Talcahuano is a municipality and port city in the Bio-Bio Region of Chile. A municipality is an administrative entity composed of a clearly defined territory and its population and commonly denotes a City, Town, or Village, or Chile, officially the Republic of Chile ( Spanish:) is a country in South America occupying a long and narrow Coastal strip wedged between the It is part of the Greater Concepción conurbation. Gran Concepción is the second largest Conurbation in Chile, after Greater Santiago with 889725 habitants

Geography

Talcahuano is located in the south of the central zone of Chile. Chile, officially the Republic of Chile ( Spanish:) is a country in South America occupying a long and narrow Coastal strip wedged between the Together with ten other municipalities, it forms part of the Province of Concepción, which in turn is one of four provinces that forms the VIII Region or Bío-Bío Region.

The municipality of Talcahuano has an area of 148. 29 km² and, according to the 2002 Census, has a population of 250,348 inhabitants. With a population density of 1,873 inhabitants per square kilometre, it is the seventh most populated city of the country.

History

The official foundation date of Talcahuano is November 5, 1764 when Antonio Guill y Gonzaga declared an official port. Events 1499 - Publication of the Catholicon in Treguier ( Brittany) Year 1764 ( MDCCLXIV) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a However, Talcahuano began to appear in history books as early as 1544 when Genoese captain Juan Bautista Pastene discovered the mouth of the Bio-Bío river while exploring the coast in his ships “San Pedro” and “Santiaguillo”. Juan Bautista Pastene ( Genua, 1507 – Santiago Chile, 1580 was a Genoese maritime explorer who while in the service of the Spanish

The city is named after an Araucanian chief, Talcahueñu, who inhabited the region at the arrival of the Spanish. In Mapudungun, the language of the indigenous Mapuches, Talcahuano means “Thundering Sky”. Mapudungun (from mapu 'earth land' and dungun 'speak speech' is a Language isolate spoken in central Chile and west central Argentina The Mapuche are the indigenous inhabitants of Central and Southern Chile and Southern Argentina.

The port was well known to American whaleships of the early 19th century. They often put in for fresh water, food, and various forms of entertainment for the crews.

the Huascar, a historically-important ship lying in Talcahuano

Economy

Talcahuano contains Chile's main naval base which is home of the historical relic, the Huascár, a Peruvian ironclad ship (British-made), which was captured in 1879 during the War of the Pacific. History as a warship Huáscar was ordered by the government of Peru from the Laird Brothers shipyards in 1864 for the war against Spain. An ironclad was a steam-propelled Warship of the later 19th century protected by Iron or Steel armor plates Year 1879 ( MDCCCLXXIX) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common The War of the Pacific, sometimes called the Saltpeter War in reference to its original cause was fought between Chile and the joint forces of Bolivia It is also the base of the Chilean submarine fleet and the ASMAR shipyard.

Culture

Sports

Talcahuano entered football history when Ramón Unzaga Asla, a player for the local club Estrella del Mar, invented the famous bicycle kick (also known as "chilena") there in 1914. Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a Team sport played between two teams of eleven players and is widely considered A bicycle kick, chalaca, chilena, overhead kick, or scissors kick is a move in football (soccer which is made by throwing the body

Te city is home to Club Deportivo Huachipato, a football club in Chile's Primera División, playing at Estadio Las Higueras. Club Deportivo Huachipato, is a Chilean football club based in the city of Talcahuano. Estadio Las Higueras is a multi-use Stadium in Talcahuano, Chile.

In Literature

It featured prominently in Miles Smeeton's book Once Is Enough, a sailor's classic. ^[1]

Is mentioned by the character Charlie Marlow in Joseph Conrad's book Lord Jim. Joseph Conrad (born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, 3 December 1857 – 3 August 1924 was a Polish-born English novelist Lord Jim is a novel by Joseph Conrad, originally published in Blackwood's Magazine from October 1899 to November 1900.

External links

• http://www.talcahuano.cl
• Satellite view of Talcahuano (Google Maps)

References