Talcahuano () (From

Mapudungun Mapuche ( , ; from 'land' and 'people', meaning 'the people of the land') or Mapudungun (from 'land' and 'speak, speech', meaning 'the speech of the land'; also spelled Mapuzugun and Mapudungu) is either a language isolate or member of the s ...

''Tralkawenu'', "Thundering Sky") is a port

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

and commune in the

Biobío Region The Biobío Region ( ) is one of Chile's sixteen regions (first-order administrative divisions). With a population of 1.5 million, thus being the third most populated region in Chile, it is divided into three provinces: Arauco, Biobío and C ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

. It is part of the

Greater Concepción Gran Concepción is the third largest conurbation in Chile, after Greater Santiago and Greater Valparaíso, with 945,650 inhabitants according to the 2012 pre census. Overview It takes its name after the city of Concepción, the regional cap ...

conurbation. Talcahuano is located in the south of the

Central Zone Central Zone may refer to: Places * Central Indo-Aryan languages, or the "Central Zone" of Indo-Aryan, a language group of India * Central Zone, Bhutan, an administrative district of Bhutan * Central Zone of São Paulo, an administrative zone of th ...

of Chile.

Geography

Together with ten other municipalities, it forms part of the Concepción Province, which in turn is one of four provinces that forms the VIII Region of

Demographics

According to the 2002

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of the National Statistics Institute, Talcahuano spans an area of and has 250,348 inhabitants (121,778 men and 128,570 women). Of these, 248,964 (99.4%) lived in

urban area An urban area is a human settlement with a high population density and an infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas originate through urbanization, and researchers categorize them as cities, towns, conurbations or suburbs. In urbani ...

s and 1,384 (0.6%) 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 are typically desc ...

s. The population grew by 59.9% (93,766 persons) between the 1992 and 2002 censuses. With a population density of 1,873 inhabitants per square kilometre, it is the seventh most populated city of the country.

History

The official foundation date of Talcahuano is 5 November 1764 when

Antonio de Guill y Gonzaga Antonio de Guill y Gonzaga (died August 24, 1768) was a Spanish colonial administrator who served as Royal Governor of Panama and Royal Governor of Chile. Arauco War Governor Guill y Gonzaga celebrated the " Parliament of Nacimiento" with the Ma ...

declared it an official port. However, the site of Talcahuano began to appear in history books as early as 1544 when Genoese captain

Juan Bautista Pastene 200px, Map showing the September 1544 expedition led by Pastene. Giovanni Battista Pastene (1507–1580) was a Genoese maritime explorer who, while in the service of the Spanish crown, explored the coasts of Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru ...

discovered the mouth of the Biobío river while exploring the coast in his ships ''San Pedro'' and ''Santiaguillo''. In 1601

Alonso de Ribera Alonso de Ribera y Zambrano (; 1560 – March 9, 1617) was a Spanish soldier and twice Spanish royal governor of Chile (1601–1605 and 1612–1617). Early life Born in Úbeda, he was the illegitimate son of Hidalgo and Captain Jorge de Ribera Za ...

built Fort Talcahueno to defend remaining Spanish settlements near Concepción. The city is named after an Araucanian chief, Talcahueñu, who inhabited the region at the arrival of the Spanish. In

, the language of the indigenous

Mapuche The Mapuche ( , ) also known as Araucanians are a group of Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina, including parts of Patagonia. The collective term refers to a wide-ranging e ...

s, Talcahuano means "Thundering Sky". The port was well known to American whaleships of the 19th century. They often put in for fresh water, food, and various forms of entertainment for the crews. On 24 January 1939 at around 23.33 the city was hit by a major earthquake of 8.3 which had an epicenter close to the city of

Chillán Chillán () is the capital List of cities in Chile, city of Ñuble Region, Diguillín Province, Chile, located about south of the country's capital, Santiago, near the center of the country. It has been the capital of the new Ñuble Region since ...

. The Chilean Government requested from the British Government the help of two British cruisers HMS Ajax (22) and

HMS Exeter (68) HMS ''Exeter'' was the second and last heavy cruiser built for the Royal Navy during the late 1920s. Aside from a temporary deployment with the Mediterranean Fleet during the Abyssinia Crisis of 1935–1936, she spent the bulk of the 1930s as ...

then visiting the city of

Valparaíso Valparaíso () is a major city, Communes of Chile, commune, Port, seaport, and naval base facility in the Valparaíso Region of Chile. Valparaíso was originally named after Valparaíso de Arriba, in Castilla–La Mancha, Castile-La Mancha, Spain ...

to head south to investigate. The ships arrived at Talcahuano on 25th, many of the city's main buildings had been destroyed with little power, food or water available to the survivors. The two ships crews helped with rubble clearing, rescuing those still trapped, recovering bodies as well as the ships taking trips north to Valparaiso with those injured and refugees. Tsunami Carried Boat-Chile 2010-Talcahuano

Tsunami Carried Boat-Chile 2010-Talcahuano

27 February 2010 earthquake

On 27 February 2010 Talcahuano was devastated by the 8.8 magnitude

2010 Chile earthquake The 2010 Chile earthquake and tsunami () occurred off the coast of central Chile on Saturday, 27 February at 03:34:12 local time (06:34:12 UTC), having a magnitude of 8.8 on the moment magnitude scale, with intense shaking lasting for about ...

and its subsequent

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from , ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and underwater explosions (including detonations, ...

. These back-to-back disasters left 80% of the city's residents homeless. The tsunami is estimated to have been more than 7.5 feet high. After a week, there are only 20 reported deaths, and 18 missing. The city government estimates that it will take 10 years to recover from the quake and tsunami. The local government has been turning away tent aid, as they want to make permanent shelters rather than have permanent tent camps.

Economy

Talcahuano contains Chile's Productive development Pillar of the development of the city, the productive activities represent the motor of the advance of Talcahuano in a globalized world. From tourism, our marine gastronomy, the nautical qualities of the bay, to industry, trade in services, products and the logistics platform. Talcahuano is an integral city that grows hand in hand with the spirit of its inhabitants. main naval base which is home of the historical relic, the ''Huáscar'', a Peruvian

ironclad An ironclad was a steam engine, steam-propelled warship protected by iron armour, steel or iron armor constructed from 1859 to the early 1890s. The ironclad was developed as a result of the vulnerability of wooden warships to explosive or ince ...

ship (British-made), which was captured in 1879 during the

War of the Pacific The War of the Pacific (), also known by War of the Pacific#Etymology, multiple other names, was a war between Chile and a Treaty of Defensive Alliance (Bolivia–Peru), Bolivian–Peruvian alliance from 1879 to 1884. Fought over Atacama Desert ...

. It is also the base of the Chilean submarine fleet and the ASMAR shipyard.

Administration

As a commune, Talcahuano 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

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough cou ...

, headed by an

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

who is directly elected every four years. The 2016 - 2020 alcalde is Henry Campos Coa (

UDI Udi may refer to: Places * Udi, Enugu, a local government areas and city in Nigeria * Udi Hills, Enugu State, Nigeria * Udi, a place in the Etawah district of Uttar Pradesh, India People Given name * Udi Aloni (born 1959), Israeli-American film ...

). The commune of Talcahuano has seventeen districts, the three most populous being Carriel, San Vicente and San Miguel, which together account for about 46% of the population of the commune. Only two of the districts contain any rural population: Tumbes with 5% rural and Carrie with ½%. * El Portón * Valdivieso * Cerro Fuentes * La Aduana * Cerro Buenavista * Tumbes * Isla Quiriquina * San Vicente * Estadio *

Huachipato Huachipato FC is a Chilean football club based in Talcahuano that currently plays in the Chilean Primera División. Huachipato was founded on 7 June 1947 by workers of the homonymous steel mill in Talcahuano, and it currently plays its home g ...

* Estadio Higueras * San Miguel * El Arenal * Carriel * Las Salinas * Barranquilla * Zunico Within the

electoral divisions of Chile This article covers the electoral division of Chile, which involves two distinct systems: # Chamber of Deputies of Chile, Chamber of Deputies and Senate of Chile, Senate: Chile is divided into electoral districts and senatorial constituencies for ...

, Talcahuano is represented in the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourb ...

by Sergio Bobadilla, Félix González,

Francesca Muñoz Francesca Elizabeth Andrea Muñoz González (born March 7, 1980) is a Chilean politician, English teacher, and member of the Christian Social Party (PSC). She currently serves as a deputy for District 20. Biography She was born in Concepci ...

, José Miguel Ortiz, Leonidas Romero, Gastón Saavedra, Jaime Tohá and Enrique van Rysselberghe as part of the 20th electoral district. The commune is represented in the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

by Alejandro Navarro Brain ( MAS) and Jacqueline Van Rysselberghe Herrera (

) as part of the 12th senatorial constituency (Biobío-Cordillera).

Culture

Sports

Talcahuano entered

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

history when Ramón Unzaga Asla, a player for the local club Estrella del Mar, invented the famous

bicycle kick In association football, a bicycle kick, also known as an overhead kick or scissors kick, is an acrobatic strike where a player kicks an airborne ball rearward in midair. It is achieved by throwing the body backward up into the air and, before ...

(also known as "chilena") there in 1914. The city is home to Club Deportivo Huachipato, a football club in Chile's Primera División, playing at

Estadio CAP Estadio Huachipato-CAP Acero (''Compañía de Acero del Pacífico''), known until 2015 as Estadio CAP, is a football stadium located in Talcahuano, Chile. Inaugurated in 2009, it is the home field of C.D. Huachipato, Huachipato, replacing Estadio ...

. The city is also the birthplace of Sammis Reyes, a former

Chilean men's national basketball The Chile national basketball team is controlled by the Federación de Básquetbol de Chile. It is affiliated to FIBA, under the zone confederation of FIBA Americas. In the 1950s, Chile had one of the finest national basketball teams in the wor ...

player who converted to

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

. In 2021 he became the first Chilean to play in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

, an American football league based in the United States.

In literature

It featured prominently in Miles Smeeton's book ''Once Is Enough'', a sailor's classic.''Once Is Enough'', by Miles Smeeton. International Marine Publishing, 2003. It is mentioned by the character Charlie Marlow in

Joseph Conrad Joseph Conrad (born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, ; 3 December 1857 – 3 August 1924) was a Poles in the United Kingdom#19th century, Polish-British novelist and story writer. He is regarded as one of the greatest writers in the Eng ...

's book ''

Lord Jim ''Lord Jim'' is a novel by Joseph Conrad originally published as a serial in '' Blackwood's Magazine'' from October 1899 to November 1900. An early and primary event in the story is the abandonment of a passenger ship in distress by its crew, ...

''. A chapter of ''

In Search of the Castaways ''In Search of the Castaways'' () is a novel by the French writer Jules Verne, published in 1867–68. The original edition, published by Hetzel, contains illustrations by Édouard Riou. In 1876, it was republished by George Routledge & Son ...

'' by

Jules Verne Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the ''Voyages extraor ...

is set in its bay.

Notable people

Francisco Varela Francisco Javier Varela García (September 7, 1946 – May 28, 2001) was a Chilean biologist, philosopher, cybernetician, and neuroscientist who, together with his mentor Humberto Maturana, is best known for introducing the concept of autopoie ...

(1946–2001), biologist and philosopher, was born in Talcahuano. * Juan Onofre Chamorro (1885–1941), trade union leader, was born in Talcahuano.

Climate

File:Centrotalcahuanopuerto.jpg, Center of Talcahuano File:Marinalarge.jpg, Casino of Talcahuano File:Iglesiatalcahuano.jpg, Church of Talcahuano File:Huascar1.jpg, Monitor ''

Huáscar Huáscar (; Quechua: ''Waskar Inka'') also Guazcar (before 15271532) was Sapa Inca of the Inca Empire from 1527 to 1532. He succeeded his father, Huayna Capac and his brother Ninan Cuyochi, both of whom died of smallpox during the same year ...

'' File:Panoramica Talcahuano.jpg, View of Port

External links

*http://www.talcahuano.cl
Satellite view of Talcahuano
(Google Maps)

References

{{Authority control Communes of Chile Fortifications in Chile Port cities in Chile Populated places established in 1764 Populated places in Concepción Province 1764 establishments in the Spanish Empire Populated coastal places in Chile