Temuco in Chile

The Gift

Temuco is the capital of the Araucanía Region, Chile. The name comes from the Mapudungun language, meaning "temu water"; "temu" (Blepharocalyx cruckshankii) is a tree used by Mapuches for medicinal purposes. The city is located 670 km south of Santiago. Because it is near lake-based resort centers, it is considered a hub for tourist excursions.

Chilean poetry has deep roots in Temuco. Nobel Poets Gabriela Mistral and Pablo Neruda (Neftali Reyes) both lived in Temuco. Mistral was the principal of an all-girls school where Neruda would visit her and show her his first verses when he was around 15 years old.

Temuco is located in the center-south of Chile, equidistant between the Pacific Ocean and the Andes. Morphologically, the city placement corresponds to Cautín River-originated fluvial land masses that developed in a crushed form between two hills, Ñielol (350m) and Conunhueno (360m).

The city is surrounded by an environment typical to central-southern Chile, consisting mostly of plantations of coniferous forests in the midst of a central prairie of moraines and cones next to the foothills of the Andes. The zone produces many crops and fruits, and has an abundance of forests, particularly alerce, roble and lingue. Despite all this, air quality has deteriorated because burning wood is the primary source of heat for most of the city. Air pollution is generally kept under control by the frequent rain in winter.

Climatologically, Temuco corresponds to Chile's central valley Mediterranean region, with more humid and temperate weather. Through the year, cyclonic and anticyclonic influences alternate, with a short dry summer period (when compared to Santiago or other central valley cities). Its mean annual temperature is 12°C, with highest median during the warmest month of 23.5°C and lowest median during the coldest month of 3.9°C (Ciren-Corfo, 1992). Annual mean rain during 1961-1990 (Dirección Meteorológica de Chile, 1991) was 1.157 mm (Capelli de Steffens et al., 1997).

According to the 2002 census by the National Statistics Institute (INE), Temuco had a communal population of 245,347 (117,071 men and 128,276 women). Of these, 232,528 (94.8%) lived in urban areas and 12,819 (5.2%) in rural areas. The population grew by 24.4% (48,111 persons) between the 1992 and 2002 censuses. The INE projected the 2010 population to be 377,495, which makes it the second largest city south of Santiago (behind Concepción), and the fourth largest in the country. One of the distinctive features of Temuco is the strong presence of the Mapuche culture, who make up 23.05% of the population in the Temuco commune, and numerous German immigrant colonies (9.82%). Temuco proper has a population of 227,086.

The locals are called temuquences. Most inhabitants are of different origins. Temuco has a high percentage being of Basque ancestry other than Castilian and other Spanish nationalities. Thus, one can find indigenous, mainly Mapuche, who account for 13% of the population of Temuco, which makes it the largest city of Chile with an indigenous presence. A small community of other (North) American Indians of Cherokee origin of U.S. American culture said to have arrived in the late 19th century.There is also a large percentage of temuquences that are directly descended from European immigrants, many of the early arrivals during 1883–1901, after the pacification of Araucanía. The main sources are from Switzerland, Spain, France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom and other less numerous in many other parts of Europe such as Holland, Austria, Croatia, Armenia, Greece, Portugal and others arrived after that first migration, especially during the World Wars, the Spanish Civil War (1930s) a large percentage being Aragonese, Asturians, Catalans, Galicians, Navarrese and Basques; reaching a significant number of immigrants from Europe (mainly Germany and Spain).

There are also small communities of Jews (i.e. from Russia, Poland, Macedonia, Hungary, Central and Eastern Europe) and Arabic (Lebanon, Syria and Palestine) peoples, proof of this phenomenon of immigration from Europe and to a lesser extent, Jewish and Arabic are the various clubs, schools, and sections of the city of Temuco. There are East Asian colonies of Chinese, Japanese and Koreans in Temuco, dating back to the end of the Korean War in the 1950s when thousands of Korean refugees settled through U.N. relocation programs to Chile.

In 2010, Temuco was affected by the earthquake on February 27. It was one of the most affected regions of Chile besides Santiago, Concepcion, Valparaiso and others. The earthquake was 8.8 on the Richter scale, had horrible aftershocks, and tsunamis (which didn't affect Temuco due to its not being near the coast). Temuco continues to rebuild from the disaster, and the alpine region hopes to be awarded the 2022 Winter Olympics, though the host city is Santiago or the alternative site, Chillan, with plans for an Olympic ceremony stadium under way.