Tucapel 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 Bío Bío Province, Bío Bío 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 was once a region of Araucanía named for the Tucapel River. The name of the region derived from the rehue and aillarehue of the Moluche people of the area between the Lebu and the Lleulleu Rivers, who were famed for their long resistance to the Spanish in the

Arauco War The Arauco War was a long-running conflict between colonial Spaniards and the Mapuche people, mostly fought in the Araucanía region of Chile. The conflict began at first as a reaction to the Spanish conquerors attempting to establish cities a ...

. Tucapel is also the name of a famous leader from that region in the first resistance against the Spanish mentioned in

Alonso de Ercilla Alonso de Ercilla y Zúñiga (7 August 153329 November 1594) was a Spanish soldier and poet, born in Madrid. While in Chile (1556–63) he fought against the Araucanians (Mapuche), and there he began the epic poem '' La Araucana'', considered one ...

epic poem In poetry, an epic is a lengthy narrative poem typically about the extraordinary deeds of extraordinary characters who, in dealings with gods or other superhuman forces, gave shape to the mortal universe for their descendants. With regard to ...

'' La Araucana''. Formerly belonging to the Ñuble Province, in the Yungay Department. Near the town of Tucapel is the ''Plaza de San Diego de Tucapel''. The capital of the commune is the town of Huépil, moving the municipality from Tucapel in 1967. In Mapudungun the name Huépil means "To seize or to take by force". The main economic activities of the commune are commerce, agriculture and forestry.

History

Tucapel is an old foundation in the country, originally part of the Rere Province, in which three La Frontera fortresses existed: Talcamávida, Yumbel and San Diego de Tucapel. The fortress of San Diego de Alcalá de Tucapel was founded by

Pedro de Valdivia Pedro Gutiérrez de Valdivia or Valdiva (; April 17, 1497 – December 25, 1553) was a Spanish ''conquistador'' and the first royal governor of Chile. After having served with the Spanish army in Italy and Flanders, he was sent to South America in ...

in 1552 on a hill in the valley of the Tucapel River at the present location of the city of Cañete. Near here, the conqueror died after being surprised and defeated at the Battle of Tucapel by

Lautaro Lautaro (Anglicized as 'Levtaru') ( " swift hawk") (; 1534 – April 29, 1557) was a young Mapuche toqui known for leading the indigenous resistance against Spanish conquest in Chile and developing the tactics that would continue to be empl ...

, after he had arrived to relieve the fortress, which Lautaro had already destroyed before December 25, 1553. In 1557, the fortress and the later city of ''Cañete de la Frontera'' were later rebuilt by García Hurtado de Mendoza three kilometers to the west of the present location of the city and resisted an attack by Toqui Caupolicán. It was abandoned again in January 1563 during the second Mapuche uprising. Later it was rebuilt by Rodrigo de Quiroga in 1566. It was finally abandoned after the Battle of Curalaba in the Mapuche Uprising of 1598. The present city of Cañete was founded on November 12, 1868, by colonel Cornelio Saavedra Rodríguez as part of the pacification of Araucanía. In 1603 a new fort Tucapel was established on the site of the Valdivia's old fort by Alonso de Ribera as part of his system of frontier forts. It received improvements in 1668 under the governor Diego Dávila Coello, who populated it, making it a mission site and named it ''Plaza de San Diego de Tucapel''. This place was the target of repeated attacks by the Mapuche and was captured by Vilumilla in Mapuche Uprising of 1723. It was abandoned and demolished by Gabriel Cano de Aponte in 1724 and he transferred its garrison and inhabitants to the bank of the Laja River near the

Andes The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...

where a new ''Plaza de San Diego de Tucapel'' was built and later a town of Tucapel has established.

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, Tucapel spans an area of and has 12,777 inhabitants (6,403 men and 6,374 women). Of these, 8,827 (69.1%) 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 3,950 (30.9%) 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 grew by 6.3% (757 persons) between the 1992 and 2002 censuses.

Administration

As a commune, Tucapel 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. The 2008-2012 alcalde is Jaime Sergio Veloso Jara ( RN). 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 ...

, Tucapel 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 Juan Lobos ( UDI) and José Pérez ( PRSD) as part of the 47th electoral district, together with Los Ángeles, Antuco, Quilleco, Santa Bárbara, Quilaco, Mulchén, Negrete, Nacimiento, San Rosendo, Laja and Alto Bío Bío. 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 Victor Pérez Varela (UDI) and Mariano Ruiz-Esquide Jara ( PDC) as part of the 13th senatorial constituency (Biobío-Coast).

References

;Notes ;Bibliography
Francisco Solano Asta-Buruaga y Cienfuegos, Diccionario geográfico de la República de Chile, SEGUNDA EDICIÓN CORREGIDA Y AUMENTADA, NUEVA YORK, D. APPLETON Y COMPAÑÍA. 1899.
Pg. 846–847, Tucapel. * Ricardo E. Latcham
''La organización social y las creencias religiosas de los antiguos araucanos'', Santiago de Chile, Impr. Cervantes, 1924.
Pg. 600.

External links

*
Municipality of Tucapel
{{Communes in Bío Bío Region Populated places in Bío Bío Province Communes of Chile 1552 establishments in the Spanish Empire