Vitacura (commune)

Sculpture The searchof Hernán Puelma, 2011. Bicentennial Park (Vitacura).

Vitacura (from the Mapudungun fütra-kura 'big stone') is a commune located in the northeastern sector of the city of Santiago, capital From Chile. It has around 85,400 inhabitants and has an area of 28.3 km² and is bordered to the south by the commune of Las Condes, to the west by Recoleta and Providencia, to the north-west by Huechuraba and to the north-east by Lo Barnechea.

Vitacura is inhabited mainly by high and medium-high income families. It is also the commune with the greatest human development in Chile.^{[citation required]}

History

Prehistory

Human occupation in the area appears after the last ice age, in relation to the early agro-pottery period.

On the land that today houses the newspaper El Mercurio —on Avenida Santa María— in 1943, a pre-Hispanic cemetery was found, with 36 bodies between 1,500 and 2,000 years old. Those bodies belonged to a group known, in the world of archeology, as "Llolleo". They were people who lived from agriculture, on a small scale, from gathering vegetables", on the banks of the Mapocho. In the "Jardín del Este" area, a large number of ceramic remains corresponding to human settlements, prior to the arrival of the Spanish, were also found.

Spanish conquest

Expulsion of the huaicoches

When creating Santiago, Pedro de Valdivia carried out the first act of expropriation of the lonco Huara Huara, carried out in 1541 for the foundation of Santiago, which was accompanied by the dispossession of the Huaicoche Indians (from Quechua wayqu "quebrada" and Mapudungún che "gente", that is, "people from the place of huaicos or people from the ravines") who had their possessions in the lands located on the banks of the Mapocho river, which began to be called La Dehesa del Rey in its upper part and Vitacura in its lower part. After the eviction, the huaicoches were taken to Tango, then transferred to Peñalolén and finally attached to the Indian town of Apoquindo.

Lonco Butacura (Vitacura)

In the sector of the Mapocho river to the east, up to the slopes of the mountain range, there were several independent indigenous settlements, each governed by a cacique. In fact, the names of the communes, avenues and streets have been preserved since then. The Lonco Vitacura or Butacura, was the main one of the region located in the vicinity of the San Luis hill on the banks of the Mapocho. The subordinate caciques who had their lof close to the place and even on the north bank of the Mapocho River were: Polobanda, Pujalongo, Perimalongo, Tongui, Catalonde, Longopilla, Trinquimanquí and Gualtilina depended on the latter.

The village of Butacura or Vitacura was a mitimae, a mitimae was an Inca colony (mitmac in Quechua means “to spread”) made up of groups of families sent by the Inca empire for administrative, economic, political or military purposes. Vitacura was the chief or "curaca" of this colony, and his function was to collect the gold produced in the region to take it to Peru as tribute or taxes that the indigenous people of the area had to pay. This function was only carried out until the arrival of Diego de Almagro in Chile (1535-1536) since the Spaniard intercepted one of the shipments made up of 14 arrobas of gold yews equivalent to 161 kilos of gold. Due to this, Vitacura was forced to suspend these shipments in the following years and took the precaution of hiding the gold collected, approximately 800 kg of gold, burying them somewhere in his extensive fiefdoms, an action that was later possibly the cause of his death.

Pyramid Channel

Vitacura was a friend and collaborator of Pedro de Valdivia. He was also a great entrepreneur who did several works. His most recognized work is a Conchalí irrigation canal, which was the irrigation line that he had laid from the Mapocho River to Conchalí and Chimba, thus incorporating this rich area into agriculture. The channel can still be seen in the La Pirámide sector. The path that started from the Camino de Las Minas (Providencia-Las Condes) was very busy towards the lands that he governed and that now bear his name.

The sector of Huechuraba, Quilicura and Conchalí was relegated to the “mother aquacy of Guachuraba”, of pre-Hispanic origin, according to documents from the years 1545 and 1546. This channel went through the Inca road in a place where a few walls were mentioned, which could allude to a construction of incay times, even though they are not said to be old.

Rubén Stehberg and Gonzalo Sotomayor.

Vitacura lived in peace with the Spanish for several years until he was assassinated. His men were transferred to Quillota, leaving the village of Cerro San Luis (currently Luz street 3040) uninhabited.A great legend about Vitacura is the burial of 300 kg of gold in the commune.

Quirogualguen

Later, this area would be governed by Lonco Quirogualguen in 1552.

This area from the Aconcagua river to the Mataquito river, was a Butalmapu. It is Pineda y Bascuñán who, after being captive among the Mapuches, manages to learn the concept of Fütalmapu or Uutanmapus and names it for the first time led by the lonco Ñizol Michimalonco, judging by what was stated by Mariño de Lobera, when referring to the Peace Parliament of Santiago, held in 1541, which brought together the loncos from the Aconcagua valley to the Mataquito river under the command of a main lonco.

Inés de Suárez

In 1544, the Governor of Chile, Don Pedro de Valdivia, handed over these lands to Doña Inés de Suárez. In the Santiago Valley basin, the first grants were requested on the lands occupied by the Mapuche and immediately adjacent to the indigenous population. In 1546 the first confirmations were requested. Thus, in the sectors known as Apoquindo, Vitacura, Tobalaba, Ñuñoa and Macul, land grants were established in favor of Juan Jufré, companion of Pedro de Valdivia, Francisco de Aguirre, Juan Fernández de Alderete, Francisco de Villagra, Juan de Cuevas, Juan Zurbano, Francisco Raudona and Pedro González from Utrera, who corresponded to Lof and Ayjarewes from Ñuñoa and Macul.

Avenida Américo Vespucio Norte en la comuna de Vitacura.

Gines de Lillo

On August 21, 1603 Ginés de Lillo began his work in the region of Ñuñoa, Apoquindo, Manquehue, Vitacura, Tobalaba, Peñalolén and again Ñuñoa. He then continues his visit along the slopes of the mountain range to Maipo. He then surveyed both sides of the road from Chile to Colina and Aconcagua, Lo Negrete, Renca and Huechuraba.

19th and 20th century

In 1897 the Vitacura neighborhood was created by the owners of the Vitacura farm, Lo Curro and Lo Recabarren, Manuel Goycoolea Espoz and his brother Narcizo Goycoolea Espoz.

The Chilean geographer Luis Risopatrón described it as a 'village' in his book Diccionario Jeográfico de Chile in 1924:

Vitacura (Fundo). 33° 24' 70° 36'. It has 150 hectares of land ir 22 ha of vineyards and is located on the S Marjen of the Mapocho river, about 4 kilometers towards the NE of the city of Santiago; in the channel of that river there has been socavones, in which water is collected, which is led by cañeria to the city.

Foundation of the commune

In the lower left corner the commune of Vitacura is appreciated.

On March 9, 1981, the new commune of Vitacura was established, from a subdivision of the commune of Las Condes, however until 1991 it was part of the communal group managed by the Municipality of Las Condes. By Decree with Force of Law No. 30-18.992 of May 20, 1991, the Municipality of Vitacura was officially established, the same day as Lo Barnechea. On August 12 of the same year, Adolfo Ballas was named its first mayor.

The commune has a flat area and a mountainous area, with the Manquehue hill (Mapudungún manque: 'cóndor' and hue: ' place'; 'place of condors') 1,338 meters high; The Carbon, Manquehue Chico and Alvarado. In addition, there are Loma Espino and La Pirámide hill. At the foot of the hills the Mapocho River runs parallel.

Administration

Municipality

The Illustrious Municipality of Vitacura is directed in the period 2021-2024 by the mayoress Camila Merino Catalán (Evópoli), who is advised by the councilors:

• Maximilian Royal Mihovilovic (RN)
• Felipe Ross Correa (REP)
• Tomás Kast Sommerhoff (Evopoli)
• Paula Domínguez Risopatron (Evopoli)
• Macarena Bezanilla Montes (RN)
• Matías Bascuñán Montaner (UDI)
• Felipe Irarrázaval Ovalle (RN)
• Verónica del Real Cardoen (REP)

Parliamentary representation

Vitacura belongs to Electoral District no.

It is represented in the Chamber of Deputies of the National Congress for the period 2022-2026 by the following deputies:

• Catalina Del Real Mihovilovic (RN).
• Gonzalo de la Carrera Correa (REP).
• Cristián Araya Lerdo de Tejada (REP).
• Guillermo Ramírez Diez (UDI).
• Francisco Undurraga Gazitúa (EVOPOLI).
• Thomas Hirsch Goldschmidt (AH).

In turn, the Senate is represented by Fabiola Campillai from AD, Manuel José Ossandón from RN, Rojo Edwards from REP, Luciano Cruz-Coke from Evópoli and Claudia Pascual from PCCh in the period 2022-2030.

Economy

In 2018, the number of companies registered in Vitacura was 14,963. The Economic Complexity Index (ECI) in the same year was 1.79, while the economic activities with the highest Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) index were Manufacture of Sporting Goods (21.9), Deratization and Non-Agricultural Fumigation (17.11) and Antique Retail Trade (13.47).

Education

It is one of the two campuses on the Santiago Campus of the Federico Santa María Technical University (the other is in the San Joaquín commune).

Vitacura is home to the main campus of the Lycée Antoine-de-Saint-Exupéry de Santiago, (Q), a French school.

Cepal Building

View of the Raúl Prébisch Room at the Cepal Building.

The ECLAC building is located in the commune of Vitacura and was inaugurated on August 29, 1966 by the President of Chile, Eduardo Frei Montalva, and the Secretary General of the United Nations, U Thant. The building is considered a landmark of modern Latin American architecture. Its design was in charge of the influential Chilean architect Emilio Duhart with the collaboration of Christian de Groote, Roberto Goycoolea and Oscar Santelices, inspired by the style of the prominent Swiss architect Le Corbusier.

Transportation

Vitacura together with Las Condes, Providencia and Lo Barnechea formed part of Zone C of Transantiago.

According to the Santiago 2025 Transport Master Plan, Vitacura would be crossed by a new Metro Line, Line 7, which would give it a direct connection to the Santiago Metro for the first time.

Following the public account of then-president Michelle Bachelet in 2017, the new Line 7 of the Santiago Metro was announced, which will link Renca with Vitacura. It is estimated that it will be operational by the year 2027.

Sports

Football

The commune has a soccer club (Estrella de Vitacura) that competes in the Las Condes Soccer Association. Due to the fact that it does not have its own field, the club plays its home games on the field that assign association.

Media

Radio stations

FM

The commune does not have community radio stations.

References and footnotes