Andacollo (, from
quechua
Quechua may refer to:
*Quechua people, several Indigenous ethnic groups in South America, especially in Peru
*Quechuan languages, an Indigenous South American language family spoken primarily in the Andes, derived from a common ancestral language ...
a''nta,'' copper, gold; ''coya,'' queen) is a
city
A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...
and
commune in the
Elqui Province
Elqui Province () is a province in the Chilean region of Coquimbo (IV). The provincial capital is the city of Coquimbo.
Geography and demography
According to the 2012 census by the National Statistics Institute (''INE''), the province spans a ...
,
Coquimbo Region,
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 ...
.
It is the central town of a mining district dominated by
medium-scale mining.
There are
gold placers and gold mineralizations within
felsic
In geology, felsic is a grammatical modifier, modifier describing igneous rocks that are relatively rich in elements that form feldspar and quartz.Marshak, Stephen, 2009, ''Essentials of Geology,'' W. W. Norton & Company, 3rd ed. It is contrasted ...
volcanic rock
Volcanic rocks (often shortened to volcanics in scientific contexts) are rocks formed from lava erupted from a volcano. Like all rock types, the concept of volcanic rock is artificial, and in nature volcanic rocks grade into hypabyssal and me ...
in its vacinities.
[ The copper mine Carmen de Andacollo lies next to the town and most of workers live in the town.]
History
Andacollo is a copper
Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...
and gold
Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...
mining city located in the semi-arid mountains of the Norte Chico. It was founded in 1891.
The town was subject to gold rush
A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, ...
in the early 1930s when there was a large inflow of gold miners exploiting local placer deposit
In geology, a placer deposit or placer is an accumulation of valuable minerals formed by gravity separation from a specific source rock during sedimentary processes. The name is from the Spanish language, Spanish word ''placer'', meaning "alluviu ...
s.[
Several legends are told about the name of the city. Some say that it comes from the ]Quechua
Quechua may refer to:
*Quechua people, several Indigenous ethnic groups in South America, especially in Peru
*Quechuan languages, an Indigenous South American language family spoken primarily in the Andes, derived from a common ancestral language ...
''Anta-Goya'' which means cobre-reina (copper queen). Others say that the name means "Hurry up, Collo" (''Anda, Co''llo). According to these legends, ''La Virgen del Rosario'', also known as ''la Virgen Morena'', or Black Madonna
The term ''Black Madonna'' or ''Black Virgin'' tends to refer to statues or paintings in Western Christendom of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Infant Jesus, where both figures are depicted with dark skin. The Jungian scholar, San Begg publ ...
, appeared to an indigenous miner called "Collo" in the form of a small wooden statuette hidden in rocks. The statue told the newly converted Collo to build up a church at the place where Andacollo is located today. As many miracles are attributed to the Dark Lady (like stopping the smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by Variola virus (often called Smallpox virus), which belongs to the genus '' Orthopoxvirus''. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (W ...
epidemic of 1871) the city celebrates the Virgin every year on December 24 to 26.
Demographics
According to the 2002 census
A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...
of the National Statistics Institute, Andacollo had 10,288 inhabitants (5,148 men and 5,140 women). Of these, 9,444 (91.8%) lived in urban area
An urban area is a human settlement with a high population density and an infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas originate through urbanization, and researchers categorize them as cities, towns, conurbations or suburbs. In urbani ...
s and 844 (8.2%) 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 are typically desc ...
s. The population fell by 16% (1,958 persons) between the 1992 and 2002 censuses.
Administration
As a commune, Andacollo 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, borough cou ...
, headed by an alcalde
''Alcalde'' (; ) is the traditional Spanish municipal magistrate, who had both judicial and Administration (government), administrative functions. An ''alcalde'' was, in the absence of a corregidor (position), corregidor, the presiding officer o ...
who is directly elected every four years.
Within the electoral divisions of Chile
This article covers the electoral division of Chile, which involves two distinct systems:
# Chamber of Deputies of Chile, Chamber of Deputies and Senate of Chile, Senate: Chile is divided into electoral districts and senatorial constituencies for ...
, Andacollo 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 Bourb ...
by Mr. Mario Bertolino ( RN) and Marcelo Díaz ( PS) as part of the 7th electoral district, (together with La Serena, La Higuera, Vicuña
The vicuña (''Lama vicugna'') or vicuna (both , very rarely spelled ''vicugna'', Vicugna, its former genus name) is one of the two wild South American camelids, which live in the high alpine tundra, alpine areas of the Andes; the other cameli ...
and Paiguano). 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 Evelyn Matthei Fornet (UDI Udi may refer to:
Places
* Udi, Enugu, a local government areas and city in Nigeria
* Udi Hills, Enugu State, Nigeria
* Udi, a place in the Etawah district of Uttar Pradesh, India
People Given name
* Udi Aloni (born 1959), Israeli-American film ...
) and Jorge Pizarro Soto ( PDC) as part of the 4th senatorial constituency (Coquimbo Region).
Gallery
Image:Andacollo_church.jpg, Basilica of Andacollo
Image:Andacollo_City view.jpg, City view
Image:Andacollo.jpg, City view
Image:AndacolloVistaAerea.jpg, Aerial view of the city
Image:Andacollo_Gold mine.jpg, Industrial gold mine
Image:Andacollo_traditional Gold processing.jpg, Traditional gold processing
Image:Andacollo_Mercury evaporation.jpg, Mercury evaporation to produce gold
References
External links
*
Municipality of Andacollo
{{Authority control
Communes of Chile
Populated places in Elqui Province
1891 establishments in Chile