleeper A railroad tie, crosstie (American English), railway tie (Canadian English) or railway sleeper (Australian and British English) is a rectangular support for the rails in railroad tracks. Generally laid perpendicular to the rails, ties transfer ...

s to

Ferrocarril Central Andino Ferrocarril Central Andino (FCCA) is the consortium which operates the Ferrovías Central railway in Peru linking the Pacific port of Callao and the capital Lima with Huancayo and Cerro de Pasco. As one of the Trans-Andean Railways it is the seco ...

in Peru. At the time the

was still part of

Chiloé Province Chiloé Province ( es, Provincia de Chiloé) is one of the four provinces in the southern Chilean region of Los Lagos (X). It consists of all of Chiloé Archipelago (including Chiloé Island) with the exception of the Desertores Islands. The prov ...

. In the first years of Melinka a series of indigenous tombs were discovered while building houses. From Melinka Westhoff exported ''

Pilgerodendron uviferum ''Pilgerodendron'' is a genus of conifer belonging to the cypress family Cupressaceae. It has only one species, ''Pilgerodendron uviferum'', which is endemic to the Valdivian temperate rain forests and Magellanic subpolar forests of southern Ch ...

'' ( es, ciprés de las Guaitecas) that made excellent wood for sleepers. In 1870 the port was charted by

Enrique Simpson Enrique Simpson Baeza (Valparaíso, 1835–Valparaíso, May 17, 1901) was a Chilean Navy officer and explorer. Simpson mapped the archipelagoes and coast of Aysén Region onboard of the corvette ''Chacabuco'' in the 1870s. Among his feats is the r ...

on board ''

Chacabuco Chacabuco is one of the many abandoned nitrate or "saltpeter" towns ("oficinas salitreras" in Spanish) in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile. Other nitrate towns of the Atacama Desert include Humberstone and Santa Laura Saltpeter Works. Unlik ...

''. The famous pirate

Pedro Ñancúpel Pedro María Ñancúpel Alarcón (Terao, 1837 – Castro, 11 November 1888) was a pirate and outlaw active in the archipelagoes of Chiloé, Guaitecas and other places in the fjords and channels of Patagonia in the 1880s. Ñancupel was captured ...

was captured in Melinka in 1886 and bought into justice in

Ancud Ancud () is a city in southern Chile located in the northernmost part of the island and province of Chiloé, in Los Lagos Region. It is the second largest city of Chiloé Archipelago after Castro. The city was established in 1768 to function as ...

the same year. According to a local tradition the word ''melinka'' comes from

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

and means lovely. In fact, there is the Russian archaic

colloquialism Colloquialism (), also called colloquial language, everyday language or general parlance, is the style (sociolinguistics), linguistic style used for casual (informal) communication. It is the most common functional style of speech, the idiom norm ...

''милёнка'' ( transl. ''milyonka'') which means "lovely." Westhoff who came from Lithuania in the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

named Melinka after his sister.

Climate

Melinka has a wet

oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ( ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

: ''Cfb'').

References

Guaitecas Archipelago Ports and harbours of Chile Populated places in Aysén Province Populated places in the fjords and channels of Chile {{Aisén-geo-stub

History

Climate

See also

References