Los Ríos Region

Valdivia is part of Northern Patagonia as its wild virgin forest embrace the Patagonian Cordillera following the river Calle Calle down to the Pacific Ocean. It is known in Patagonia the term " Bosque Valdiviano" referring to the primitive virgin forest found in the cordillera valleys of Valdivia which include dense masses of native trees. These Forest are present in some parts of Northern Patagonia both in Chile and Argentina.

Panguipulli

Futrono

Río Bueno

Lago Ranco

La Unión

Corral

Paillaco

Valdivia

Máfil

Lanco

Mariquina

Los Lagos

Commune government

Demography

In the last census, of 2017, Los Ríos Region (then Valdivia Province) registered a population of 380,181 inhabitants. By this number the region is ranked 10th among

Settlements

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (September 2010)

History

Republic of Chile

In the beginning of the Chilean Republic, Valdivia was one of the original eight provinces established. The reason for the incorporation was not so much the value of Valdivia, per se, but to minimize the threat to Chilean independence posed by Spaniards in the territory. As

In 1974 the military junta reorganized the political divisions of Chile deciding that Valdivia was no longer adequate to be a "first class administrative territory" capital. Hence, it was reclassified into a province within Los Lagos Region and Puerto Montt was designated capital. Valdivians greatly resented this decision because they felt they were better suited to be the capital than Puerto Montt, holding forth the following arguments:

• Valdivia was founded in 1552,
• Valdivia had resisted
  pirate attacks and hostile natives
  ,
• Valdivia had survived several earthquakes,
• Puerto Montt, founded in 1853, three hundred and one years later, was a considerably newer city.

On October 19, 2005 Chilean President Ricardo Lagos signed a bill allowing for the creation of Los Ríos Region ("The Rivers Region"). The bill was approved by Congress on December 19, 2006; it was signed into law on March 16, 2007 and published on April 5, 2007. According to the Roman numeral designation, currently used in Chile, this region is number XIV (fourteenth). However, steps are being taken to no longer refer to the regions by numbers.

Osorno

When the new region was considered by Congress, Osorno made several proposals:

• To make Osorno the new capital
• To make La Unión the capital
• To expand Osorno Province adding to it the comuna of Río Bueno.

It was proposed that Osorno Province join as the third province of the new region, instead of remaining the fourth province of Los Lagos Region, however, in a referendum held in 2006 the residents of that province rejected the idea.

Geography

Los Ríos Region lies in the southern

The Valdivia International Film Festival (FICV) is the most important film event in Chile, one of the most important worldwide and in Latin America. It has been held since 1994, generally during the month of October.^[4]

The Valdivia Book Fair is organized annually by the Municipal Cultural Corporation of the city, with the support of the Government of Los Ríos, in the Saval Park. In this context, several authors born in the Los Ríos Region stand out, such as Maha Vial,^[5] Iván Espinoza Riesco,^[6] José Baroja,^[7] Aldo Astete Cuadra,^[8] Efraín Miranda Cárdenas, to name a few.

The International Sculpture Symposium of Valdivia is cataloged as one of the most important events in Chile and one of the most prestigious in Latin America.^[9]

The Valdivia International Jazz Festival was born in July 2000. Today it is considered the oldest festival in Chile and one of the most important in this musical genre in the Southern Cone.^[10]

See also

• List of Chile-related topics
• Flag of Los Ríos Region
• WikiLosRios
  , a wiki-based web encyclopedia about Los Ríos

Footnotes