Palena Province

The province of Palena is a province of Chile, located in the extreme southeast of the Los Lagos Region. It has an area of 15,301.9 km² and a population of 18,349 according to the 2017 census. The province covers the territory known during the 20th century as «Continental Chiloé», due to its belonging to the insular province of Chiloé until 1979.

It is the largest province in the Los Lagos Region, as well as the least populated. It is also the northernmost territory of Chilean Patagonia.

The provincial capital is the city of Chaitén, since the province was created in 1979. Due to the eruption of the homonymous volcano and the evacuation of said town, since May 9, 2008 the provincial institutions functioned temporarily in the town of Palena, during 2009 in Futaleufú, but finally in December 2010 the government decided to keep Chaitén as the provincial capital.

Toponymy

Traditionally, the name "Palena" has been attributed to the Jesuit Nicolás Mascardi, who would have named Lake Palena that way in memory of the Italian Palena. However, more recent investigations rule out this origin, and point to two hypotheses: that the name would come from the "Río de la Ballena", a watercourse that appears in the colonial cartography of the area and that over time would have changed its name current, or would have a Mapuche origin, without actually establishing which of the two versions would be the most probable.

Communes

The province is made up of four communes:

Commune	Shield	Population (2017)	Map
Chaitén		5 071 hectares.
Futaleuf		2 623 hab.
Hualaihué		8 944.
Palena		1 711.

The communes of Chaitén and Hualaihué are the largest and together represent 75% of the provincial territory, characterized by an extensive coastline facing the inland sea to the west. The communes of Futaleufú and Palena, meanwhile, are Mediterranean and are located in the upper parts of the Andes mountain range; This condition gives them special climatic and ecological characteristics that significantly differentiate them from the territories of the other communes.

Economy

In 2018, the number of companies registered in the province of Palena was 267. The Economic Complexity Index (ECI) in the same year was -1.05, while the economic activities with the highest Comparative Advantage index Revealed (RCA) were Medium Stores for Food Sales, Supermarkets and Minimarkets (120.86), Aquaculture Services, except Professional Services and Extraction (29.8) and Beekeeping (23.59).

Geography

View of the Southern Highway to the south, in the sector of El Amarillo.

In relation to the climate, it is possible to notice two different types: one of them characteristic of the coastal zone with moderate to low temperatures, without great variations, due to the marine influence with an average of 3500 mm. annual that is registered in the communes of Chaitén and Hualaihué; the other is the climate of the highlands with more intense thermal variations, high summer temperatures and rainfall that reaches 2000 mm per year and that characterizes the communes of Futaleufú and Palena.

Hydrological resources, with great potential for use, constitute one of the characteristics of the province. The watercourses, of snowy origin, form vast hydrological systems along their routes that include estuaries, lakes, lagoons and main rivers. The Palena River stands out in the south of the province (which rises in Argentina and ends in the Aysén Region), the Futaleufú River (which also rises on the other side of the border), the Vodudahue River, the Corcovado River and the Yelcho River., among others.

Of the innumerable lakes, the main ones are Yelcho, the largest in the province, Palena, Espolón and Trébol.

National parks and protected areas

• Hornopirén National Park
• Corcovado National Park
• Pumalín National Park
• Lago Palena National Reserve
• Futaleufú National Reserve

History

Administrative developments in the Province of Palena.

The province has as its predecessor the department of Palena of the former province of Chiloé, a territory that was traditionally known as "continental Chiloé". The department was formed by the communes of Chaitén, Futaleufú, Palena and Corcovado. When the new province was formed, the commune of Hualaihué was created and added, whose territory previously belonged to the province of Llanquihue, and the commune of Corcovado was suppressed.

Authorities

Provincial Governor (1990-2021)

Logo of the Governorate of Palena until 2021.

Provincial Presidential Delegate (2021-present)

Logo of the Provincial Presidential Delegation of Palena since 2021.

New position that replaces the figure of Provincial Governor.