Copiapó

Copiapó, city (1990 est. pop. 79,268), capital of Atacama region, N central Chile, on the Copiapó River. An industrial city at the southern edge of the Atacama Desert, Copiapó has industries that ship and process the copper, gold, and silver of the surrounding region. The city was founded in 1540 by Pedro de Valdivia, the Spanish conqueror of Chile. It is connected to Argentina by a highway across the Andes.

Copiapó is the capital of the Atacama Region and of the Province of Copiapó, in Chile. It was founded on December 8, 1744 by the governor José Antonio Manso de Velasco.

Copiapó is located at , near the port city and coastal resort of Caldera, Chile. The population of Copiapó was 9,128 in 1903, 11,617 in 1907 and, as of 2002, there are 129,091 inhabitants. Copiapó lies about 800 km north of Santiago by the Copiapó River, in the valley of the same name. In recent years the river has dried up due to mining and agricultural activity in the region. The town is surrounded by the Atacama Desert and receives little rain (12 mm/year).

Copiapó is in a rich silver and copper mining district. It possesses a bronze statue of Juan Godoy, discoverer of the Chañarcillo silver mines in the XIX Century.

The Copiapó-Caldera railway line, built in 1850, was the second one in South America. The original wooden railway station is now a National Monument.

History

The town was christened San Francisco de la Selva de Copiapó or Saint Francis of the Jungle of Copiapó, due to its lush vegetation. Prior to Spanish occupation, the area was inhabited by the Diaguita people under the rule of the Inca Empire. The earliest archaeological remains of human activity in the Copiapó valley have been dated at ten thousand years BP.

Economy

Copiapó has a diversified and potential economy, but mining is the largest economic activity.,

The Copiapó Basin has a great deal of copper ore, mined by companies such as "Minera Candelaria", which extracts copper near Tierra Amarilla (neighboring commune). This generates a need for transportation, light industry, and services. "Little mining" represents over 30% of the production. The copper obtained by "pirquineros" (miners) goes to the Copper Refinery of Paipote.

Agriculture is the second largest source of income in this area, largely grape production, with olives, tomatoes, avocados and some citrus fruits.

Industry: Copiapó has mainly light industry, and some medium industry such as INACESA plant and Paipote Cooper Refinery.

Commerce is growing in Copiapó, largely old and new small and medium enterprises. Downtown Copiapó activity mirrors Copiapó's progress Some native enterprises have grown rapidly in the last decade as to Albasini and Don Álvaro chain-stores. Free-market policies along with a higher demand and better economic expectations have forced the arrival of big national enterprises such as the supermarkets DECA (1999), JUMBO (2005), and LIDER (2006).

Tourism in Copiapó has not been developed due to a lack of private investment, a large bureaucracy, and poor information for investors.

Attractions of Copiapó are the Mineralogic Museum, Plaza de Armas, Regional Museum of the Matta Family, and the Wooden Railway Station.

Education

Copiapó provides education from kindergarten to high school. Liceo Católico Atacama, Scuola Italiana d'Copiapó, San Lorenzo School and Escuela Técnico-Professional have of the highest PSU scores of the city, .

Other important schools are Liceo Mercedes Fritis McKenney, A-4 High School, Liceo de Música de Copiapó, Colegio El Chañar, Colegio Almenar, Colegio Cervantino, Liceo El Palomar, and Liceo Comercial.

Copiapó also provides college education. The Universidad de Atacama was founded in 1857, and specializes in Mining Engineering but provides training in Law, Education, and Geology. It is a member of the "Council of Rectors" and is considered a Traditional University.

During the last five years, two new private colleges have come to Copiapó, the Universidad del Mar (2004) and the Universidad Santo Tomás (2007), and INACAP, a national-covering technical institute.

Politics

After the return to democracy in 1990, there have been four mayoral elections held in Copiapó. In 1992, Mónica Calcutta (PPD) won the election against 24 candidates. Her ruling was characterized by public expenditure on green areas, parks, and street paving, and public infrastructure such as the new building of the city-hall (1994), the Estadio Techado (1996), and the Technological School (1996). During her term, Calcutta encouraged people to participation. One of these activities was the "Train of History" carried out in 1994 (for the 250 years of Copiapó) and 1995.

Despite all these expenditures, the City-Hall ended-up with no debt for 1996.

In 1996, Calcutta ran for the re-election, but was defeated by the socialist candidate Marcos López (city-councilor (1992–1996)) by a narrow margin of 146 votes. López's term differed substantially from Calcutta's; his first three years as mayor did not see any important public expenditures in visible things. They came out the year before the following election.

The 2000 election had a very confrontational one. López and Calcutta ran for re-election together with 10 other candidates. In spite of surveys that gave a virtual tie between them, López won the election with an overwhelming 50.07% of the votes to 31.52% of his rival.

López's second term in office was characterized for high public expenditures, part of it from the Central Government to improve Chilean infrastructure toward the bicentennial of Independence. These expenditures went towards redesigning the Central Square, Matta Avenue and the City Chamber.

In 2004, Marcos López was elected to another term, defeating the rightist candidate René Aedo (RN) with 50.01% to 40.82% of the votes.

Copiapó UFO sighting

Copiapó was said to be the site of an unidentified flying object sighting in 1864. According to researcher Chris Aubeck, the story first appeared in print in the March 18, 1868 issue of the newspaper El Constituyente, which was itself cited in the journal The Zoologist then in Lo!, a 1931 book by American investigator Charles Fort. Fort's account was the basis of a later account in Anatomy of a Phenomenon (1965) by ufologist Jacques Vallee.

Aubeck reports that the original newspaper article described the object as "an enormous bird."

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