- Cauquenes
Cauquenes, a city in
Chile , is the capital ofCauquenes Province and is located in the Maule Region.History
According to the historical records of
Alonso de Ercilla , Cauquenes was originally inhabited by an indigenous community of thePromaucaes , known as the Cauqui by the Inca [ Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, Comentarios reales, 2da_VII_20 20 ] or "cauquenes " [ Juan Ignacio Molina, Compendio de la historia civil del reyno de Chile, pg. 9. ] by the Spanish and that gave their name toCauquenes River . They lived to the south of theMaule River and north of theItata River and owned a settlement in the place where the city lies today. The city of Cauquenes was founded on May 9 1742, de "Villa of Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes de José de Manso del Tutuvén", in the land located between the rivers Tutuvén and Cauquenes, that thecacique promaucae Ascensio Galdámez and his wife Micaela de Araya donated to the Spanish kingdom. Cauquenes' founder was the thenGovernor of the Kingdom of ChileJosé Antonio Manso de Velasco . The name of the city changed with time: first it was changed to Villa de Cauquenes and eventually, to Cauquenes.Cauquenes is a toponimic from the term "cauque", a
salmonoid species extinct today, that inhabited the rivers of that area.Demography
The municipality and "comuna" of Cauquenes has an area of 2,126 km² and, according to the
2002 Census of the Chilean National Institute for Statistics, its population is 41,217, of whom 21,125 are female and 20,092 are male. Roughly one quarter of the population lives inrural areas (10,446) while three quarters live in the city of Cauquenes (30,771).Other localities in the municipality of Cauquenes, include the following ones:
*
Sauzal , pop: 521
* Quella, pop: 346
* Santa Sofía, pop: 612Geography
*Altitude: 136 meters
*Latitude: 35º 58' S
*Longitude: 072º 21' WLocal Government
The
governor of Cauquenes Province is Ms. María Angélica Sáez.The mayor of Cauquenes is Mr. Guillermo Badilla (Christian Democrat Party of Chile) and the
municipal council is composed by the followingcouncillor s:* Juan Carlos Soto (Partido Comunista de Chile)
* Juan Carlos Canales (Renovación Nacional)
* Manuel José Vergara (Renovación Nacional)
* César Aravena (Christian Democrat Party of Chile)
* Hernán Valenzuela (Christian Democrat Party of Chile)
* Said Yamal Jiménez (Partido Radical Socialdemócrata)External links
* [http://www.cauquenes.cl/ "Ilustre Municipalidad de Cauquenes", in Spanish]
* [http://www.sinim.gov.cl/ReportNac2003.asp?comuna=07201 "Ficha Comunal de Cauquenes", in Spanish]
* [http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Cauquenes,+Chile&spn=0.095040,0.136333&t=k&hl=en Cauquenes in Google Maps]References
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