Purén is a
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 de ...
(2002 pop. 12,868) and
commune in
Malleco Province
Malleco Province ( es, Provincia de Malleco) is one of two provinces in the southern Chilean region of La Araucanía (IX). Its population as of the 2017 census is 205,124, and it covers an area of . The provincial capital is the city of Angol.
...
of
La Araucanía Region
LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States.
La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music
* La (musical note), or A, the sixth note
* "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figure ...
,
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 eas ...
. It is located in the west base of the
Nahuelbuta mountain range (650 km. south of Santiago). The economical activity of Purén is based in forest exploitation and agriculture. The most characteristic product of Purén is the
white strawberry which is one of two species of strawberry that were hybridized to create the modern
garden strawberry.
In
Mapuche
The Mapuche ( (Mapuche & Spanish: )) are a group of indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina, including parts of Patagonia. The collective term refers to a wide-ranging ethnicity composed of various groups who s ...
language or
Mapudungun
Mapuche (, Mapuche & Spanish: , or Mapudungun; from ' 'land' and ' 'speak, speech') is an Araucanian language related to Huilliche spoken in south-central Chile and west-central Argentina by the Mapuche people (from ''mapu'' 'land' and ''che ...
Purén means ''swampy place''.
History

San Juan Bautista de Purén was a fort founded by
Juan Gomez de Almagro
''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of '' John''. It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking communities around the world and in the Philippines, and also (pronounced differently) in the Isle of Man. In Spanish, ...
, by order of the
Governor of Chile
The Royal Governor of Chile ruled over the Spanish colonial administrative district called the Captaincy General of Chile, and as a result the Royal Governor also held the title of a Captain General. There were 66 such governors or captains du ...
Pedro de Valdivia
Pedro Gutiérrez de Valdivia or Valdiva (; April 17, 1497 – December 25, 1553) was a Spanish conquistador and the first royal governor of Chile. After serving with the Spanish army in Italy and Flanders, he was sent to South America in 1534, whe ...
, almost in the center of the northwest part of the
valley of Purén
A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains, which will typically contain a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams over ...
, a little more than a kilometer from the left bank of the
Purén River in the Purén valley and about six kilometers to the northeast of the present city of Purén.
This fort was abandoned on the death of Pedro de Valdivia but was reoccupied by
García Hurtado de Mendoza, after a bitter campaign with the followers of
Caupolicán
Caupolicán (meaning ‘polished flint’ (queupu) or ‘blue quartz stone’ (Kallfulikan) in Mapudungun) was a '' toqui'' or war leader of the Mapuche people, who led the resistance of his people against the Spanish Conquistadors who invaded th ...
on May 20, 1558.
Guanoalca captured and burned it in 1586. Rebuilt by Governor
Alonso de Sotomayor in 1589, it received some improvements but it was always harassed by the
Mapuche
The Mapuche ( (Mapuche & Spanish: )) are a group of indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina, including parts of Patagonia. The collective term refers to a wide-ranging ethnicity composed of various groups who s ...
, and was again abandoned and set afire by them in the 1598 Mapuche rising that exploded after the
Disaster of Curalaba.
The fort was again restored under the governor
Alonso Garcia Ramon in 1609, lost again and rebuilt by governor
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 ...
in 1613 and was again abandoned in 1624. So it remained until 1665, when governor
Francisco de Meneses Brito again built a fort there and repopulated it. Finally in 1723, Governor
Gabriel Cano de Aponte
Gabriel Cano de Aponte (or Gabriel Cano y Aponte) was a Spanish soldier who served as Royal Governor of Chile from 1717 to 1733. His administration was the longest of all Colonial Governors and the second longest in the history of Chile after the ...
decided to order its demolition and permanent abandonment, moving the garrison to the fort of
San Carlos de Purén called Purén Nuevo (New Purén), on the
Bio Bio River
Bio or BIO may refer to:
Computing
* bio(4), a pseudo-device driver in RAID controller management interface in OpenBSD and NetBSD
* Block I/O, a concept in computer data storage
Politics
* Julius Maada Bio (born 1964), Sierra Leonean politic ...
. The old ruins continued to be known as Old Purén and those ruins were still to be seen in the 1890s.
On November 24, 1868, a new fort was built in Puren, located at 38° 04' Lat. and 73° 06' Lon., between the brooks Nahuelco and Panqueco, a little more than three kilometers from the south or right bank of the upper part of the Purén River. To the northeast on the opposite shore of the Purén river is the location that the old Purén fortress occupied. A village had sprung up next to the fort by the 1890s following the
occupation of Araucania.
Recently, some pre-Hispanic proto-
pyramid
A pyramid (from el, πυραμίς ') is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge to a single step at the top, making the shape roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrila ...
s or
mound
A mound is a heaped pile of earth, gravel, sand, rocks, or debris. Most commonly, mounds are earthen formations such as hills and mountains, particularly if they appear artificial. A mound may be any rounded area of topographically higher ...
s have been discovered near Purén.
Dillehay, Tom
Tom Dillehay is an American anthropologist
An anthropologist is a person engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropology is the study of aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and p ...
,
Monuments, Empires, and Resistance: The Araucanian Polity and Ritual Narratives
' (Cambridge University Press, Washington, 2007)
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 in ...
of the
National Statistics Institute, Purén spans an area of and has 12,868 inhabitants (6,408 men and 6,460 women). Of these, 7,604 (59.1%) 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, ...
s and 5,264 (40.9%) 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 des ...
s. Between the 1992 and 2002 censuses, the population fell by 7.5% (1,049 persons).
Administration
As a commune, Purén 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, rural coun ...
, 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) ...
who is directly elected every four years. The 2008-2012 alcalde is Benigno Quiñones Lara (
PDC PDC may refer to:
In science and technology Chemistry, biology and medicine
* Phosducin, a human protein and gene in the retina
* Pyridinium dichromate (Cornforth reagent), a chromium-based oxidant
* Pyruvate dehydrogenase complex, an enzyme ...
).
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 t ...
, Purén 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 Bourbon ...
by Gonzalo Arenas (
UDI) and Mario Venegas (PDC) as part of the 48th electoral district, together with
Angol,
Renaico,
Collipulli
Collipulli is a city and commune forming part of the Malleco Province in the Araucanía Region in southern Chile. Its name means "coloured lands" in the Mapuche language spoken in the area. It has a population of 22,354 (2005) and an area of ...
,
Ercilla,
Los Sauces,
Lumaco and
Traiguén. 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 e ...
by Alberto Espina Otero (
RN) and Jaime Quintana Leal (
PPD) as part of the 14th senatorial constituency (Araucanía-North).
References
Sources
Francisco Solano Asta-Buruaga y Cienfuegos, Diccionario geográfico de la República de Chile, D. Appleton y Compania, New York, 1899*
Purén,(Aldea y fuerte) pg. 597*
Purén,(Antigua plaza fuerte) pg. 598
External links
Purén Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Puren
Communes of Chile
Geography of Araucanía Region