Porvenir is the capital of both the homonymous commune and the

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 ...

an Province of Tierra del Fuego of the

Magallanes y la Antártica Chilena Region Magallanes may refer to: * Ferdinand Magellan (1480–1521), Portuguese explorer who led part of the first expedition around the world * Strait of Magellan, the strait between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, located in Chile Places * Magallanes ...

. It is one of Chile's southernmost

towns A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an or ...

, and has 4,734 inhabitants, including several thousand soldiers. It is the largest settlement in the Chilean half of the island of

Tierra del Fuego Tierra del Fuego (, ; Spanish for "Land of the Fire", rarely also Fireland in English) is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The archipelago consists of the main island, Isla ...

. Porvenir (

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

for "hereafter" – literally "yet to come") was founded in 1883 by immigrants from

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = " Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capi ...

and Chiloé in connection to the gold mining that preceded the larger

Tierra del Fuego gold rush Between 1883 and 1906 Tierra del Fuego experienced a gold rush attracting many Chileans, Argentines and Europeans to the archipelago, including many Dalmatians. The gold rush led to the formation of the first towns in the archipelago and fuele ...

that started in 1884. The main sources of income are sheep farming and small-scale fishing (wrecks in Porvenir bay prevent larger vessels from mooring). In addition there is a regiment of the

Chilean army The Chilean Army ( es, Ejército de Chile) is the land arm of the Military of Chile. This 80,000-person army (9,200 of which are conscripts) is organized into six divisions, a special operations brigade and an air brigade. In recent years, and ...

and a high-security prison. An

abattoir A slaughterhouse, also called abattoir (), is a facility where animals are slaughtered to provide food. Slaughterhouses supply meat, which then becomes the responsibility of a packaging facility. Slaughterhouses that produce meat that is no ...

operates for only short periods of the year. Some gold deposits remain and are commercially mined. Porvenir also gives access to

Cerro Sombrero Cerro Sombrero (Spanish for "Hat Hill") is a village ( es, aldea) in southern Chile. It is located in the Primavera commune in the Magallanes Region, in the northern part of Tierra del Fuego, about 125 km from Porvenir. According to the 2 ...

, an oil town, north-east of Porvenir.

Demographics

According to the 2002

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses inc ...

of the National Statistics Institute, Porvenir spans an area of and has 5,465 inhabitants (3,307 men and 2,158 women). Of these, 4,734 (86.6%) lived in

urban area An urban area, built-up area or urban agglomeration is a human settlement with a high population density and infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas are created through urbanization and are categorized by urban morphology as cities ...

s and 731 (13.4%) in

rural area In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are descr ...

s. The population grew by 7.1% (361 persons) between the 1992 and 2002 censuses.

Administration

As a commune, Porvenir is a third-level

administrative division of Chile The administrative division or territorial organization of Chile exemplifies characteristics of a unitary state. State administration is functionally and geographically decentralized, as appropriate for each authority in accordance with the law. ...

administered by a

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...

, headed by an

alcalde Alcalde (; ) is the traditional Spanish municipal magistrate, who had both judicial and administrative functions. An ''alcalde'' was, in the absence of a corregidor, the presiding officer of the Castilian '' cabildo'' (the municipal council) ...

who is directly elected every four years. The 2016-2020 alcaldesa is Marisol Andrade Cárdenas . Within the

electoral divisions of Chile Chile has two distinct electoral division systems: * To elect members of the Chamber of Deputies and of the Senate, Chile is divided into several electoral divisions, namely electoral districts and senatorial constituencies. * To elect members of t ...

, Porvenir is represented in the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon R ...

by Juan Morano ( PDC) and

Gabriel Boric Gabriel Boric Font (; born 11 February 1986) is a Chilean left-wing politician who is the 37th and current president of Chile, serving since 11 March 2022. Boric studied in the Faculty of Law at the University of Chile, and was the president o ...

( Ind.) as part of the 60th electoral district, which includes the entire

. The commune is represented in the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

by Carlos Bianchi Chelech (Ind.) and Carolina Goic ( PDC) as part of the 19th senatorial constituency (Magallanes y la Antártica Chilena Region).

Tourism

Though tourism is expanding, most tourists pass Porvenir by, or use it simply as a stopover on their way farther south. There are several hotels, cyber-cafes, restaurants, and one gas station. A small grocery store is located near the Chilean army base on the upper level of the town, and there are several small stores and supermarkets elsewhere in town. Access is by ferry or by air from

Punta Arenas Punta Arenas (; historically Sandy Point in English) is the capital city of Chile's southernmost region, Magallanes and Antarctica Chilena. The city was officially renamed as Magallanes in 1927, but in 1938 it was changed back to "Punta Are ...

or by road from the Argentine side of the island. All ferries across the

Straits of Magellan The Strait of Magellan (), also called the Straits of Magellan, is a navigable sea route in southern Chile separating mainland South America to the north and Tierra del Fuego to the south. The strait is considered the most important natural pas ...

are run by Austral Broom, a Chilean company. One service runs once daily except Mondays from the port near Punta Arenas and reaches the ferry terminal about 3 km from the town of Porvenir. The other service is at the northern end of the island running from Punta Delgada to Bahia Azul. It is possible to reach the south of Chilean Tierra del Fuego from Porvenir. The southern region has several lakes and rivers available for fishing.

Climate

The climate in Porvenir is a subpolar variety ( Köppen: ''Cfc'') of the

oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ...

. Temperatures in the warmest months, January and February average 10 °C while temperatures in the coolest month average 2 °C. Precipitation is low at around 376 millimetres. Also, due to its latitude, the length of the day varies tremendously across the year. Winter days can have as few as seven hours of sunlight, while summer days stretch to twenty hours. Frost occurs throughout the year, and winter temperatures can remain below freezing for relatively long periods of time. Freak snowfalls can occur even in midsummer. The highest temperature was in February 2019

Gallery

File:PorvenirMonumentImmigrants.jpg, Monumento a los Inmigrantes. File:PorvenirMonumentPlazaArmas.jpg, Monumento en la Plaza de Armas. File:PorvenirParqueYugoslavo.jpg, Parque Croata. File:PorvenirSanFranciscoDeSales.jpg, San Francisco De Sales Church File:Porvenir Hafen.jpg, Porvenir.

References

External links

{{Communes in Magallanes Region Cities and towns in Tierra del Fuego Communes of Chile Ports and harbours of Chile Capitals of Chilean provinces Populated places established in 1883 Populated places in Tierra del Fuego Province, Chile Populated places in the Strait of Magellan