Talcahuano

About Talcahuano

Talcahuanowano]) (From Mapudungun Tralkawenu, "Thundering Sky") is a port city and commune in the Biobío Region of Chile. It is part of the Greater Concepción conurbation. Talcahuano is located in the south of the Central Zone of Chile.

Together with ten other municipalities, it forms part of the Concepción Province, which in turn is one of four provinces that forms the VIII Region of Biobío Region.

According to the 2002 census of the National Statistics Institute, Talcahuano spans an area of 145.8 km2 (56 sq mi) and has 250,348 inhabitants (121,778 men and 128,570 women). Of these, 248,964 (99.4%) lived in urban areas and 1,384 (0.6%) in rural areas. The population grew by 59.9% (93,766 persons) between the 1992 and 2002 censuses. With a population density of 1,873 inhabitants per square kilometre, it is the seventh most populated city of the country.

The official foundation date of Talcahuano is 5 November 1764 when Antonio de Guill y Gonzaga declared it an official port. However, the site of Talcahuano began to appear in history books as early as 1544 when Genoese captain Juan Bautista Pastene discovered...

Overview adapted from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA. Photography via Wikimedia Commons.