- align! "center" colspan2 style! "border-bottom:3px solid gray;"| - Founded|| July 3, 1849, - Original Name|| Chanco - Region||Maule Region - Area - Municipality || 530 km² - Population - Municipality - Density || 9,457 Inhabitants 17.84 /km² - Time zone|| Santiago Time Zone, UTC- 4 - Telephone Prefix||73 - Postal code|| 3720000 - Gentilic|| Chanquino - Mayor || Ms. Muriel Munoz (PDC) (2004-2008)

- align"center" colspan! 2 style"border-bottom:3px solid gray;"|Map of Chanco municipality and comuna in the Maule Region.

Chanco (in Mapudungun: "branch of a river") is a Chilean town and commune located in the north-west part of Cauquenes Province, Maule Region.

Geography

Chanco is bordered on the north by Constitucion and Empedrado (both in Talca province); on the south by Pelluhue; on the east by Cauquenes, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean. The area of the municipality is 530 km².

Demography

According to the 2002 INE census the municipality and comuna of Chanco had 9,457 inhabitants of which 4,856 were male and 4,601 were female. The population is predominantly rural (5,445 people living in rural areas and 4,002 living in urban ones); the town of Chanco concentrates the urban population of the comuna. Between 1992 and 2002, the population of the comuna actually fell by .4%, which represents a net loss of 35 people.

History

Chanco was founded on 1889 in an old settlement populated by the indigenous people known as promaucaes. Chanco had began as a seaside settlement. However, in the 19th century the coastal dunes advanced eastward and buried the old village and the surrounding crops. At the beginning of the 20th century, thanks to the efforts of the German botanist and naturalist Federico Albert the town was saved from being buried again, when Albert started a large-scale project by planting an extense forest west to Chanco and relocating the town eastwards. The forest would be declared a national reserve in 1979 and today it constitutes a frequented touristic attraction in the province of Cauquenes.

Traditions and Tourism

Chanco was declared "typical zone" in 1999, due to its neo-colonial style. A very popular annual celebration that takes place every February is a festival honoring the late singer Guadalupe of the Carmen (original name Esmeralda Gonzalez), born in Quilhuine, near Chanco, who was hugely popular in the region and, in general among Chilean peasants in the 'fifties and 'sixties as an interpreter of Mexican music. The festival, a true tribute to popular Mexican music, represents a major regional event.

Local administration

The mayor of Chanco is Ms. Muriel Munoz, of the Christian Democrat Party of Chile (Partido Democrata Cristiano), and the Municipal Council is composed by the following councillors:

Marcelo Waddington Guajardo. Social Democrat Radical Party
Javier Cancino Ibanes. National Renewal
Juan Diaz Letelier. National Renewal
Elizabeth Meza Montecinos. Socialist Party
Gerassimo Moulas Vargas. Independent Democratic Union (UDI)
Augusto Pinochet Reyes. Christian Democrat Party of Chile (Partido Democrata Cristiano)

External links

Aerial view of Chanco (1), Google Maps
Aerial view of Chanco (2), Google Maps
Large dunes between Chanco and Pelluhue
Chanco Municipal Council
Tourist information
Towns-in-Chile
Communes-of-Chile

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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Chanco,_Chile