Melinka is a

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

an town in

Aysén Province Aysén Province () is one of four provinces of the Chilean region of Aysen (XI). Its capital is Puerto Aysén. Demographics The province had a 2002 population of 23,498 according to the census by the National Statistics Institute. Of these, 1 ...

Aysén Region The Aysén del General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo Region (, , '), often shortened to Aysén Region or Aisén,Examples of name usage1, official regional government site refers to the region as "Región de Aysén"., Chile's official meteorological ...

. It is located on Ascención Island and is the administrative center of the commune of

Guaitecas Guaitecas is Chilean commune located in Guaitecas Archipelago which are part of Aysén Province and Region. The administrative centre is Melinka, the only port and town in the wider Chonos Archipelago. Demographics According to the 2002 census o ...

since 1979. The town is on a small peninsula off the main island, and shelters a small harbor. The island is in the

Guaitecas Archipelago The Guaitecas Archipelago is a sparsely populated archipelago in the Aisén region of Chile. The archipelago is made up of eight main islands and numerous smaller ones. The eight largest islands are from northwest to southeast: Gran Guaiteca, Asc ...

, at the southern end of the

Gulf of Corcovado Gulf of Corcovado () is a large body of water separating the Chiloé Island from the mainland of Chile. Geologically, it is a forearc basin that has been carved out by Quaternary glaciers. Most of the islands of Chiloé Archipelago are located i ...

. Melinka is served by Melinka Airport and is connected by gravel road to the hamlets of Repollal. Melinka is culturally similar to

Chiloé Archipelago The Chiloé Archipelago (, , ) is a group of islands lying off the coast of Chile, in the Los Lagos Region. It is separated from mainland Chile by the Chacao Channel in the north, the Sea of Chiloé in the east and the Gulf of Corcovado in the s ...

but its inhabitants custom to bring dogs on board in their travels is likely rooted in native Chono traditions. In 2017 Melinka had a population of 1329 inhabitants down from 1411 in 2002.

History

Prior to its founding in 1860 the location of Melinka was known as ''Puerto Arenas'' (literally "Port Sand") by whalers who visited the area regularly. Melinka was founded in 1860 by the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

immigrant, Felipe Arnold Westhoff. Westhoff had been commissioned to supply

railway sleeper A railroad tie, crosstie (American English), railway tie (Canadian English) or railway sleeper ( Australian and British English) is a rectangular support for the rails in railroad tracks. Generally laid perpendicular to the rails, ties trans ...

s to

Ferrocarril Central Andino Ferrocarril Central Andino (FCCA) is the consortium which operates the Ferrovías Central railway in Peru, linking the Pacific port of Callao and the capital Lima with Huancayo and Cerro de Pasco. As one of the Trans-Andean Railways it is the s ...

in Peru. At the time the

was still part of

Chiloé Province Chiloé Province () is one of the four provinces in the southern Chilean region of Los Lagos (X). It consists of all of Chiloé Archipelago (including Chiloé Island) with the exception of the Desertores Islands. The province spans a surface ar ...

. In the first years of Melinka a series of indigenous tombs were discovered while building houses. From Melinka Westhoff exported ''

Pilgerodendron uviferum ''Pilgerodendron'' is a genus of conifer belonging to the cypress family Cupressaceae. It has only one species, ''Pilgerodendron uviferum'', which is endemic to the Valdivian temperate rain forests and Magellanic subpolar forests of southern Chil ...

'' () that made excellent wood for sleepers. In 1870 the port was charted by

Enrique Simpson Enrique Simpson Baeza (Valparaíso, 1835–Valparaíso, May 17, 1901) was a Chilean Navy officer and explorer. Simpson mapped the archipelagoes and coast of Aysén Region onboard of the corvette ''Chacabuco'' in the 1870s. Among his feats is the re ...

on board ''

Chacabuco Chacabuco is one of the many abandoned nitrate or "saltpeter" towns ("oficinas salitreras" in Spanish) in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile. Other nitrate towns of the Atacama Desert include Humberstone and Santa Laura Saltpeter Works. Unlik ...

''. The famous pirate

Pedro Ñancúpel Pedro María Ñancúpel Alarcón (c. 1837 – 6 November 1888) was a pirate and outlaw of Huilliche descent active in the archipelagoes of Chiloé, Guaitecas and other places in the fjords and channels of Patagonia in the 1880s, forming part of ...

was captured in Melinka in 1886 and bought into justice in

Ancud Ancud () is a city in southern Chile located in the northernmost part of the island and province of Chiloé, in Los Lagos Region. It is the second largest city of Chiloé Archipelago after Castro. The city was established in 1768 to function as ...

the same year. According to a local tradition the word ''melinka'' comes from

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

and means lovely. In fact, there is the Russian archaic

colloquialism Colloquialism (also called ''colloquial language'', ''colloquial speech'', ''everyday language'', or ''general parlance'') is the linguistic style used for casual and informal communication. It is the most common form of speech in conversation amo ...

''милёнка'' ( transl. ''milyonka'') which means "lovely." Westhoff who came from Lithuania in the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

named Melinka after his sister.

Climate

Melinka has a wet

oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate or maritime climate, is the temperate climate sub-type in Köppen climate classification, Köppen classification represented as ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of co ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

: ''Cfb'').

References

Guaitecas Archipelago Ports and harbours of Chile Populated places in Aysén Province Populated places in the fjords and channels of Chile {{Aisén-geo-stub

History

Climate

See also

References