Pelluhue (in

Mapudungun Mapuche ( , ; from 'land' and 'people', meaning 'the people of the land') or Mapudungun (from 'land' and 'speak, speech', meaning 'the speech of the land'; also spelled Mapuzugun and Mapudungu) is either a language isolate or member of the s ...

: ''land of clams'') is a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

and commune in the

Cauquenes Province Cauquenes Province () is one of four provinces of the central Chilean region of Maule (VII). The provincial capital is the city of Cauquenes. Geography and demography The provincial capital, Cauquenes, lies approximately southwest of Santiag ...

of central

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 ...

's seventh

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

of Maule.

Geography

The commune of Pelluhue has an area of and is bordered on the north by

Chanco Chanco () is a name traditionally assigned to a Native American who is said to have warned a Jamestown colonist, Richard Pace (planter), Richard Pace, about an impending Indian massacre of 1622, Powhatan attack in 1622. This article discusses ho ...

, on the south by

Cobquecura Cobquecura is a commune in the Region of Ñuble (Spanish: ''comuna'') in the Province of Itata Chile's Region of Ñuble. The town is located on the northwest Pacific coast of the Itata Province about southwest of the national capital of Sant ...

(

Ñuble Region The Ñuble Region (, ) officially the Region of Ñuble (), is — since 5 September 2018 – one of Chile's sixteen regions of Chile, regions. It spans an area of , making it the smallest region in Chile in terms of area, and is administratively ...

), on the east by

Cauquenes Cauquenes, a city and commune in Chile, is the capital of the Cauquenes Province and is located in the Maule Region. History According to the historical records of Alonso de Ercilla, Cauquenes was originally inhabited by an indigenous community ...

and on the west by the

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

. Its

seat A seat is a place to sit. The term may encompass additional features, such as back, armrest, head restraint but may also refer to concentrations of power in a wider sense (i.e " seat (legal entity)"). See disambiguation. Types of seat The ...

is the town of Curanipe.

Demography

Although Curanipe is the municipal seat, Pelluhue has a greater population, both permanent and seasonal. 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, Pelluhue spans an area of and has 6,414 inhabitants (3,408 men and 3,006 women). Of these, 3,877 (60.4%) 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 2,537 (39.6%) 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. Because of its appeal as a

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...

and

retirement Retirement is the withdrawal from one's position or occupation or from one's active working life. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours or workload. Many people choose to retire when they are elderly or incapable of doing their j ...

center, Pelluhue has been steadily growing over the last two decades. Its population increase rate has been one of the highest in the

Maule Region The Maule Region (, ) is one of Chile's 16 first order administrative divisions. Its capital is Talca. The region derives its name from the Maule River which, running westward from the Andes, bisects the region and spans a basin of about 20,6 ...

, growing by 17.2% (943 persons) between the 1992 and 2002 censuses.

History

Both towns, Pelluhue and Curanipe, are nowadays popular coastal

resort A resort (North American English) is a self-contained commercial establishment that aims to provide most of a vacationer's needs. This includes food, drink, swimming, accommodation, sports, entertainment and shopping, on the premises. A hotel ...

s. Pelluhue evolved from a humble

fishermen A fisherman or fisher is someone who captures fish and other animals from a body of water, or gathers shellfish. Worldwide, there are about 38 million commercial and subsistence fishers and fish farmers. Fishermen may be professional or recr ...

cove A cove is a small bay or coastal inlet. They usually have narrow, restricted entrances, are often circular or oval, and are often situated within a larger bay. Small, narrow, sheltered bays, inlets, creek (tidal), creeks, or recesses in a coast ...

to a crowded summer resort in less than 50 years. The town's population swells to over several thousand in the summer week-ends when vacationers from the ''

hinterland Hinterland is a German word meaning the 'land behind' a city, a port, or similar. Its use in English was first documented by the geographer George Chisholm in his ''Handbook of Commercial Geography'' (1888). Originally the term was associated wi ...

'' (

, Linares,

Talca Talca () is a city and commune in Chile located about south of Santiago, and is the capital of both Talca Province and Maule Region (7th Region of Chile). As of the 2012 census, the city had a population of 201,142. The city is an important ...

, Parral) visit the seaside. Curanipe has a more " patrician" past, having been already a well-known and secluded coastal resort for the Cauquenes elite and a proud "minor port", in the mid- and late 19th century and early 20th century. Both Pelluhue and Curanipe were part of the municipality of

until 1979. The

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

and commune (

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 countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

:'' comuna'') of Pelluhue was officially created on October 26, 1979, when both towns, together with their adjacent

territories A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, belonging or connected to a particular country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually a geographic area which has not been granted the powers of self-government, ...

, formed a new municipality. The Curanipe

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

of Santo Toribio is a preserved religious building overlooking the town. From the

ecclesiastical {{Short pages monitor