Aysén Region of General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo

The Aysén Region of General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo or simply Aysén Region is one of the sixteen regions into which the Republic of Chile is divided. It is the gateway to Chilean Patagonia or the so-called southern zone of the country. Its capital is Coyhaique. Located in Chilean Patagonia, it limits to the north with the Los Lagos Region, to the east with the provinces of Chubut and Santa Cruz belonging to Argentina, to the south with the Magallanes and Chilean Antarctic Region and to the west with the Pacific Ocean. With 108,328 inhabitants in 2015, it is the least populated region in the country, and with 108,494 km², the third largest, behind Magallanes and Antofagasta.

Politically, the region is led by a Regional Governor elected by popular vote, who is the executive body of the Regional Government, presiding over the respective Council in his own right. In the 2021 elections, where the first holder of that position was elected, the militant of the Socialist Party Andrea Macías Palma was elected, for the period between July 14, 2021 and January 6, 2025.

Administratively, the region is made up of the provinces of Aysén, Capitán Prat, Coyhaique, and General Carrera, which together add up to ten communes. The regional capital and main city is Coyhaique, while Puerto Aysén is the second most important city.

Name

The fjords and glaciers of the region are some of the possible origins of the name "Aysén/Aisén".

There is no certainty about the origin of the name «Aysén», used to designate the region since at least the 18th century, although there are several proposals. One of them proposes that it comes from the Huilliche word achén or aichirrn, which means “twisted” or “crumbling”, a typical characteristic of the fjords in the area, while another would come from from a word of Chono origin that would mean "that goes deeper into the interior" referring to the Aysén fjord seen from the coast of the Moraleda Channel. Another possible origin, postulated by Kémel Sade, is from a compound word of the language gününa küne or aonikenk which could be translated as "rocks where there is water", alluding to the numerous sources of water compared to the easternmost territory where these tribes lived.

One of the most controversial proposals is that the region would take its name from the words ice end. This fact would be attributed to the captain of the ship HMS Beagle , Robert Fitz Roy, who in his expedition along the coast of the region together with Charles Darwin would have marked the area on his maps with these words.

At the time of the colonization of the territory, the grave pronunciation with a definite article was common: the Aisen.

Although contemporary Spanish orthography prefers the use of the term «Aisén» with i, the name of the region is usually written with ye or and Greek. In both cases, the words are pronounced with the same semivowel sound for the y/i, since the use of y corresponds to an archaism of Spanish orthography, which is still maintained in the toponymy of some Spanish localities. The use of both spellings is widespread, although "Aysén" is preferred locally. Both the Military Geographic Institute (IGM), in charge of regulating Chilean toponymy, and the National Institute of Statistics used the word "Aisén" until the beginning of the century XXI, but in 2010 the IGM decided to use the name "Aysén", as well as "Coyhaique" instead of "Coihaique » for the regional capital, which also presents this graphic duality.

Regarding the name of «General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo», Decree Law 712 of 1974 named the region that way because of «the need to pay homage to the memory of General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo for his outstanding administration and constant fight to raise our Nation".

History

Pre-Hispanic settlements

Reconstruction of a dalca, formerly used by the huts in the Aisenian channels.

The archeology of the Aysén Region has shown so far that the first settlements occurred from the east of the Andes mountain range. Some evidence indicates that approx. 12,600 years ago, hunter gatherers with a wide distribution in America reached this territory in the continental portion of Patagonia up to the Strait of Magellan. An important migration would have occurred 9,400 years ago, establishing and modifying the pre-existing development. Later, around 5,000 years ago, new populations entered from Magellan, while others did so along the coast, causing a demographic rise that led to multiple differentiated groups.

At the time of the explorations of the Spanish colonizers, in the XVI and XVII, the presence of various canoe nomadic peoples, known by various names and whose relationships are unclear, is reported. Among them were the Chonos and the Kawésqar or Alacalufes. In the continental territory, meanwhile, the Aónik'enk nomads, also known as Tehuelches or Patagones, stood out. After contact with the Europeans, these towns began to disappear due to diseases, slave raids and forced migrations to Chiloé and later due to diseases, alcoholism and murders perpetrated by hunters and adventurers.

Scans

Map of the Chonos Archipelago in 1878 by A. Petermann.

Aysén was one of the last places in present-day Chilean territory to be explored, colonized, and incorporated. The first to visit these lands was Hernando de Magallanes, who baptized the lands that he visualized after crossing the strait as "Province of Trapananda", spotting a broken coastline and high hills that he called "Lands of December". Subsequently, Pedro de Valdivia sends an expedition in 1553 led by Francisco de Ulloa, who manages to reach the Taitao Peninsula, becoming the first navigator to touch these lands.

During the colonial era, Spanish explorers barely explored the Aysén canals and those who did tried unsuccessfully to find their way to the mythical City of Los Césares.

The region of Trapananda (present-day Aysén) was incorporated into the domains of Chiloé, being the geographical area located between the Chiloé archipelago and the Strait of Magellan, the final objective to be fortified for the Spanish empire. These domains included up to the Cape Horn.

Between 1557 and 1679, twelve religious expeditions were made to explore the region.

In old charts, the region of Patagonia, between parallels 48° and 50° South, appeared almost exclusively occupied by a large island called "Campana" separated from the mainland by the "Calén Nation Channel", a nation that It was supposed to have existed until the 18th century between the parallels 48° and 49° south latitude.

In 1741 the British ship HMS Wager sank in the area of the Guayaneco archipelago. After the event, Spain increased its interest in the region, increasing expeditions to the Ofqui isthmus and sending Franciscan and Jesuit missionaries who transferred canoers.

In 1743, Mateo Abraham Evrard's expedition to Wager Island took place.

Between the years 1762 and 1767, in addition to 1798, the Jesuit J. Vicuña visited the region. Juan Levien received a property title between parallels 43° and 48° south latitude after he helped José de Moraleda.

In 1749, King Ferdinand VI of Spain ordered the construction of Fort San Fernando de Tenquehuén on the Taitao peninsula, which was later dismantled. Previously, the English admiral George Anson had promoted the creation of a settlement for his country on Inche Island.

In 1792, an expedition was carried out under the command of Francisco de Clemente y Miró together with Luis Lasqueti to the island of Inche in the Chonos archipelago.

Fishermen and peasants from Chiloé navigated the Aysen coast, especially in the vicinity of the Guaitecas islands, and settled temporarily to hunt sea lions and sea otters and extract Guaitecas cypress wood. The first permanent settlement on these islands was the town of Melinka, founded in 1859 and the oldest town in the region.

Some scientific explorations visited the area, highlighting that of Robert Fitz Roy on HMS Beagle together with Charles Darwin between the end of 1834 and the beginning of 1835, when they toured parts of the Chonos archipelago. In 1857, the Chilean Navy organized an expedition led by Lieutenant Francisco Hudson, who however was shipwrecked and died. Five years later, Captain Francisco Vidal Gormaz was sent to navigate the coasts of mainland Chiloé and the Guaitecas. In 1870 the Chilean Navy commissioned Enrique Simpson to explore the western coast of Patagonia, in order to locate a Passage towards the interior valleys, reaching the river named in his honor.

Outside these expeditions, the Chilean presence was almost nil, unlike what happened in the Magallanes sector, much further south, where the State was carrying out a policy of colonization. During the border dispute with Argentina for the domain of Patagonia, there was little emphasis on the situation of the uninhabited lands of Aysén, concentrating on the definition of the domains around the Strait of Magellan and Tierra del Fuego. The boundary between Chile and Argentina, passing through the Aysén sector, was delimited in the 1881 Treaty, but multiple differences would arise over the years, which is why Chile hired the German geographer Hans Steffen to explore the area and support the definition. of the borders. Finally, the disputes between Chileans and Argentines would be submitted to the British Crown who defined the division of the territory in dispute in an arbitral award.

Colonization

Temporary workers from Chiloé.

German immigrants in Puyuhuapi clearing the area through fires.

A group of settlers in the Baker River.

Valleys of Aysén destroyed by fires.

The population of Aysén was started by mainly Chilote settlers. Around 1880 the first settlement was established in the continental territory, corresponding to some houses for the workers of a cypress sawmill in the Aysén fjord,

The first attempt at colonization by the Chilean State began in that same decade. In 1888, about twenty Chilota families reached the mouth of the Palena River to settle on Los Leones Island —in the same place where Puerto Raúl Marín Balmaceda would later be founded—, for which reason, in January 1889, the government of José Manuel Balmaceda created the colony of Palena (Bajo Palena), dependent on the Municipality of Llanquihue.

The Civil War of 1891, the assumption of Jorge Montt as the new president and the subsequent negotiations with Argentina to resolve the border problems that arose after the boundary treaty of 1881 —which would only conclude in 1902—, as well as the remoteness and isolation of the settlers, made the Chilean State give up colonizing the area in the following years, so that by 1900 the vast majority of the settlers had left and the colony was practically abandoned.

The publication of the 1902 award gave way for the Chilean government to start exploiting the lands under its domain. To this end, the government of Germán Riesco in 1903 leased large tracts of land to various cattle companies, highlighting the Aysén Industrial Society, which occupied the Aysén, Simpson and Mañihuales valleys, while the Anglo-Chilean Pastoral Co. was a concessionaire. of more than 500,000 hectares around the Cisnes river valley, although with less success. Further south, the Sociedad Explotadora del Baker had concessions of more than 800,000 hectares, but the difficulty of the terrain and the distance from populated centers would cause its failure and the death of more than 50 workers during the winter of 1906.

It was not until 1920 that a new lumberjack village was installed on the coast, Tortel. An important flow of settlers was made up of Chileans from Argentina, who settled in some valleys and around Lake Buenos Aires, confronting the interests of large cattle ranchers. The conflict escalated and triggered an open confrontation in 1917, known as the War of Chile Chico, when the government leased land inhabited by settlers to a Swedish rancher and then tried to expel them.

The resistance of the colonists and the impact on Chilean society caused the reduction of the privileges of the large ranchers, who stayed in the eastern sectors of the region, and the State decided to support small property. The colonizing push, however, caused significant damage to the region due to the burning of large tracts of native forest in order to make the soil suitable for cattle, destroying the ecosystem and accelerating soil erosion, damage that was can observe to date.

In 1924, Puerto Aysén was officially founded as the first port serving the incipient cattle industry, while five years later in the interior Baquedano (now Coyhaique) was founded in the old town of the SIA. Only during the 1930s did colonization begin to intensify on the coasts of the Aysén region, with the founding of Puyuhuapi in 1935 by German immigrants, Puerto Raúl Marín Balmaceda (1940) and Puerto Cisnes (1952). Entering through the rivers in the area, in the 1940s, the settlers began to occupy land inland, highlighting the towns of La Junta, Campo Grande, Villa Mañihuales and the banks of the Simpson River.

Incorporation of the territory

Due to the complete absence of government presence in the area throughout the XIX century, the status of Aysén was never of great relevance. According to the 1861 law that created it, the southern limit of the province of Llanquihue was the northern limit of the Territory of Magallanes —that is, parallel 47° S—, although in 1863 the southern limit of the department of Carelmapu was set, the southernmost of Llanquihue, in the Comau fjord (excluding the Chiloé archipelago). Subsequently, in 1885 the area between the Comau fjord and the Rayas river (north of the place where the city of Chaitén would be founded, opposite Talcán island) was assigned to the department of Quinchao, a limit later endorsed in 1891 with the Law of Autonomous Commune. However, the maritime governorate of Chiloé and that of Magallanes were separated at parallel 47° S, where the Tres Montes peninsula roughly meets. These differences generated several confusions, for which reason it was not until 1894 that the government, by decree, would determine that the territory between the parallels 42° S and 47° S, and that had not been assigned by previous provisions to the province of Chiloé, formed part of the department of Llanquihue.

On June 7, 1915, the 7th sub-delegation of the department of Llanquihue was created, called «Valle Simpson», covering the lands between the Rayas river and the 47° S parallel, being the first formal organization on part of Aysén The 1920 census counted a total of 514 people in the areas under the SIA (228 in Puerto Aysén and 158 in Coyhaique) and 1,146 independent settlers. During that time, they began to install some public services such as post offices in Aysén, Baquedano and Valle Simpson, where there was also a school; despite this, almost the entire economy and development depended on the exchange of products with the neighboring and accessible Argentine towns on the other side of the border.

Given the growth of the population in the region and a general reform of the administrative system, on December 30, 1927, the Territory of Aysén was created, with its capital in Puerto Aysén, and two years later it was elevated to a province. The new division, however, included only the continental territory, leaving the Guaitecas and Chonos archipelagos in the department of Castro (part of the province of Chiloé). The territory, meanwhile, was divided into four communes-subdelegations: Yelcho, Aysén, Lago Buenos Aires, and Baker. With the new organization, various public offices were installed, such as courts, notaries, and police, during the 1930s. 1936, the inhabitants of Aysén were incorporated into the electoral registers.

In 1930, the number of inhabitants reached 8,700, concentrated mainly in the commune of Aysén (6,835). Puerto Aysén, the only urban center as such, reached 2,051 people. The demographic change that the region is beginning to experience, with the establishment of entire families and not just isolated workers, is reflected in the increase in the female presence, coming to constitute 45% of the total in 1930, a significant increase compared to the 20% average which was recorded ten years earlier. Puerto Aysén began to develop, especially thanks to improvements in maritime transport to Puerto Montt, which no longer made it dependent on border trade. On the contrary, the town of Balmaceda, near the border with Argentina, began a spiral of decline when trade to the Pacific through the port collapsed and access was prohibited 5 km from the border, the territory where the community was located. Many of the inhabitants began to move to Baquedano, renamed Coyhaique in 1938, and converted into a commune in 1947.

Organization and regionalization

View of Puerto Aysén in the 1950s since Mount Mirador.

Successive administrative reforms transferred the northern sector of Aysén to the province of Chiloé. Thus, the territory of Yelcho passed to the department of Quinchao in 1936, and then to the newly created department of Palena in 1959. That same year, the former province of Aysén was reformed creating the departments of Aysén, Coyhaique and Chile Chico and renaming the Lake Buenos Aires as "General Carrera Lake".

Meanwhile, the lack of knowledge of the area during the process of defining the borders generated a new problem with Argentina during the 1960s. The lands around the Laguna del Desierto, unknown at the date of the arbitration, were claimed by the latter country at that time. In 1965, a confrontation between Argentine police and gendarmes ended with the death of Lieutenant Hernán Merino, which complicated relations between the two countries. An arbitration award called after the 1984 treaty between the two countries finally handed over the territory to Argentina in 1994.

The dispute over the lagoon led the Chilean government to try to reinforce sovereignty over the territory of Aysén. Villa O'Higgins was founded on the shores of the homonymous lake and various proposals were presented to improve internal transportation in the region. In 1969, President Eduardo Frei Montalva inaugurated the Balmaceda airport in order to improve the operations of the incipient flights to and from Aysén. Only recently, during the military dictatorship, did the work of the Military Labor Corps begin in 1976 to unite Aysén with the rest of the country through the Carretera Austral, which has been opened in sections to this day.

In the framework of the regionalization process that was carried out throughout the country, the former province of Aisén was converted into the «XI Region», with its capital in Coyhaique, after the publication of Decree Law 575 of July 13, 1974 A few months later, the region received the name "Aysen Region of General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo" (sic) and in 1975 the Guaitecas islands and part of the Palena river basin, belonging to the Region until that date, were incorporated. from Los Lagos.

Aysén in the 21st century

A march in Puerto Aysén during the 2012 protests to improve the living conditions of the region.

Towards the end of the XX century, the population of the Aysén Region grew significantly, from 66,361 in the year 1982 to 91,492 in 2012, although it remained the least populated region in the country. The economy of the region began to develop tourism as an important source of income.

After a series of smaller earthquakes, on April 21, 2007, a magnitude 6.2 earthquake occurred in the Aysén fjord. Although the earthquake left minor damage to the infrastructure, a landslide caused a tsunami that devastated houses near the fjord and killed 10 people.

In February 2012, a series of protests began in the region to demand that Sebastián Piñera's government improve living conditions in the area, significantly affected by the high costs of basic services, food, fuel, as well as an improvement in medical services and a solution to unemployment. The protests also emphasized the high levels of centralization in Chile, the isolation that the region is going through and the little attention it receives from Santiago.

Government and administration

Political-administrative division

The Aysén region of General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo, whose capital is the city of Coyhaique, for purposes of government and internal administration, is divided into four provinces:

• Province of Aysénwhose capital is Puerto Aysén.
• Captain Pratwhose capital is Cochrane.
• Coyhaique Provincewhose capital is Coyhaique.
• General Provincewhose capital is Chile Chico.

While these three provinces are subdivided into 10 communes ―Guaitecas, Cisnes, Lago Verde, Coyhaique, Aysén, Río Ibáñez, Chile Chico, Cochrane, O'Higgins and Tortel―.

Province Capital Commune Aysen Puerto Aysén Swan Guaitecas Aysen Captain Prat Cochrane Cochrane O'Higgins Tortel Coyhaique Coyhaique Coyhaique Green Lake General Carrera Chile Chico Chile Chico Rio Ibáñez

Guaitecas Swan Green Lake Coyhaique Aysen Rio Ibáñez Chile Chico Cochrane O'Higgins Tortel

Authorities

The administration of the region of the executive power resides in the Regional Government of Aysén of General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo, constituted by the Governor of Aysén of General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo and by the Regional Council, in addition to having the presence of the Regional Presidential Delegate of Aysén of General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo and both the Provincial Presidential Delegate of Aysén, the Provincial Presidential Delegate of General Carrera and the Provincial Presidential Delegate of Captain Prat, representatives of the central government of the country.

For the purposes of local administration, the provinces are further divided into 10 communes ―Guaitecas, Cisnes, Lago Verde, Coyhaique, Aysén, Río Ibáñez, Chile Chico, Cochrane, O'Higgins and Tortel― in totally governed by their respective municipality.

The legislative power is represented and divided territorially through the 14th constituency of the Chilean Senate, made up of two senators, and the 27th electoral district -made up of three deputies- of the Chamber of Deputies, which represent to the citizens of the region.

Geography

View of Mount Valentine, the highest in the area

View of the Castle Range

The torn physiognomy of the southern regions is the product of various tectonic and glacial factors. First of all, in the past there was a subsidence of the territory, originated above all in the tectonics caused by the conjunction, in front of the Taitao peninsula, of three plates: the Nazca and the Antarctic, which move towards the east, and the South American, which moves to the west- This tectonism caused an appreciable subsidence of the edge of the South American plate, which brought with it a drop in the ground level, a palpable phenomenon in the fragmentation of the territory and in the invasion of the sea in the sectors sunk, generating countless islands.

A second element that shaped the landscape was the intense glacial activity, of which there are still evidences in the North and South Ice Fields. The powerful action of the ice sculpted deep valleys, which after the collapse gave rise to the multiple fjords existing on the banks of the channels. The main peaks of the region are: Cerro San Valentín (3,910 m.a.s.l.), Cochrane or San Lorenzo (3,707 m.a.s.l.), Fitz Roy (3,406 m.a.s.l.); Lautaro volcano (3380 m a.s.l.); Hyades hills (3100 m a.s.l.), O'Higgins (2910 m a.s.l.), Baker (2730 m a.s.l.), Jeinemeni (2600 m a.s.l.); Hudson volcano (1905 m a.s.l.); Melimoyu (2400 m a.s.l.) and Alto Nevado (2255 m a.s.l.) hills.

The Coastal Range disappears as such to the south of the Isla Grande de Chiloé and then only appears in its upper parts, which correspond to the islands of the Chonos archipelago. It resurfaces in the Taitao peninsula, disappearing in the Tres Montes peninsula. The archipelagos to the south of the Gulf of Penas no longer correspond to the high parts of the Cordillera de la Costa, but fragmented foothills of the Cordillera de los Andes, shaped by glacial action.

Climate

There are two types of climate: one is the rainy oceanic climate, which exists in the archipelagos and fjords, and another is the steppe climate, which is colder and drier, as you move towards the east.

Advancing towards the east, the climate becomes more extreme in terms of temperatures and there is a strong decrease in rainfall (comparable to the continental phenomenon of Santiago de Chile in the Mediterranean climate). This continentality is also manifested by rigorous winters with frequent snowfalls and frosts. Thus, in Coyhaique, the average temperatures and rainfall are 8.2 °C and 1,206 mm, and in Balmaceda, located only about 30 km further east, the same measurements show 6.4 °C and 612 mm, respectively. In the same way, the extreme minimum temperatures can reach -39 °C and -47 °C respectively.

The region includes the entire Northern Ice Field and a smaller portion of the Southern Ice Field, which extends for more than 500 kilometers in the Magallanes and Chilean Antarctic Region, which have a climate subpolar.

Economy

In 2018, the number of companies registered in the Aysén region was 2,929. The Economic Complexity Index (ECI) in the same year was -0.8, while the economic activities with the highest Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) index were Gold and Silver Extraction (63.21), Extraterritorial Organizations and Bodies (49.26) and Industrial Fishing (47.52).

Due to its distance from the most populated centers of the country and its late incorporation into the national sphere, Aysén has little economic activity in relation to the central zone, but it is well and growingly developed. In addition to tourism, the economic support is given by cattle raising, by the forestry industry and by some mining and extraction and industrialization of marine products. Another great local potential is the generation of electrical energy, since it is the richest region in hydroelectric resources in the entire national territory; but the cost of driving it to more populated areas and the energy loss that such driving would generate are very high. In 2007, the Hidroaysén megaproject, by the Endesa and Colbún companies, was launched, but it was finally canceled in 2017.

Agriculture and livestock

Given the conformation of the relief, the icy climatic conditions and the thinness and poverty of the soils, the region has not been able to develop an agricultural vocation; It has only been possible to carry out this productive activity in some sectors, especially in the east, which have better microclimatic conditions, as is the case of Chile Chico, to the southeast of General Carrera Lake, or Puerto Ibáñez, on the north shore of the same lake. Another way in which agriculture has developed, especially for local consumption, is in greenhouse crops. The main regional crops are potatoes, oats, peas, broad beans, lettuce, rhubarb and some berries. In the fruit sector, there is production of plums, cherries, apples and pears. In the towns of Chile Chico and Puerto Ibáñez, apricots and cherry trees also stand out.

The livestock sector is the main economic activity of the Eleventh Region. Livestock production stands out, especially bovines, with around one million heads, which produce around 13 million liters of milk per year. There is also production of horses, with a number close to 20,000 heads; pigs, with barely 8,000 heads, and poultry, with around 100,000 heads.

View of the Puyuhuapi Fjord.

Forestry

Despite the fact that more than 45% of the regional area is suitable for forestry, this sector still does not have all the development that it could potentially have, mainly due to the fact that freight charges make the production of processed wood more expensive. However, there is local use of the native forest and some species plantations, especially of the Pinus genus, adapted to the climate. The total forest surfaces between native, renewal, adult and mixed amounts to 4,823,55.7 ha. Forest fires, in terms of occurrence and affected area, are low. The forestry and agricultural sector satisfies almost 22.5% of the workforce in Aysén.

Fisheries and aquaculture

The canal area is rich in sea products, such as shellfish and fish, especially the former, among which mussels (Mytilus chilensis) and edible sea urchins ( Loxechinus albus). Among the fish, the golden conger (Genypterus blacodes) and brotula (Salilota australis) stand out for their capture. Most of the regional fishing is intended for industrialization, for subsequent export.

Salmon farming is also developed in the channels and fjords of Aysen, mainly Atlantic salmon and to a lesser extent Coho salmon and rainbow trout. In 2018, 380,048 tons of salmon were harvested in the region, equivalent to 41.1% of national production.

Industry and energy

The hydroelectric potential of the Baker River aims to be exploited by the Hidroaysén project, despite the rejection of an important part of the citizenry.

The Aysén region has a growing industrial development, favored by the opening of the Carretera Austral and the recent nomination of the region as a free port. The industrial activity linked to the livestock sector stands out, such as slaughterhouses, tanneries and refrigerators, packing of export meat, especially lamb and hare; dairy and wool farms.

The Aysén electricity generation, transmission and distribution system is operated by a single company, Edelaysén S.A, serving a total of close to 90,000 customers. The installed capacity of Edelaysén is, as of December 2005, 23.41 MW, made up of 63.86% by thermoelectric plants, 27.68% by hydroelectric and 8.46% by wind generators.

Tourism

The San Rafael Lagoon is one of the main tourist attractions of Aysén.

One of the fastest growing economic activities in Aysén is tourism, thanks to its Patagonian landscapes and their pristine nature. Most of the numerous natural attractions that it has have not been developed (Ice Fields and Virgin Islands). Between January and October 2017, there were 124,495 foreign tourists who entered the region. In addition, the total number of travelers during the period January and September of the same year amounted to 431,124 people.

In Coyhaique is the Regional Museum of Patagonia. It has samples of paleontology, archeology and regional anthropology, geology and mineralogy and natural history, although of a low museological level. It also has photographs and samples of items used by immigrants from the region.

Education

In the region there are 78 educational establishments that allow the training of 23,416 students (2002) of the pre-basic, basic, special and intermediate levels. This figure represents 0.7% of the 3,601 professional institutes and technical training centers, which make up a total of 159 students.

In 2013, the Patagonia University Center of the Magallanes University was founded in the city of Coyhaique, with two undergraduate courses and eight technical courses, continuity of study, special plans and two postgraduate courses. And in 2015 the University of Aysén was created —based in Coyhaique— the first state university house founded since 1993.

Demographics

"Monumento al ovejero", in Coyhaique.

This region was the last to be incorporated into the country's activities, long after even the southernmost Region of Magallanes. Its geographical location and transportation difficulties explain the scant interest that these lands aroused during the XIX century, to the point that not even It was not even thought of colonizing them with immigrants, as happened with the other southern regions.

After the signing of the Boundary Treaty with Argentina in 1881, some settlers came to settle in those lands, which they reached by moving through the current Argentine territory (-11; -6) towards the valleys that cross the Andes of this to the west.^{[citation needed]} The anonymous and private effort culminated in the creation of the cities of Puerto Aysén in 1904, Balmaceda in 1917 and Coyhaique in 1929. The oldest of the localities is Melinka (Darling in Russian), established in the mid XIX century on an island Ascension, archipelago of the Guaitecas; at that time belonging to the province of Chiloé.

Caleta Tortel, one of the most difficult locations in the region.

The native population was not abundant either. The Tehuelches inhabited the Andean region. On the coast and islands were communities of Chonos who inhabited the archipelagos of Las Guaitecas and Los Chonos. In the archipelagos to the south of the Gulf of Penas and up to Tierra del Fuego lived the Kawésqar or Alacalufes, also fishermen. Both groups were rapidly decimated by disease and attacks by settlers from other Chilean regions and from Europe.

The Aysén Region is the least populated in the country. According to the 2017 census, it had only 103,158 inhabitants for an area of 106,990.9 km², which implies a very low density: 0.96 inhabitants per km². From 2002 to 2017, an average growth rate of 0.8 per 100 inhabitants was calculated.

The most populated communes are (2017 census): Coyhaique (57,818 inhabitants); Aysén (23,959 inhabitants); Cisnes (Chile) (6,517 inhab.); Chile Chico (4865 inhab.); Cochrane (3490 inhab.); Guaitecas (1843 inhabitants).

Transportation and communications

Road network

The Austral Road (CH-7) is the main channel of communication in the region.

The region has a total (as of December 2004) 2,730 km of roads for public use (concrete and asphalt, as well as gravel). The main local road in the north-south direction is the Carretera Austral. It leaves from Puerto Montt and after 420 km it reaches Coyhaique, the regional capital. After another 531 km, it arrives at Villa O'Higgins, where it currently ends, completing a 951-kilometer route. Work is currently underway to pave the section of Chaitén (X region) and Coyhaique, as well as cross roads to Palena and Puerto Raúl Marín Balmaceda.

Vehicle fleet

As of 2004, the Aysén Region had a fleet of 23,060 vehicles, which corresponds to 0.6 percent of the 2,980,024 vehicles that exist in the country. This makes it the region with the lowest number of vehicles in Chile.

Sea and air transport

General Carrera Bridge, which crosses over the drainage of Lake General Carrera.

The region has only one commercial port, Puerto Chacabuco, which provides service to all local economic activity and where ferries from private companies that transport cargo and passengers from Puerto Montt, Chaitén, Chonchi or Quellón arrive. In general, the boats that call at this port cover the section from Puerto Montt to Punta Arenas with several stopovers of tourist interest. The main companies that do regional cabotage are Navimag, Naviera Austral and Skorpios.

The air transport is vital for the connection with the rest of the territory, especially for the transport of passengers. There are two commercial airports: Coyhaique and Balmaceda. The latter, some 40 km from Coihaique, is enabled to serve large commercial aircraft. The degree of land isolation of most of the Aisen localities makes their air links essential, with many small aerodromes existing that are, during long periods of the year, the only form of communication when the roads are covered by snow between April and November.