Pelluhue (in Mapudungun: ''land of clams'') is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

and

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 ...

in the

Cauquenes Province Cauquenes Province ( es, Provincia de Cauquenes) is one of four provinces of the central Chilean region of Maule (VII). The provincial capital is the city of Cauquenes. Geography and demography The provincial capital, Cauquenes, lies approxim ...

of central

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 ...

's seventh

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics ( physical geography), human impact characteristics ( human geography), and the interaction of humanity an ...

of Maule.

Geography

The commune of Pelluhue has an area of and is bordered on the north by Chanco, on the south by

Cobquecura Cobquecura is a commune in the Region of Ñuble (Spanish: ''comuna'') in the Province of Itata Chile's Region of Ñuble. The town is located on the northwest Pacific coast of the Itata Province about southwest of the national capital of Sant ...

(

Ñuble Region The Ñuble Region ( es, Región de Ñuble), officially the Region of Ñuble ( es, Región de Ñuble), is — since 5 September 2018 – one of Chile's sixteen regions. It spans an area of , making it the smallest region in Chile in terms of area ...

), on the east by

Cauquenes Cauquenes, a city and commune in Chile, is the capital of the Cauquenes Province and is located in the Maule Region. History According to the historical records of Alonso de Ercilla, Cauquenes was originally inhabited by an indigenous community o ...

and on the west by the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...

. Its seat is the town of Curanipe.

Demography

Although Curanipe is the municipal seat, Pelluhue has a greater population, both permanent and seasonal. 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 in ...

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 ...

, Pelluhue spans an area of and has 6,414 inhabitants (3,408 men and 3,006 women). Of these, 3,877 (60.4%) 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 ...

s and 2,537 (39.6%) 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 typically are descr ...

s. Because of its appeal as a

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism mor ...

and

retirement Retirement is the withdrawal from one's position or occupation or from one's active working life. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours or workload. Many people choose to retire when they are elderly or incapable of doing their j ...

center, Pelluhue has been steadily growing over the last two decades. Its population increase rate has been one of the highest in the Maule Region, growing by 17.2% (943 persons) between the 1992 and 2002 censuses.

History

Both towns, Pelluhue and Curanipe, are nowadays popular coastal resorts. Pelluhue evolved from a humble

fishermen A fisher or fisherman is someone who captures fish and other animals from a body of water, or gathers shellfish. Worldwide, there are about 38 million commercial and subsistence fishers and fish farmers. Fishers may be professional or recreati ...

cove A cove is a small type of bay or coastal inlet. Coves usually have narrow, restricted entrances, are often circular or oval, and are often situated within a larger bay. Small, narrow, sheltered bays, inlets, creeks, or recesses in a coast are o ...

to a crowded

summer resort A resort (North American English) is a self-contained commercial establishment that tries to provide most of a vacationer's wants, such as food, drink, swimming, lodging, sports, entertainment, and shopping, on the premises. The term ''resort' ...

in less than 50 years. The town's population swells to over several thousand in the summer week-ends when vacationers from the ''

hinterland Hinterland is a German word meaning "the land behind" (a city, a port, or similar). Its use in English was first documented by the geographer George Chisholm in his ''Handbook of Commercial Geography'' (1888). Originally the term was associated ...

'' (

, Linares,

Talca Talca () is a city and commune in Chile located about south of Santiago, and is the capital of both Talca Province and Maule Region (7th Region of Chile). As of the 2012 census, the city had a population of 201,142. The city is an importan ...

, Parral) visit the seaside. Curanipe has a more "

patrician Patrician may refer to: * Patrician (ancient Rome), the original aristocratic families of ancient Rome, and a synonym for "aristocratic" in modern English usage * Patrician (post-Roman Europe), the governing elites of cities in parts of medieval ...

" past, having been already a well-known and secluded coastal resort for the Cauquenes elite and a proud "minor port", in the mid- and late 19th century and early 20th century. Both Pelluhue and Curanipe were part of the municipality of Chanco until 1979. The

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

and commune (

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

:'' comuna'') of Pelluhue was officially created on October 26, 1979, when both towns, together with their adjacent

territories A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, particularly belonging or connected to a country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually either the total area from which a state may extract power resources or a ...

, formed a new municipality. The Curanipe

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

of Santo Toribio is a preserved religious building overlooking the town. From the ecclesiastical point of view, Pelluhue belongs to the

Parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one o ...

of Curanipe, of the Diocese of Linares, Chile.

Administration

As a commune, Pelluhue is a third-level administrative division of Chile 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, rural counc ...

, headed by an alcalde who is directly elected every four years. The 2008-2012 alcalde is Carlos Zúñiga Villaseñor ( UDI). Within the electoral divisions of Chile, Pelluhue is represented in the Chamber of Deputies by Guillermo Ceroni ( PPD) and Ignacio Urrutia (UDI) as part of the 40th electoral district, together with

Longaví Longaví (in Mapudungun: ''snake's head'') is a Chilean city and commune located in Linares Province, one of the four provinces that make up the Maule Region, in the geographical center of Chile. Geography The commune has a surface of and is ...

, Retiro, Parral,

and Chanco. The commune is represented in the Senate by

Hernán Larraín Hernán Larraín Fernández (born September 21, 1947) is a conservative Chilean lawyer, university lecturer, and politician; he served as the Chilean Minister of Justice and Human rights, appointed by president Sebastián Piñera, between 2018 ...

(UDI) and Ximena Rincón González ( PDC) as part of the 11th senatorial constituency (Maule-South).

Attractions and tourism

In the southernmost corner of the municipality, which borders the Bío Bío Region, lies the semi-isolated beach of Tregualemu, next to which there are two old, large rural houses of

colonial style American colonial architecture includes several building design styles associated with the colonial period of the United States, including First Period English (late-medieval), French Colonial, Spanish Colonial, Dutch Colonial, and Georgian. ...

. The " Los Ruiles" National

Reserve Reserve or reserves may refer to: Places * Reserve, Kansas, a US city * Reserve, Louisiana, a census-designated place in St. John the Baptist Parish * Reserve, Montana, a census-designated place in Sheridan County * Reserve, New Mexico, a US vi ...

is a park in the easternmost part of the municipality, located in the

foothills Foothills or piedmont are geographically defined as gradual increases in elevation at the base of a mountain range, higher hill range or an upland area. They are a transition zone between plains and low relief hills and the adjacent topogr ...

of the " Cordillera de la Costa". A small oasis next to the road that connects Chanco and

, the park contains many

native species In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often popularised as "with no human intervention") during history. The term is equ ...

of trees and plants. Several of them are unique to the region and some are in danger of

extinction Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

. The

reserve Reserve or reserves may refer to: Places * Reserve, Kansas, a US city * Reserve, Louisiana, a census-designated place in St. John the Baptist Parish * Reserve, Montana, a census-designated place in Sheridan County * Reserve, New Mexico, a US vi ...

has a surface of 29 hectares. There is a reception area, several picnic tables and two footpaths.

Earthquake

On February 27, 2010, Pelluhue and Curanipe were partially destroyed by an earthquake measuring 8.8 on the

moment magnitude scale The moment magnitude scale (MMS; denoted explicitly with or Mw, and generally implied with use of a single M for magnitude) is a measure of an earthquake's magnitude ("size" or strength) based on its seismic moment. It was defined in a 1979 pape ...

, and its associated

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) 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 other underwater exp ...

that left 60 ft fishing vessels in the streets, the towns "covered in mud" and hundreds of homes "completely gone", as reported by the press. Scores of bodies have been found in the area and an estimated 300 homes were destroyed in Pelluhue alone. The commune of Pelluhue lies close to the town of

, the reported

epicenter The epicenter, epicentre () or epicentrum in seismology is the point on the Earth's surface directly above a hypocenter or focus, the point where an earthquake or an underground explosion originates. Surface damage Before the instrumental pe ...

of the earthquake.

References

{{Communes in Maule Region Populated places in Cauquenes Province Communes of Chile Populated places established in 1979 Coasts of Maule Region