Chonos archipelago
| Chonos archipelago | |
|---|---|
| Waters | Pacific Ocean |
| Geographical location | 45 ° 8 ′ S , 73 ° 57 ′ W |
 |
|
| Number of islands | 1048 |
| Main island | --- |
| Total land area | approx. 13,000 km² |
| Residents | 1741 (2015) |
The Chonos Archipelago ( Spanish Archipiélago de los Chonos ) is an archipelago in the south of Chile in the Región de Aisén . The archipelago is named after the extinct people of the Chono .
geography
The Chonos archipelago begins around 100 kilometers south of the large island of Chiloé and ends in the area of the Taitao peninsula . The archipelago consists of more than a thousand islands, some of which are of considerable size (e.g. Isla Rivero , Isla Melchor , Isla Benjamín , Isla James or Isla Traiguén ). The deep Moraleda Channel separates the archipelago from the mainland and from the Magdalene Island, which is enclosed by the mainland, and from the Las Huichas archipelago (whose main island is also called Las Huichas ) opposite Isla Melchor . These islands on the other side of the channel, like the Taitao peninsula, are geographically no longer part of the Chonos archipelago. Some islands are grouped into subgroups. The northernmost islands of the archipelago form the sub-archipelago of the Guaitecas Islands. The climate is harsh and very rainy.
Attractions
To the south of the archipelago on the Taitao peninsula is the Laguna San Rafael National Park . There, as in the south of the Chonos Archipelago, at the transition to the Taitao Peninsula, there are large glaciers . These are often visited from Puerto Aisén or Puerto Chacabuco by small planes and excursion boats. The center of the Chonos Archipelago is the Las Guaitecas nature reserve . The best-known and most attractive passage through the center of the archipelago in terms of both traffic and tourism is the slightly more than 30 nautical miles long route through the Darwin Canal, which begins on the Pacific side in Darwin Bay between Isla Isquiliac and Isla Garrido and through calm , also for larger vessels navigable fjord-like waters leads to the Moraleda Canal. The street is also frequented by cruise ships. The exit on the mainland side is north of Isla Luz . The passage's fairway is marked with a total of ten beacons . Further north runs the somewhat wider Ninualac Canal between Isla James and Isla Melchor , which meets the Moraleda Canal at its widest point opposite the Las Huichas archipelago , on whose main island is Puerto Aguirre .
To the west of the archipelago in the Pacific lies the island of Guamblín , on which the Isla Guamblín National Park is located. This most remote island in the archipelago is around 130 kilometers from Puerto Aguirre. The national park, which covers the entire island, is about 106 km². Blue whales can often be seen here.
To the east of the archipelago and already on the other side of the Moraleda Canal, the large Isla Magdalena with the Isla Magdalena National Park, famous for its penguin colonies, is located in the northern area .
Residents
Most of the Chonos Archipelago is uninhabited, but in summer it is visited by wood hunters and fishermen from Chiloé. The only permanently inhabited part of the archipelago is the administratively independent municipality of Guaitecas with 1,741 inhabitants on the island group of the same name in the north of the archipelago. The main town is Melinka on Isla Ascensión , which, like Puerto Aguirre, has a small airfield and an infirmary. A larger uninhabited strip of the archipelago south of the Guaitecas Islands, which also includes the island of Guamblín, belongs to the municipality of Cisnes , as does the Magdalen Island . The island of Las Huichas with the main town Puerto Aguirre, which together with the southern half of the Chonos Archipelago and the Taitao Peninsula belongs to the municipality of Aysén , has around 1,850 inhabitants (estimate by the statistical office from 2012). The economy and the life of the inhabitants of these very remote islands has changed dramatically in the past few decades due to the growing salmon farming industry in southern Chile .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Guaitecas municipal statistics 2015 ; Source: Library of the National Congress (accessed April 24, 2017).
- ↑ Comuna de Guaitecas refuerza equipo de especialistas en Posta de Salud Rural de Melinka. Notice from the Guaitecas municipal administration, October 15, 2015, accessed on April 25, 2017.
- ↑ Carpeta Comunal, Comuna de Aysén, Actualización 2012 ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 2.0 MB), pp. 19-21; Source: Aysén regional government (accessed April 24, 2017).
- ↑ Isla Puerto Aguirre ( YouTube video), 45-minute television report about life in Puerto Aguirre (episode 3 of the Habitantes del Pacífico series ), Televisión Nacional de Chile , 2015 (Spanish).
