Valdivia

Valdivia
Climate diagram
	Temperature in ° C , precipitation in mm
	Source: wetterkontor.de

Valdivia
Coordinates: 39 ° 50 ′ S , 73 ° 13 ′ W Valdivia on the map of Chile	Valdivia
	Valdivia
Basic data
Country	Chile
region	Región de Los Ríos
City foundation	February 9, 1552
Residents	150,727 (2017)
	City insignia
Detailed data
surface	1,016 km²
Population density	153.6 inhabitants / km 2
height	14 m
Post Code	5090000
Time zone	UTC −4
City Presidency	Omar Sabat Guzmán
Website	www.munivaldivia.cl
	Valdivia
	Location Valdivias in the Región de Los Ríos

Valdivia is a city in southern Chile , about 15 kilometers from the Pacific . It has 150,727 inhabitants (as of 2017). The city is the capital of the Región de Los Ríos and the seat of the Universidad Austral de Chile . Valdivia is the seat of a Roman Catholic bishop, the diocese belongs to the ecclesiastical province of Concepción .

geography

Valdivia is located in an intramontaneous basin of the Chilean coastal cordillera on the navigable Río Calle-Calle , which joins the Río Cau-Cau to the Río Valdivia at the height of the city .

climate

The climate is humid and temperate all year round. The region is particularly rainy in the southern winter; temperatures vary between 8 ° C in July and 17 ° C in January.

Average monthly temperatures and rainfall for Valdivia

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Max. Temperature ( ° C )	22.8	22.8	20.6	16.7	13.3	11.1	11.1	12.2	14.4	17.2	18.3	20.6	O	16.7
Min. Temperature (° C)	11.1	10.6	9.4	7.8	6.1	5.6	5.0	4.4	5.0	6.7	7.8	10.0	O	7.4

Precipitation ( mm )	74	68	105	180	403	419	394	312	206	127	99	84	Σ	2,471

Hours of sunshine ( h / d )	8.3	8.1	6.6	4.1	2.2	1.6	2.1	2.9	3.7	4.1	6.3	6.7	O	4.7

Water temperature (° C)	14th	15th	15th	14th	12	12	11	11	11	12	12	13	O	12.7

Humidity ( % )	71	75	78	86	89	92	90	89	84	80	77	74	O	82.1

Source: wetterkontor.de

history

In 1544 Juan Bautista Pastene explored the area of today's Valdivia, which was first called Ainilebo, on behalf of Pedro de Valdivia . Pedro de Valdivia renamed the city Valdivia on February 9, 1552. After his death in 1553 in a battle with the Mapuche , the Spanish King Charles I officially gave the city name Valdivia on March 18, 1554. Valdivia is the fifth oldest city in Chile after Santiago, Valparaíso, La Serena and Concepción.

Valdivia was one of the few walled cities of the Spaniards on the Pacific coast and a fortress in the battle against the Mapuche.

On December 16, 1575, Valdivia was destroyed by a severe earthquake , the strength of which is estimated to be close to the strongest known earthquake on May 22, 1960 . It caused severe landslides and spilled the runoff of Lake Riñihue . This piled up; the dam that was formed broke four months later and flooded the city. The administrator of the city and chronicler of Chile, Pedro Mariño de Lobera , arranged the aid for the victims and the reconstruction.

In 1599 the city fell into the hands of the Mapuche and the Spaniards abandoned it for a few decades. After a temporary occupation of the city by the Dutch West Indian Company, Valdivia was repopulated in 1645 on the orders of the Viceroy of Peru. From 1770 Valdivia was also strongly fortified by the Spaniards on the sea side (forts of Corral , Niebla , Mancera and others). Valdivia remained under Spanish control even after Chile's independence in 1818. It was not until January 1820 that the Chilean fleet under Lord Thomas Cochrane managed to take Valdivia. The Spaniards withdrew to the island of Chiloé , which was only conquered in January 1826.

Valdivia before 1899

From 1846, it was mainly German immigrants who settled in the region. This helped the city to population growth and economic boom since around 1850. The first brewery in Chile (Cervecería Anwandter ), the first steelworks, wagon construction industry, wood processing and leather goods companies, shipyards and the Valdivia's Deutsche Zeitung came into being . The Isla Teja was the center of German immigrants; it was not until 1939 that a bridge was built as a permanent link to the city.

In 1909 Valdivia was badly damaged in a major fire. The city suffered further setbacks due to blacklists against the German-Chilean industrialists during both world wars.

On May 22, 1960, the city was hit by the strongest recorded earthquake in the world and by a tsunami ( Great Chile Earthquake ). The quake had a magnitude of 9.5 on the moment magnitude scale . 40% of the city's buildings were destroyed. The bottom of Valdivia sank by two meters, which led to the abandonment of many industries on the riverbank and on Isla Teja. A consequence of the earthquake was another landslide that spilled the outflow of Lake Riñihue and flooded the city weeks after the quake.

Since March 16, 2007, the place has been the capital of the newly created Región de Los Ríos , which consists of the former province of Valdivia. It is now divided into two new provinces. The new region has an area of 18,429.5 km² and a population of 356,396.

politics

Among other things, the UN diplomat and Chilean head of government José Maza was represented for the province in the country's Senate from 1925 to 1953.

Bernardo Berger of the Renovación Nacional has been mayor since 2004 .

Attractions

The daily fish market on the Costanera is the city's most popular photo opportunity. In addition, the museum of German immigration, the remains of the Spanish fortifications, the university with the botanical garden and the Saval nature park are worth seeing. The city also has a contemporary art museum ( Museo de Arte Contemporáneo ).

Popular tourist attractions are boat trips on the Valdivia River to the mouth. There are forts on the nearby Isla de Mancera and in Niebla and Corral. Every spring, the Kunstmann brewery has been holding the Kunstmann Valdivia beer festival since 2002 .

economy

Valdivia was the second most important industrial center in Chile until the great fire of 1909. The city has long since given up this role. The economic structure is relatively strongly determined by industry (wood industry, shipbuilding, food - including the Kunstmann brewery ). The largest employer is now the Universidad Austral de Chile . She has a strong reputation in forestry, agronomy and veterinary medicine. The earth sciences and geography are also internationally known. For several years, the holder of the Alternative Nobel Prize Manfred Max-Neef from 1983 worked as its rector.

sons and daughters of the town

(Selection)

Carl Anwandter (1801–1889), German-Chilean politician and entrepreneur
Adolfo Assor (* 1945), actor, theater director, director and set designer
Otto Georgi (1890–1969), painter
Héctor Eduardo Vargas Bastidas (* 1951), religious priest and Roman Catholic bishop

Town twinning

Neuquén , Argentina, since November 18, 2003

literature

Borsdorf, A. 1976: Valdivia and Osorno. Structural disparities in medium-sized Chilean cities. Tübingen Geographical Studies 69. Tübingen.
Borsdorf, A. 2002: The discovery of slowness. Observations and reflections on a quarter of a century of urban development in Valdivia / Chile from the point of view of sustainability. Communications from the Austrian Geographical Society 144: 199–218.

Web links

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

Footnotes

^ Museo Historico y Antropologico

[1] Museo Historico y Antropologico