Native name: Isla Mocha | |
|---|---|
 Aerial view of Mocha Island | |
  Mocha Island | |
| Geography | |
| Location | South-central Chile |
| Coordinates | 38°21′54″S73°54′54″W / 38.36500°S 73.91500°W /-38.36500; -73.91500 |
| Area | 48 km2 (19 sq mi) |
| Highest elevation | 300 m (1000 ft) |
| Administration | |
| Region | Bío Bío |
| Province | Arauco |
| Comuna | Lebu |
| Demographics | |
| Population | ~800 |
| Ethnic groups | Chileans,Mapuches |
Mocha Island (Spanish:Isla Mocha[ˈislaˈmotʃa]) is aChilean island located west of the coast ofArauco Province in thePacific Ocean. The island is the location of numerous historicshipwrecks. InMapuche mythology, the souls of dead people travel west to visit this island. The waters off the island are a popular place forrecreational sea fishing.
The island was historically inhabited by an indigenous coastal population ofMapuches known as theLafkenches. The first European to document Mocha wasJuan Bautista Pastene on September 10, 1544, who named itIsla de San Nicolas de Tolentino.
According toJuan Ignacio Molina, the Dutch captainJoris van Spilbergen observed the use ofchilihueques (a South American camelid) by nativeMapuches of Mocha Island asplough animals in 1614.[1]
Mocha Island was regularly visited bypirates andprivateers from theNetherlands andEngland.Francis Drake andOlivier van Noort are known to have used the island as a supply base. When Drake was visiting it during hiscircumnavigation of the globe he was seriously hurt by its Mapuche inhabitants.Richard Hawkins, Drake's cousin, also passed with his ship theDainty. In 1685, theMapuche were transported by GovernorJosé de Garro to areducción on the plain on the right bank of theBio Bio River called the Valley of Mocha that later became the location of the modern city ofConcepción, Chile.
The waters off the island were inhabited bysperm whale, includingMocha Dick, who was depicted by American explorer and authorJeremiah N. Reynolds in his published account, "Mocha Dick: Or The White Whale of the Pacific: A Leaf from a Manuscript Journal" in May, 1839 inThe Knickerbocker magazine in New York.[2] Mocha Dick was one of the inspirations for the fictional whale Moby Dick in the 1851 novelMoby-Dick byHerman Melville.[3]
In December 2007 several human skulls with Polynesian features, such as a pentagonal shape when viewed from behind, were found lying on a shelf in a museum inConcepción. These skulls originated from Mocha Island.[4]
The island is approximately 48 km2 (19 sq mi) in area, with a chain of mountains running north–south.
Geologically, the island is made ofsedimentary rockstratum ofRanquil Formation, a formation whose main outcrops lie in the continent.[5] The island was permanently uplifted as result of the2010 Chile earthquake but this uplift was less than in the adjacent coast whereTirúa had the largest uplift of all the coast.[6] The existence of asplay fault called Tirúa-Mocha Fault may explain the different behaviour of Mocha Island relative to the mainland during this earthquake.[6]
Mocha Island National Reserve covers approximately 45% of the island's surface. ThePacific degu (Octodon pacificus), also known as the Mocha Island degu, a species of rodent in the familyOctodontidae, is endemic to Mocha Island. The island has been designated anImportant Bird Area (IBA) byBirdLife International because it supports significant populations ofpink-footed shearwaters,Peruvian pelicans,red-legged cormorants andelegant terns.[7]
| Climate data for Mocha Island | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 18.2 (64.8) | 18.1 (64.6) | 17.1 (62.8) | 15.7 (60.3) | 14.7 (58.5) | 13.3 (55.9) | 12.9 (55.2) | 12.9 (55.2) | 13.2 (55.8) | 13.9 (57.0) | 15.5 (59.9) | 17.5 (63.5) | 15.3 (59.5) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 15.5 (59.9) | 15.1 (59.2) | 14.6 (58.3) | 13.4 (56.1) | 12.0 (53.6) | 10.7 (51.3) | 10.4 (50.7) | 10.1 (50.2) | 10.3 (50.5) | 11.6 (52.9) | 12.9 (55.2) | 14.6 (58.3) | 12.6 (54.7) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 12.2 (54.0) | 12.0 (53.6) | 11.7 (53.1) | 10.4 (50.7) | 9.1 (48.4) | 7.7 (45.9) | 7.4 (45.3) | 6.9 (44.4) | 7.3 (45.1) | 8.5 (47.3) | 9.7 (49.5) | 11.2 (52.2) | 9.5 (49.1) |
| Averageprecipitation mm (inches) | 33.9 (1.33) | 37.8 (1.49) | 83.3 (3.28) | 129.1 (5.08) | 217.9 (8.58) | 207.2 (8.16) | 203.5 (8.01) | 149.0 (5.87) | 113.6 (4.47) | 55.9 (2.20) | 77.9 (3.07) | 63.8 (2.51) | 1,372.9 (54.05) |
| Averagerelative humidity (%) | 86 | 87 | 88 | 89 | 89 | 89 | 90 | 89 | 89 | 87 | 86 | 85 | 88 |
| Source: Bioclimatografia de Chile[8] | |||||||||||||
Media related toIsla Mocha at Wikimedia Commons
Mocha Island travel guide from Wikivoyage| International | |
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| National | |
