Corral, Chile
Corral | |
---|---|
Town and Commune | |
View of Corral from the hills | |
![]() Flag ![]() Coat of arms ![]() Map of Corral in Los Ríos Region ![]() ![]() Corral Location in Chile | |
Coordinates (town): 39°52′S 73°26′W / 39.867°S 73.433°WCoordinates: 39°52′S 73°26′W / 39.867°S 73.433°W | |
Country | Chile |
Region | Los Ríos |
Province | Valdivia |
Founded | 1894 |
Government | |
• Type | Municipality |
• Alcalde | Gaston Peréz González (ILE) |
Area | |
• Total | 766.7 km2 (296.0 sq mi) |
Elevation | 61 m (200 ft) |
Population (2012 Census)[3] | |
• Total | 5,084 |
• Density | 6.6/km2 (17/sq mi) |
• Urban | 3,670 |
• Rural | 1,793 |
Demonym(s) | Corraleño |
Sex | |
• Men | 2,864 |
• Women | 2,599 |
Time zone | UTC−04:00 (CLT[4]) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC−03:00 (CLST[5]) |
Area code(s) | 56 + 63 |
Climate | Cfb |
Website | Municipality of Corral |
Corral is a town, commune and sea port in Valdivia Province, Los Ríos Region, Chile. It is located south of Corral Bay. Corral is best known for the forts of Corral Bay, a system of defensive batteries and forts made to protect Valdivia during colonial times. Corral was the headquarters of the system. Economic activities in Corral revolve around forestry, aquaculture, fishing, port services and both heritage and eco tourism.
The town is connected to Valdivia by a gravel roal, to Caleta Chaihuín by an asphalted road and to Niebla on the other side of the bay by a ferry service.
History[]
The settlement of Corral grew out from the headquarters of the forts of Corral Bay that were built in 1645 to protect the city of Valdivia. By that time Spanish ships sailed through Valdivia River all the way to Valdivia but Corral soon took over the role of receiving major ships. Until 1749 the fort of Corral had no more than four cannons.[6] Renewed interest in the defense of Valdivia led to design an expansion of the fort. This expansion and modernization was carried out from 1767 to 1773 when works halted to focus on the battery of Chorocamayo. The works were led by Juan Garland who made extensive modifications to Zermeño's plans.[6] With the Spanish king's Decree of Free Trade of 1778 cities in Spanish America were allowed to have direct commerce with Spain, which greatly stimulated commerce in Corral that benefited from trade routes across Cape Horn.[citation needed] Indigenous Cuncos who were at war with Spanish had planned to attack Corral in 1770 and built for that reason a road from Punta Galera to the port, which the Spanish garrison dismantled.[7]
The modern nucleous of Corral grew around the fort Castillo de Corral in the 1770s.[8] By 1798 this settlement outside the fort had 49 inhabitants.[9][8] During the Chilean Independence War Corral and Valdivia functioned together with Chiloé as a prominent royalist strongholds. In 1820 Thomas Cochrane, commanding the newly created Chilean Navy, took Corral and Valdivia by an amphibious attack. From the times of Chile's independence until the early 20th century Corral gained prominence as an important port for traffic between the Pacific and the Atlantic Ocean, as Chilean port were declared open to ships sailing under any state flag. After being incorporated into Chile the forts in Corral fell gradually into disuse. Since late colonial times Corral became not only the main port of entrance to the interior of Valdivia but also of Osorno that was founded in 1796.[citation needed]
Hydraulic sawmills were built in Corral in 1847–1848, various other hydraulic sawmills where established around Valdivia in the 1840s.[10]
Decline[]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/62/The_center_of_Corral_was_almost_completely_destroyed_by_a_tsunami_-_Autumn_1960.png/250px-The_center_of_Corral_was_almost_completely_destroyed_by_a_tsunami_-_Autumn_1960.png)
The economic activity of Corral suffered several setbacks in the 20th century that led it to become a minor port by international and Chilean standards. The Panama Canal opened in 1914, and Valdivia and Osorno became connected to central Chile by train in 1906 and 1905 respectively. This changed the trade and human traffic circuits in the region, resulting in Corral losing most of the international traffic that anchored there, but also of the Chilean goods and human traffic that was diverted by the railroads. In 1910 after a huge investment Altos Hornos y Acerías de Corral opened in Corral the largest steel mill at that time in South America.[11] It produced high-cost pig iron using charcoal, and was labour-intensive.[12][13] The steel mill proved to be an economical failure[14] and was finally closed in 1958.
Corral was for a while an important whaling port.[15] The outbreak of the First World War disrupted whaling as it was not possible to import supplies needed, but whaling resumed afterwards.[15] Whaling in Chile declined dramatically in the 1960s and ended altogether in 1983.[16] Remnants of whaling infrastructure are still visible on land.[15]
The decline of Corral culminated with the 1960 Valdivia earthquake that destroyed houses, roads and port facilities. Currently (2015), there is only one pier and it is privately owned by a local company and used for shipping wood chips.[17] The maximum permissible draught is 12.20 metres.[17]
Demographics[]
According to the 2002 census of the National Statistics Institute, Corral spans an area of 766.7 km2 (296 sq mi) and has 5,463 inhabitants (2,864 men and 2,599 women). Of these, 3,670 (67.2%) lived in urban areas and 1,793 (32.8%) in rural areas. The population fell by 5.2% (302 persons) between the 1992 and 2002 censuses.[3]
Administration[]
As a commune, Corral is a third-level administrative division of Chile administered by a municipal council, headed by an alcalde who is directly elected every four years. The 2008–2012 alcalde is Gaston Peréz González (ILE).[1][2]
Within the electoral divisions of Chile, Corral is represented in the Chamber of Deputies by Alfonso De Urresti (PS) and Roberto Delmastro (RN) as part of the 53rd electoral district, together with Valdivia, Lanco, Mariquina and Máfil. The commune is represented in the Senate by Andrés Allamand (RN) and Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle (PDC) as part of the 16th senatorial constituency (Los Ríos Region).
See also[]
Notes and references[]
- ^ Jump up to: a b "Asociación Chilena de Municipalidades" (in Spanish). Retrieved 7 February 2011.
- ^ Jump up to: a b "Municipality of Corral" (in Spanish). Retrieved 7 February 2011.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d "National Statistics Institute" (in Spanish). Retrieved 13 December 2010.
- ^ "Chile Time". WorldTimeZones.org. Archived from the original on 11 September 2007. Retrieved 29 July 2010.
- ^ "Chile Summer Time". WorldTimeZones.org. Archived from the original on 11 September 2007. Retrieved 29 July 2010.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Guarda 1953, p. 153.
- ^ Guarda 1953, p. 155.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Angulo, S.E. (1997). "La Artillería y los Artilleros en Chile. Valdivia y Chiloé como antemural del Pacífico". Militaria: revista de cultura militar, 10, pp. 237-264
- ^ Guarda 1953, p. 154.
- ^ Guarda O.S.B., Gabriel (1980). Conjuntos urbanos arquitectónicos Valdivia, ss. XVIII-XIX (in Spanish). Ediciones Nueva Universidad. p. 83.
- ^ It was the first steel mill in South America and was estimated to cost over two million US dollars. "First Steel Mill in South America". American Machinist. Vol. 32. 14 October 1909. p. 668.
- ^ Finer, Herman (1947). The Chilean Development Corporation (PDF). Montreal, Canada: International Labour Office. p. 30. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 August 2015. Retrieved 11 August 2015.
- ^ The Chilean Development Corporation (CORFO) subsidized a reorganization to try to save the facility. Butland, Gilbert J. (1951). Chile : an outline of its geography, economics, and politics. London: Oxford University Press for the Royal Institute of International Affairs. p. 97. The reorganization included an expansion to try to reach production of 29,000 tons a year. Prebisch, Raúl, ed. (1954). Study of the Prospectsof Inter-Latin-American Trade (PDF). New York: United Nations. p. 101. Archived (PDF) from the original on 11 August 2015.
- ^ CAP's new (built 1947 to 1950) steel mill in Huachipato was more efficient.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c "La Industria Ballenera en Corral". oficinadeturismodecorral.jimdofree.com (in Spanish). Comuna de Corral. Retrieved 22 April 2021.
- ^ Quiroz, Daniel (2015). "Balleneros en la niebla: Una mirada para-etnográfica de la caza de ballenas en Chile" [Whalers in the fog: Para-ethnographic outlook of whaling in Chile]. Chungara (in Spanish). 47 (2). doi:10.4067/S0717-73562015005000025. Retrieved 12 November 2015.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Ian Taylor & Company (2015). "8.13 Corral". Port Information Chile (PDF). p. 71. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 11 August 2015.
- Bibliography
- Guarda Geywitz, Fernando (1953). Historia de Valdivia (in Spanish). Santiago de Chile: Imprenta Cultura.
External links[]
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- (in Spanish) Municipality of Corral
- Communes of Chile
- Populated places in Valdivia Province
- Port settlements in Chile
- Populated coastal places in Chile
- Coasts of Los Ríos Region