Bueno River (Spanish: ''Río Bueno'') is a river in southern

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...

. It originates in Ranco Lake and like most of Chile rivers it drains into the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the conti ...

at the southern boundary of the

Valdivian Coastal Reserve Valdivian Coastal Reserve is a natural reserve located in the Cordillera Pelada, in Los Ríos Region of Chile, near Corral. History In 2003, the WWF Chile program, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and other local organizations acquired a nearly 60, ...

. Its lower flow forms the border between Osorno Province and

Ranco Province El Ranco Province ( es, link=no, Provincia del Ranco) is one of two provinces of the southern Chilean region of Los Ríos. It is named after Ranco Lake shared by the communes (''comunas'') of Futrono and Lago Ranco. The lake is drained by the B ...

. Traditionally it marks also the northern boundary of the indigenous

Huilliche The Huilliche , Huiliche or Huilliche-Mapuche are the southern partiality of the Mapuche macroethnic group of Chile. Located in the Zona Sur, they inhabit both Futahuillimapu ("great land of the south") and, as the Cunco subgroup, the north ha ...

territory known as Futahuillimapu. The river passes through Río Bueno commune and city that takes name from the river. The major tributaries of the Bueno River are the

Pilmaiquén River Pilmaiquén River is a river of Chile that makes up part of the border between Los Lagos Region and Los Ríos Region. Its source is Puyehue Lake and flows northwesterly for about 68 km until discharging into Bueno River Bueno River (Spanish ...

and the Rahue River, joining the river from the south. The former is the outlet of

Puyehue Lake Puyehue Lake (), (Mapudungun: ''puye'', "small fish" and ''hue'', "place") is an Andean piedmont lake on the border of Los Lagos Region with Los Ríos Region of Chile. Puyehue is a lake of glacial origin. Several times during the Pleistocene gl ...

and the latter is the outlet of

Rupanco Lake Rupanco Lake is located in Los Lagos Region of Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long an ...

. Starting upstream the following settlements lie along the river: Puerto Nuevo at the source, Río Bueno, Trumao, Llancacura, and La Barra at the outflow in the ocean. The original

name for the river was ''Huenuleufu'', a combination of ''huenu'' "upper" and ''leufü'' "river". ''Río Bueno'' is thus a hybrid word with ''huenu'' being replaced by

phono-semantic matching Phono-semantic matching (PSM) is the incorporation of a word into one language from another, often creating a neologism, where the word's non-native quality is hidden by replacing it with phonetically and semantically similar words or roots fro ...

with the Spanish word ''bueno'' "good". In 1654 Bueno River was the site of the battle of Río Bueno between a Spanish slave-hunting expedition and local Mapuche-Huilliches. This battle ended in clear defeat for the Spanish forces whose

pontoon bridge A pontoon bridge (or ponton bridge), also known as a floating bridge, uses floats or shallow- draft boats to support a continuous deck for pedestrian and vehicle travel. The buoyancy of the supports limits the maximum load that they can carry ...

broke apart causing many casualties. On January 27, 1759, the river was again the site of a Spanish-Huilliche battle. In the years following the battle the Spanish established a Franciscan mission and a

fort A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

next to the river.

References

External links

Rivers of Chile Rivers of Los Ríos Region Rivers of Los Lagos Region {{Chile-river-stub