Cauquenes


Cauquenes, a city and commune in Chile, is the capital of the Cauquenes 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 the Promaucaes, known as the Cauqui by the Inca or cauquenes by the Spanish and that gave their name to Cauquenes River. They lived to the south of the Maule River and north of the Itata 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 the Promaucae cacique Ascensio Galdámez and his wife Micaela de Araya donated to the Kingdom of Spain. Cauquenes' founder was the then Governor of the Kingdom of Chile, José Antonio Manso de Velasco. The name of the city changed with time. With the law of 20 August 1826, which created the Maule Province, it became called "Villa de Cauquenes", and finally on 22 December of that year, it acquired the title of "Cauquenes".
Cauquenes is a toponym from the term "cauque", a salmonid species extinct today that inhabited the rivers of the area.

27 February 2010 earthquake

Cauquenes was damaged by the 8.8 magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami. Restoring power in the city in the immediate aftermath was impossible because of damage from the tsunami.

Demography

According to the 2024 census of the National Statistics Institute, Cauquenes spans an area of and has 42,798 inhabitants. Of these, 33.114 lived in urban areas and 7,327 in rural areas. Between the 2017 and 2024 censuses, the population grew by 5.8%.
Other localities in the commune of Cauquenes include the following:
  • Sauzal, pop: 521
  • Quella, pop: 346
  • Santa Sofía, pop: 612

    Geography

  • Altitude:
  • Latitude: 35° 58' S
  • Longitude: 072° 21' W

    Administration

As a commune, Cauquenes is a third-level administrative division of Chile administered by a municipal council, headed by an alcalde who is directly elected every four years. The 2024-2028 alcalde is Jorge Eduardo Muñoz Saavedra.The municipal council has the following members:
  • Matías Ceballos Pradenas
  • Nelson Rodríguez Gallardo
  • Ignacio Rodríguez Villablanca
  • Matías Castro Valdés
  • Grace Meza Cancino
  • Alvaro Apablaza Apablaza
Within the electoral divisions of Chile, Cauquenes is represented in the Chamber of Deputies by Jaime Naranjo, Paula Labra, Consuelo Veloso and Gustavo Benavente as part of the 18th electoral district. The commune is represented in the Senate Juan Castro Prieto, Juan Antonio Coloma, Rodrigo Galilea Vial, Ximena Rincón Gonzaléz and Paulina Vodanovic Rojas as part of the 9th senatorial constituency.

Climate