Quillagua

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Quillagüa
Coordinates: 21 ° 40 ′  S , 69 ° 32 ′  W
Map: Chile
marker
Quillagüa​
Quillagüa on the map of Chile
Txu-oclc-224571178-sf19-06.jpg
Basic data
Country ChileChile Chile
Residents 103  (2002)
Detailed data
surface 4,014.7 km 2
Population density 0.026 inhabitants / km 2
height 810  m
Waters Río Loa
Oasisquillagua6.jpg

Quillagua is an oasis on the Loa River in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile . The Aymara settlement is considered the driest place on earth, with only 0.15 mm mean annual precipitation.

description

Quillagua is an oasis settlement in the municipality of María Elena in the Región de Antofagasta in northern Chile . It is 810 m above sea level in the gorge of the Río Loa , in the longitudinal valley between the coastal mountains on the Pacific in the west and the Andean precordillera in the east. The landscape belongs to the central area of ​​the Atacama Desert, which has had a hyperarid climate for 15 million years . The mean annual amount of precipitation measured at Quillagua since 1964 is 0.1 to 0.15 mm. This makes the place the driest on earth.

The oasis receives water from the Río Loa. It lies in the deeply cut valley on the only river terrace that is on the lower reaches. However, the river has not brought drinking water to the region since the 1990s due to high consumption and contamination by the mining industry. Since 2005 the water of the Río Loa is no longer suitable for animals. Today the settlement is a sad example of the careless handling of water resources , in which the long-established local population has lost their livelihood against industrial and political interests. On the basis of a change in legislation that made water use rights a tradable property since 1981, the mining industry acquired 80% of the water use rights and 90% of the cultivated land in Quillagua. As a result, the cultivable area and the population decreased. The cultivable area fell from 188.4 ha in 1986 to 120 ha in 1999. While there were around 800 inhabitants in the 1940s and 625 in 1970, the number fell to 203 by 1982 and to 103 in 2002 .

The Quillagua settlement is now supplied with drinking water, which is delivered daily by tanker. 127 houses are supplied via three storage tanks, which together hold 100 m 3 . Electricity is generated by a generator that works 6 hours a day from 6:30 pm to midnight. There is a primary school with 9 students who have to get by without electricity. There is a public telephone on site and since 2009 a cellular network without internet access. There is a first-aid station for medical care.

history

Quillagua was first established around 700 BC. Settled in the Formativum epoch, which is characterized by hunters and gatherers and ceramic production. Several cemeteries were found at the oasis. The corpses of the indigenous people were mummified by the hyperarid climate and are thus well preserved, including the textiles in which they were wrapped.

After the era of the formativum (from 500 AD), Quillagua was a place where otherwise distant traditions met. A dynamic economic exchange took place between different cultural, local and foreign groups. The most influential group came from the southern Altiplano. In the Late Intermediate Period (around AD 900 to AD 1450), Quillagua was the border between the Atacama area in the south and the Tarapaca area in the north. The oasis was a traffic junction where numerous routes converged.

The network of trails from Quillagua to the north around 1900.

During the saltpeter boom in the 19th century, the saltpeter works were supplied with vegetables from Quillagua, among others. In 1911–1912, the Quillagua station was built. During the time of the railway construction, a water treatment machine for the railway was built with a capacity of 100 tons and a condenser for 15 tons per day. The water was taken from the Río Loa. In 1911 the telephone line, which ran along the railway line, reached Quillagua

Web links

Commons : Quillagua  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas (Ed.): Chile . Ciudades, Pueblos, Aldeas y Caseríos. Santiago de Chile 2005 ( online [PDF; accessed January 20, 2016]).
  2. ↑ Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas (ed.): División politica-administrativa y censal 2007 . Santiago de Chile 2007, ISBN 978-956-7952-68-7 ( online PDF 16.5 MB [accessed May 11, 2016]).
  3. ↑ Sáez, Alberto, et al. "Late Neogene lacustrine record and palaeogeography in the Quillagua-Llamara basin, Central Andean fore-arc (northern Chile)." Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 151.1 (1999): 5-37. ( Online PDF 5.0 MB)
  4. ↑ a b Clarke, Jonathan DA. "Antiquity of aridity in the Chilean Atacama Desert." Geomorphology 73.1 (2006): 101-114. ( Online )
  5. ↑ Middleton, Nick. "'Dry as a bone'." Geographical Magazine 72.4 (2000): 84-85.
  6. ↑ Houston, John. "Variability of precipitation in the Atacama Desert: its causes and hydrological impact." International Journal of Climatology 26.15 (2006): 2181-2198. ( Online PDF)
  7. ^ A b Alexei Barrionuevo: Chilean Town Withers in Free Market for Water. In: The New York Times. March 14, 2009, accessed May 11, 2016 .
  8. ↑ a b c Servicio Agricola Ganadero Región Antofagasta. "Análisis General del Impacto Económico de Norma Secundaria de Calidad de Aguas del Río Loa en el sector Silvoagropecuario." Antofagasta, Chile (2005). ( Online PDF 1.1 MB)
  9. ↑ Ronald G. Hellman, Rodrigo Araya Dujisin. "Chile Litoral. Diálogo científico sobre los ecosistemas costeros." FLACSO-Chile, Enero, 2005, ISBN 956-205-194-3 ( Online PDF 2.1 MB)
  10. ↑ Torres, Bernardita Mc Phee. "Conflictos ambientales y respuestas sociales: el caso de reetnificación de la comunidad de Quillagua." Revista Mad 22 (2010): 42-55. ( Online ( Memento of the original from October 2, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this note. ) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.revistas.uchile.cl
  11. ↑ Cortes, Alejandro Bustos. "Antecedentes de una crisis ambiental: el caso de Quillagua, desierto de Atacama II Región Chile." Revista Internacional de Investigación en Ciencias Sociales 1.1 (2005): 71. ( Online PDF)
  12. ^ Ilustre Municipalidad de María Elena. "Plan de desarrollo comunal María Elena 2009-2014" ( Online PDF 5.5 MB)
  13. ↑ a b c d e Agüero, Carolina et al. "El Periodo Formativo desde Quillagua, Loa Inferior (Norte de Chile)" in Esferas de interacción prehistóricas y fronteras nacionales modernas: Los Andes Sur Centrales, Edition: 1st Edition, Publisher: Instituto de Estudios Peruanos (IEP) e Institute of Andean Research, Lima y Nueva York, Perú, Estados Unidos, Editors: H. Lechtman , pp.73–125 ( Online PDF 14.7 MB)
  14. ^ Gallardo, F., Agüero, C., Uribe, M. "Resumen extendido. Relaciones fronterizas prehistóricas. El oasis de Quillagua (700-1500 dC, North de Chile)." ( Online ( Memento of the original from October 2, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this note. PDF 8.23 ​​MB) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / iciis.cl
  15. ↑ a b c d Capaldo, Adriana. "Espansión imperialista y su particularidad en la explotación alemana de las salitreras del Cantón El Toco 1880-1930." ( Online PDF 1.0 MB)