Big Island of Chiloe

Situation of the island in Chile.

Big Island of Chiloé.

Vilupulli Church, built no later than the beginning of the century. XIX.

The Isla Grande de Chiloé is the largest of the islands that make up the Chiloé archipelago, an insular group located in the Los Lagos Region, in southern Chile. This island has a length of 180 kilometers, from north to south, and an average width of 50 km. Its surface is almost 9000 km². It is crossed from north to south by the Cordillera de la Costa, which receives the local names of Cordillera del Piuchén —or San Pedro— in its northern part, and Pirulil, in the southern sector.

The area is characterized by its great maritime activity, by the strong religiosity —manifested in its churches and festivities—, by its crafts in fibers, wool and wood, by its pottery, by the constructions on stilt houses and, mainly, due to the cultural and mythological traditions of its inhabitants.

The island is accessed, from the north, by Pan-American Route 5, through a ferry that is taken in Pargua, which crosses the Chacao Channel and after about 25 to 30 minutes of navigation, it arrives at the Chacao town.

Since 2012, the Mocopulli aerodrome, in the Dalcahue commune, allows commercial airline flights to and from Santiago on the continent.

History

When the Spanish arrived, the island was populated by chonos, huilliches and cuncos. The chonos were nomadic hunters and gatherers who traveled in boats called dalcas, while the other two peoples grew potatoes, corn and beans and llamas.

In 1540, Alonso de Camargo sighted the coasts of Chiloé while traveling to Peru. In an expedition organized by the Bishop of Plasencia Gutierre de Vargas y Carvajal, Captain Francisco de Ulloa reached the Chacao Channel in 1553 and toured the islands of the archipelago.

In 1558, García Hurtado de Mendoza began another expedition that culminated in the possession of these islands for the Spanish crown. In 1567 he began the process of conquest in Chiloé, founding the city of Castro. The island was originally baptized with the name Nueva Galicia, but that term did not prosper and the Huilliche word Chiloé was maintained, which means "place of chelles" (a white seagull with a black head).

The Jesuits, in charge of evangelization, built chapels throughout the archipelago; by 1767 there were already 79, and today you can find more than 150 traditional-style wooden temples, many of them declared World Heritage Sites by UNESCO. After the expulsion of the Jesuit population in 1767, the Franciscan Order assumed the religious assistance from the island since 1771.

Because it directly depended on the Viceroyalty of Peru, Chile's independence process went unnoticed in Chiloé and, in fact, it was one of the last Spanish strongholds in South America. It only became part of that country in 1826, through the Treaty of Tantauco, 8 years after Independence and after the failed campaigns of 1820 and 1824). Starting in 1843, a large number of Chilotes emigrated to Patagonia in search of of work, mainly to Punta Arenas, but as living and working conditions on the island improved in the following century, that migration began to gradually decrease.

In the 19th century it was a supply center for foreign whalers, especially French ones. Until the beginning of the 20th century, Chiloé was the main producer of railway sleepers in the entire continent. From then on, new towns began to form to dedicate themselves to the industry, thus Quellón, Dalcahue, Chonchi and Quemchi were born. Since 1895, lands were handed over to European colonists and also to large producing industries.

With the rise of cattle farming, the interior area of the islands began to be occupied, since before only the coasts were occupied. With the construction of the railway between Ancud and Castro in 1912, the occupation of the interior lands of the island was completed. This railway is now out of service.

At the end of the XX century, Chiloé followed the model imposed throughout Chile and experienced changes in its way of life. The new aquaculture companies, such as salmon farms, brought benefits for the Chilotes, such as job creation, but also problems, such as the alteration of ecosystems.

In 1972, a law was enacted for the first time in reference to the project to build a bridge that would link the Isla Grande with the mainland, an idea promoted by the then deputy for the area, Félix Garay. The idea of The construction of this viaduct would only begin to materialize during the government of Ricardo Lagos, who launched the project as part of the works to celebrate the Bicentennial of the country. However, during 2006, the Bicentennial Bridge project was canceled after the estimated cost far exceeded the initial budget. The bridge project is currently underway.

Cities

Shutter after crossing the Chacao channel.

The main cities and towns are:

• Castro: 33,417 inhabitants. Founded in 1567 it is the most populous city of the island, and the capital of the province of Chiloé since 1982.

• Ancud: 28,662 inhabitants. Founded in 1767, it was the capital of the province of Chiloé until 1982; and it is the second most important city on the island. There is the Regional Museum of Ancud, which preserves historical objects, crafts and representations of mythological beings.

• Quellion: 17.562 inhabitants, is the third largest city in Chiloé. The city was founded in 1906 by a distillatory company that fell in 1952. His original name was Llauquil.

• Achao: 3,196 inhabitants, it has the oldest church in Chile, Santa Maria de Loreto Church and next to Quinchao, are the only remaining of those that built the Jesuits in the time of the Colony.

• Dalcahue7,120 inhabitants. Famous for its handicraft fair on Sunday mornings. There you can buy fabrics and baskets from the neighboring localities. It is an obligatory step to cross the island of Quinchao.

• Chonchi5,632 inhabitants. Founded in 1754, it is known as the "city of the three floors", it is characterized by its constructions in ciprés.

• Queilen: 2,306 inhabitants, is a port settled on a long peninsula. The Jesuits settled in Queilen in the 18th century, but the village could only emerge at the end of the century.XIX. It is almost half an hour from Chonchi.

• Quemchi: 2,492 inhabitants. It is a cradle of one of the most important writers in Chile, Francisco Coloane.

• Cure of Velez

• Puck