Concepción (Spanish pronunciation:[konseβˈsjon]ⓘ; originally:Concepción de la Madre Santísima de la Luz, "Conception of the Blessed Mother of Light") is a city andcommune in south-centralChile, and the geographical and demographic core of theGreater Concepciónmetropolitan area, it is the second largest city in Chile by urban area and one of the three major conurbations in the country.[4] It has a significant impact on domestic trade[5] being part of the most heavily industrialized region in the country.[6] It is the seat of theConcepción Province and the capital of theBiobío Region. It sits about 500 km south of the nation's capital,Santiago.
The city was first settled in theBay of Concepción, in the zone that would later become the commune ofPenco, now part of theConcepción conurbation. The city's demonym,penquista, comes from the place of its original foundation. The city center and historic district is located in theValle de la Mocha (La Mocha Valley), where it relocated after serious damage left byan earthquake in 1751.
The origin of Concepción dates back to 1550, when it was founded by Pedro de Valdivia as part of theSpanish Empire, under the name ofConcepción de María Purísima del Nuevo Extremo, and was the capital of theKingdom of Chile between 1565 and 1573, retaining the unofficial position of military capital[7] for the rest of thecolonial period. The city was an important site in thestruggle for Chile's independence, with the Chilean declaration of Independence being held at Concepción'sPlaza de la Independencia. Until the election ofManuel Montt in 1851 as president, executive power in independent Chile was dominated by Concepción elites.[8]
Concepción was founded by DonPedro de Valdivia[11] in 1550 north of theBío Bío River, at the site which is today known asPenco. At that time it was given the nameConcepción de María Purísima del Nuevo Extremo (Mary Immaculate Conception of the New End). The new settlement of Concepción was just a few kilometers north ofLa Frontera (The Frontier), the boundary between Spanish territory and the land of theMapuche, an American Indian ethnic group that remained independent until the 1870s. The settlement was formally recognized by the Spanish authorities as a town two years later by a royal decree. It was given a coat-of-arms that is still in use today.
At the time of the Spanish arrival to the Concepción area chroniclerJerónimo de Vivar noted local Mapuches wore gold and silverbracelets and "sort of crowns". This is interpreted either asIncan gifts, war spoils from defeated Incas, or the adoption of Incanmetallurgy.[12]
Although Concepción was a significant military settlement for theCaptaincy General of Chile, it was overrun and destroyed byMapuche armies in 1554, and once again after being refounded in 1555. Concepción was restored during the governorship ofGarcía Hurtado de Mendoza when he landed there and built a fort on the Alto de Pinto in 1557. The town was refounded once more on January 6, 1558, by captain Jerónimo de Villegas. It became the headquarters of the military forces engaged against theMapuche inLa Araucanía over the next two centuries, growing to a population of 10,000 despite asiege in 1564 and other attacks by the Mapuche. Concepción was the home of theReal Audiencia from 1565 to 1575.
Earthquakes andtsunamis, which razed the town in1570, 1657, 1687, 1730 and 1751, led the authorities to move the town to its current site in theValle de la Mocha, alongside theBío Bío River; the old site lay empty until March 29, 1842, when the present town ofPenco was founded.
When the First National Government Board met inSantiago on September 18, 1810, citizens of Concepción joined up. Concepción was used as the point of entry by the Spanish Army in the attempt by theViceroyalty of Peru to re-conquer Chile. Concepción politicians and soldiers became a significant political force in the newly independent country.
On January 1, 1818, Ambrose O'Higgins's son,Bernardo O'Higgins, proclaimed and took the oath of theChilean War of Independence in the main square of Concepción, which since then has been known as "Plaza de la Independencia". Until the moment of independence, the city had been the scene ofvarious engagements in its old and new settlements.
On February 20, 1835, the town again was largely destroyed byan earthquake and had to be rebuilt.
By 1875, a key British community and German colony existed within the province. By 1895, there was an even larger Spanish presence.[13]
TheUniversidad de Concepción, founded in 1919, became the first secular private university in Chile. The neighboring harbor of Talcahuano is the site of the largest naval base in Chile.
On February 27, 2010, an8.8 magnitude earthquake struck the city of Concepción, killing more than 521 people and injuring thousands nationwide. Following the earthquake, geologists relying on global positioning satellite (GPS) data concluded that the city had been displaced roughly 3 meters (9.8 feet) to the west as a result of the event.[14] The tsunami that followed missed the city.[15]
After the2010 Chile earthquake, aprison riot began in Concepción'sEl Manzano prison following a failed escape attempt by the inmates. Different parts of the prison were set on fire and the riot was controlled only after the guards shot into the air and received help from military units.[16] As of March 5, 2010, a Peruvian field hospital has been deployed to the city.[17]
On February 27, 2010,a magnitude 8.8 earthquake struck at 35.846°S, 72.719°W, 115 km (71 mi) NNE of the city. The United States Geological Survey said the earthquake struck at 0334 GMT on Saturday at a depth of 35 km (22 mi). The effects were felt as far away asSão Paulo, Brazil—4,620 kilometres (2,870 mi) away.[citation needed]
Concepción is known as "the university city"[19][20] thanks to the numerous universities within the urban agglomeration,[21] such as theUniversidad de Concepción,Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción andUniversidad del Biobío. This city also has numerous headquarters for many other universities. In addition, this metropolis has a large educational offer, focused on institutes, centers of technical formation and the universities aforementioned.
The University Pencopolitana whose name wasPontificia Universidad Pencopolitana de La Concepción (Pontifical Pencopolitana University of The Conception) was an old university founded through a decree of the Bishop of Concepción, delivered to the administration of theSociety of Jesus which functioned between the years 1724 and 1767. On May 24, 1751, anearthquake followed by atsunami, ravaged the city causing serious damage, including the destruction of the library of the university and all of its funds. As a product of the fury of the waters, a rich collection of texts of the governance of southern Chile were lost, which resulted in a disaster for the culture and collective memory of the city. Due to the natural disasters, it was decided to relocate the city to the calledValle de la Mocha, location where it is currently situated. Slowly the seminary was revived in the new location, in a period of decline in academic activity in Chilean monastic universities after the creation of theUniversidad de San Felipe, yet some degrees continued to be granted before theSuppression of the Society of Jesus in 1767.The aforementioned University is considered to be the natural and legitimate predecessor of theUniversidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción (UCSC), erected by the Archbishop of Concepción in 1991, from theTalcahuano Regional Headquarters of thePontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.
The image of the Pontifical University of Concepción Pencopolitana, is still valid, for His MajestyKing Juan Carlos I of Spain in his 1990 speech on the occasion of his inauguration as Doctor Honoris Causa in theUniversity of Chile, in Santiago de Chile, said: "The work of the Pontifical University Pencopolitana should not be ignored, even before the creation of the University of San Felipe" (Juan Carlos's account fails to acknowledge the existence of San Felipe's predecessor, the Dominican Universidad de Santo Tomás de Aquino, from the sixteenth century in Santiago).
Meanwhile, the University of Chile allowed schools in the city to teach courses in law which allowed men to obtain a law degree. Among its students was Henry Urrutia Manzano, who decades later became president of the Supreme Court of Chile.
Eventually, the university began to receive state support, becoming part of thetraditional universities, becoming one of the three most important universities in the country, and the most important at the regional level.
This sectionneeds expansion. You can help byadding to it.(April 2015)
The city has a French international school, theLycée Français Charles de Gaulle and a German school, the Colegio Alemán de Concepción, and two British schools, the Saint John's School and the Wessex School. The French school is located in the city downtown, the Wessex in Concepcion (nearer to Penco) and the German school and the Saint John's both in the San Pedro de la Paz area.[22]
The city is served byCarriel Sur International Airport in Talcahuano. The metro area's public transportation comprises a number of bus lines that run through several avenues and streets of the communes belonging to the agglomeration, as well as thecommuter rail system known asBiotrén.
The climate of Concepción is classified asKöppen:Csb,warm summer mediterranean, with a dry mild summer. The cool waters of the Pacific Ocean help to maintain mild temperatures throughout the year. Temperatures rarely exceed 30 °C (86 °F) or fall below 0 °C (32.0 °F). In the six-month period between May and October, the city receives approximately 83% of its total annual precipitation, which totals 1,130 mm (44 in). The wettest month since records began in 1912 was June 2000 with 565.7 millimetres (22.3 in), whilst all months from November to April have been rainless on occasions.[25]
As might be expected for such a large urban area heavily dependent on wood-burning for heat and diesel for transport, the air in Concepción is third-most polluted in Chile, after Santiago andTemuco.[30]
According to data collected in 2002 in the Census of theNational Institute of Statistics, the township has an area of 221.6 km2 (86 sq mi) and a population of 216,061 inhabitants, of whom 103,860 are men and 112,201 are women.
As a commune, Concepcion is home to 14.35% of the total population of the region. 1.88% (4,058 persons) is for the rural population and 98.12% (212,003) for the urban population. Moreover, 5.5% of the country's population lives in the Greater Concepción metro area.
Between 1970 and 1982 there is a large increase in the population. One reason is the inclusion ofSan Pedro, segregated from the municipality ofCoronel.
The Concepción commune population sharply declined in 1996 as its territory was divided, creatingChiguayante andSan Pedro de la Paz. The number of people living in these communes has grown quickly since they have becomebedroom communities ofConcepción, i.e. residential cities that do not have a center with many shops, as is the case of Concepcion.
There is a significant percentage of foreign residents in the city, the most numerous are the Spanish, Italian and US expatriate communities. There are also smaller segments of German, French, British,Dutch,Greek,Portuguese,Croatian, Scandinavian,Arab and Australian descendants in a city settled by waves of immigration.
Fireworks in celebration for the arrival of 2007 in Concepción
To an outsider, there may be confusion between thedemonyms of the inhabitants of Concepción and the nearby city of Penco. Due to the previous location of Concepción being where Penco currently stands, inhabitants of Concepción are calledpenquistas while inhabitants of Penco are known aspencones. Additionally, the unofficial termpencopolitano has been coined to refer to locals of any commune belonging to themetropolis or, in a wider definition, to theConcepción province, although the term penquista can technically be used in this case as well.
Rock en Conce festival, 2020.
In 2014, theRock en Conce festival began to take shape. It would be held outdoors, in the city'sParque Bicentenario (Bicentennial Park), and access to it would be free. The aim of the festival would be to restore the musical spotlight that the city embodied and that earned it the reputation of being thecradle of Chilean rock and, at the same time, to establish itself as a major tourist attraction for the city.[34] Its first edition took place on Saturday, March 7, 2015, and since then it has been held with great success every year at the end of each summer, bringing together emerging local bands with major and renowned artists from the national and international scene.[35]
TheLos Tres band was born in the city of Concepción
Concepción has been described as the "Chilean capital of rock",[36][37] since numerous bands of thisgenre have started their careers in the city, such asLos Tres,Los Bunkers, Emociones Clandestinas, Santos Dumont,De Saloon, Machuca and Julius Popper, among others. Numerous bands have played their first major concerts in the city, such asLos Prisioneros.[38]
The city's music venues are a main feature of thetourist route,La Ruta de la Música, a project driven by the National Service of Tourism (SERNATUR), where besides the rock scene, the local jazz and folk scenes are also shown.[39]
Concepción is the second commercial nucleus of Chile. In the image, the Concepción Central Market
Historically characterized by a strong manufacturing industry, Concepción has also been a major center for distribution and services and the financial basis of the regional economy.
Trade in the city is concentrated in thePlaza Independencia (Independence Square), the pedestrian streetAlonso de Ercilla y Zúñiga (built in 1981), and along the major avenues. One such avenue is theDiego Barros Arana street which has developed into the commercial center of the city and the region was until 1907 even known as "calle Comercio" ("Commerce Street"). New commercial centers are being developed around the old central station and the new civic district as a part of the Chilean bicentennial (September 18, 2010). A considerable percentage of local trade is taking place in settlements around the city, in communes such asHualpén,Talcahuano andSan Pedro de la Paz, where there are bustling shopping centers, such asMall Plaza del Trébol, and where there is a constant commercial development.
Other commercial spots, related to food, are theVega Monumental andMercado Central de Concepción (Central Market of Concepción) places offering various services and agricultural and livestock products.
The city of Concepción hosts several international relations institutions, such as the Regional Unit of International Affairs (URAI) of theRegional Government of Biobío, responsible for analyzing and managing the region’s bilateral and multilateral relations withLatin America and the rest of the world; the International Relations Commission of the Biobío Regional Council; and the regional office of theGeneral Directorate for Export Promotion (ProChile).
In the area of international relations and migration management, the main actors in Concepción are the regional office of theNational Migration Service, the Migration and International Police Department of theInvestigations Police of Chile, and the Migrant Office of the Municipality of Concepción.[40]
In the field of international relations and higher education, the main actors in Concepción include the Directorate of International Relations[41] and the Center for European Studies (CEE)[42] of theUniversity of Concepción, the General Directorate of Institutional Relations of theUniversity of Bío-Bío,[43] the Directorate of International Relations of the Concepción campus of theUniversity of Development,[44] and both the International Relations Unit of the Directorate of Outreach and Institutional Relations[45] and the Asia-Pacific Studies and Development Center (CEDAP)[46] of theCatholic University of the Most Holy Conception.
Within theelectoral divisions of Chile, Concepción is represented in theChamber of Deputies by Gaston Saavedra (PS), José Miguel Ortiz (PDC), Jaime Toha (PS), Felix Gonzalez (PEV),Enrique Van Rysselberghe (UDI), Sergio Bobadilla (UDI),Francesca Muñoz (RN) and Leonidas Romero (RN), as part of the 21st electoral district (Concepción Province withoutLota). The commune is represented in theSenate by Alejandro Navarro Brain (MAS) and Jacqueline Van Rysselberghe (UDI) as part of the 12th senatorial constituency (Biobío-Costa).
A 23 year oldChilean forestry student namedJorge Matute disappeared mysteriously in a discotheque that was located close to Concepción on 20 November 1999. In February 2004 on a road inSanta Juana, Matute's remains were found and identified.[47]
^"Estadistica Climatologica Tomo II"(PDF) (in Spanish). Dirección General de Aeronáutica Civil. March 2001. pp. 89–161. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on March 3, 2016. RetrievedMarch 17, 2014.
^According to Census 2002, operated by theINE. Note that the population decreased in number due to the areas that by then were no longer part of the commune.
.svg)
![[icon]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aWiki_letter_w_cropped.svg)
.jpg)
