Copiapó, Atacama, Chile

History | Economy | Attractions | Universities | Professional institutes | Technical centres of study | Sport : Football | Raid Atacama | Rally Dakar | Transport

🇨🇱 Copiapó is a city and commune in northern Chile, located about 65 km east of the coastal town of Caldera. Founded on December 8, 1744, it is the capital of Copiapó Province and Atacama Region.

Copiapó lies about 800 km north of Santiago by the Copiapó River, in the valley of the same name. In the early 21st century, the river has dried up in response to climate change and more severe droughts. The town is surrounded by the Atacama Desert and receives 12 mm (½ in) of rain per year.

Copiapó is in a rich silver and copper mining district. A bronze statue commemorates Juan Godoy, discoverer of the Chañarcillo silver mines in the 19th century. The Copiapó-Caldera railway line, built in 1850, was the first one in South America. The first section between Caldera and Monte Amargo was inaugurated on July 4, 1850 in honor of the Independence Day, as American businessman William Wheelwright was responsible for the project. The original wooden railway station is now a National Monument.

History Spanish explorers founded the settlement in 1742 and named it San Francisco de la Selva de Copiapó or Saint Francis of the Jungle of Copiapó, due to its lush vegetation. Prior to Spanish occupation, the area was inhabited by the Diaguita people under the rule of the Inca Empire into the 16th century. Remains of Diaguita fortresses have been found in this area. The earliest archaeological remains of human activity in the Copiapó Valley have been dated at ten thousand years BP (before present). The settlement developed around the remains of an Inca cemetery.

After the discovery of the rich silver deposits near Chañarcillo by Juan Godoy in 1832 it became an important mining centre, and until Chile annexed Antofagasta from Bolivia and Iquique and Arica from Peru following the War of the Pacific (1879–1883), Copiapó was the nation's northernmost city and main mining city.

An earthquake on 4 December 1918 caused extensive damage throughout the city.

Through the 20th century, the city of Copiapó has grown markedly, both from the mining industry and its role as capital of its department.

On 5 August 2010, the San José Copper Mine collapsed, trapping 33 miners underground. The mine was about 45 km (28 mi) north of the city. The miners were 700 meters (2,300 ft) deep and 5 km (3 mi) from the mine's entrance via spiraling underground ramps. Private, local, national and international resources cooperated in their rescue. The miners survived underground for 69 days until all were brought to the surface on 13 October 2010, a record period of time. This mine has been closed, but the industry of copper and gold mining is very important in the region.

Economy Copiapó has a diversified and potential economy, but mining is the largest economic activity. The Copiapó Basin has a great deal of copper ore, mined by companies such as Minera Candelaria, which extracts copper near Tierra Amarilla, a neighboring commune. This generates a need for transportation, light industry, and services. "Small mining" represents over 30% of the production. The copper obtained by pirquineros (miners) goes to the copper smelter at Paipote.

Agriculture is the second-largest source of income in this area. It consists largely of grape production, with olives, tomatoes, avocados and some citrus fruits also produced as commodity crops.

Industry: Copiapó has mainly light industry, and some medium industry such as the INACESA plant and Paipote copper refinery.

Energy: Many important solar plants were built in the Atacama Region, benefiting from the high amount of and constant solar radiation during the year. Solar photovoltaic energy production in 2016 reached more than 400 MW connected to the Central-North grid.

Commerce is growing in Copiapó, largely old and new, small and medium enterprises. Downtown Copiapó activity reflects the growth of the city. Some local enterprises have grown rapidly in the last decade, such as the Albasini and Don Álvaro chain-stores. The national government's free-market policies, along with a higher demand and better economic expectations, have encouraged the establishment here of such national businesses as the supermarkets Deca (1999), Jumbo (2005), and Lider (2006).

Tourism in Copiapó has been developing since the early 21st century. Some come to see the desert and indigenous monuments, such as the Inca cemetery in the city, which was investigated in the 1930s. In addition, a new casino has attracted both domestic and foreign tourists, and hotels have invested in new amenities and structures to satisfy demand.

Attractions • Copiapó steam locomotive, year 1850. University of Atacama, • Mineralogic Museum, • Plaza de Armas, • Regional Museum of the Matta Family, • Wooden Railway Station, • the San José Copper Mine (closed in 2010); • Totoralillo, Totoral and the zone of "Travesía" on the coast, wherein after rain, the "Desierto Florido" appears; • In the Andes, the Ojos del Salado volcano, and the lakes Green and Negro Francisco, • Tres Cruces National Park in the Andes.

Universities • Universidad de Atacama was founded in 1857, and is the only public university in the Third Region. • Universidad Santo Tomás (Copiapó) • Universidad Tecnológica de Chile, INACAP (Copiapó)

Professional institutes • Instituto Tecnológico UDA (public) • Santo Tomás (private) • Inacap (private) • Iplacex (private)

Technical centres of study • CFT Benjamín Teplizky (private) • CFT Santo Tomás (private) • CFT Inacap (private) • CFT Cepa (private).

Sport: Football Deportes Copiapó and its fans in the local stadium.

This city has a football team called Club de Deportes Copiapó, which was born after the dissolution of Regional Atacama, in 1999. It plays in the Primera A League of football of Chile, and plays as local in the Luis Valenzuela Hermosilla Stadium and in the Municipal Stadium of Tierra Amarilla.

Raid Atacama This is the event that gathers the most 4x4 automobiles in the world, and it began in 1992.

The effort and spirit of Raid Atacama has made it worthy of the National Award for Tourism. For over 21 years, the Atacama Raid has been the cornerstone of the development of off-road activities along Chile, and its example has been followed by many clubs and even several companies.

In the last seven years, the enrollment has kept steady on an average of about 500 vehicles per event, and more than 1,800 participants from all regions of the country and abroad.

In 1997, it reached the largest number of participants to date, bringing together 613 4x4 vehicles. With no other event as large, this made it possible to apply for registration as a world record. Another of the achievements is to hold, without competition, the record for international off-road event (amateur) with greater permanence in time.

Rally Dakar In the last years, Copiapó has been not only one of the Chilean communes the Rally Dakar Chile-Argentina has passed through, but also the place of birth of Jaime Prohens, considered by some as one of the most important participants of this rally.

Transport Copiapo is served by Desierto de Atacama Airport, with commercial passenger airline service on three of Chile's major airlines.

As mentioned above, there is also an important railway in the city.

Santiago Time 
Santiago Time
Image: Adobe Stock Aliaksei #219101346

Copiapó has a population of over 158,438 people. Copiapó also forms the centre of the wider Atacama Region which has a population of over 286,168 people.

To set up a UBI Lab for Copiapó see: https://www.ubilabnetwork.org Twitter: https://twitter.com/UBILabNetwork

Twin Towns, Sister Cities Copiapó has links with:

🇪🇸 Castellón de la Plana, Spain 🇦🇷 Córdoba, Argentina 🇨🇳 Jiujiang, China 🇦🇷 La Rioja, Argentina 🇨🇳 Nanchang, China 🇨🇳 Panyu, China 🇨🇳 Pingxiang, China 🇨🇳 Ruichang, China 🇦🇷 San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca, Argentina 🇦🇷 Santiago del Estero, Argentina 🇦🇷 Villa Unión, Argentina
Text Atribution: Wikipedia Text under CC-BY-SA license

Antipodal to Copiapó is: 109.683,27.35

Locations Near: Copiapó -70.3167,-27.35

🇨🇱 La Serena -71.25,-29.909 d: 298.8  

🇨🇱 Ovalle -71.2,-30.6 d: 371.5  

🇦🇷 Ciudad de La Rioja -66.85,-29.4 d: 408.6  

🇪🇸 La Rioja -66.855,-29.413 d: 409  

🇦🇷 La Rioja -66.855,-29.413 d: 409  

🇨🇱 Illapel -71.167,-31.633 d: 483.3  

🇦🇷 San Juan -68.517,-31.533 d: 496.7  

🇦🇷 San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca -65.773,-28.467 d: 463.4  

🇦🇷 Concepción -65.583,-27.333 d: 467.5  

🇦🇷 Tucumán -65.366,-26.944 d: 491.9  

Antipodal to: Copiapó 109.683,27.35

🇨🇳 Huaihua 109.986,27.561 d: 19977.1  

🇨🇳 Fenghuang 109.59,27.949 d: 19947.8  

🇨🇳 Tuojiang 109.588,27.954 d: 19947.2  

🇨🇳 Tóngrén 109.189,27.732 d: 19950.5  

🇨🇳 Jishou 109.728,28.316 d: 19907.5  

🇨🇳 Furong 109.72,26.237 d: 19891.3  

🇨🇳 Shaoyang 111.468,27.24 d: 19838.3  

🇨🇳 Kaili 107.981,26.566 d: 19825.2  

🇨🇳 Zhangjiajie 110.475,29.13 d: 19802.5  

🇨🇳 Xing’an 110.672,25.612 d: 19798.2  

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