O'Higgins Region

The VI Libertador General Bernardo O'Higgins Region (Spanish: VI Región del Libertador General Bernardo O'Higgins), often shortened to O'Higgins Region, is one of Chile's 15 first order administrative divisions. It is subdivided into three provinces. It is named in honour of Bernardo O'Higgins Riquelme, one of Chile's founding fathers.

The Libertador General Bernardo O'Higgins Region is bordered to the west by the Pacific Ocean, to the east by the Republic of Argentina, to the north by the Valparaíso and Santiago Metropolitan Regions, and to the south by the Maule Region. It extends approximately between the parallels of 33°51’ and 35°01’ south latitude, and between the meridian of 70°02’ west longitude and the Pacific Ocean.

The capital and largest city of the region is Rancagua. The second major town is San Fernando.

Geography

In pre-Quaternary times extensive Nothofagus forests covered much of Libertador General Bernardo O'Higgins Region.

The Libertador General Bernardo O'Higgins Region is part of the very restricted range of the endangered Chilean Wine Palm, Jubaea chilensis; in prehistoric times this Chilean endemic tree had a significantly larger range.

History

From 9000 BCE to 300 BCE (the Archaic Period), the humans who inhabited the region moved between the coast and the valley as well as the Andes. At sites such as Pichilemu, Cáhuil and Bucalemu, they left trash deposits or shell middens bearing testimony to their raids. During the Agroalfarero Period (300 BCE - 1470 CE), the inhabitants experienced changes in their way of life, the most important being the cultivation of vegetables and the manufacture of clay objects. From 600 CE onwards, they started cultivating beans, maize, squashes, pumpkins and quinoa. All of these except quinoa and some types of maize required irrigation, which prompted them to move to the banks of creeks and rivers. During this period, groups of people lived in Quincha houses with straw roofs, in the vicinity of irrigation channels and horticulture crops, a style of life attributable to the Promaucaes or Picunches and to the Chiquillanes. During the Colonial Period (1541 CE to 1811 CE), the region became dominated, like the rest of the country, by the Spanish, and a system of ranching became predominant.

Culture

This area is known as the "huaso province" after the name of the Chilean cowboy, the huaso. Sashes and mantas – traditional items of the huaso costume – are woven in Doñihue on heavy vertical looms. Designs imitate vine leaves, bunches of grapes, pines and copihues. Other designs of colored stripes are woven on horizontal looms.

The population is a mixture of both European (including Argentinan immigrants) and Indigenous races and cultures, thus the region has a homogeneous culture known as Chileanidad is present and a mestizo imprint is evident.

The Libertador General Bernardo O'Higgins Region was settled by Spaniards (notably Andalusians, Basques, Aragonese and Navarrese) and other Europeans. French and Italian families established agriculture including the important wine industry: the Wine Route is one of the main tourist attractions of the Colchagua valley. Breweries can be found as well, the legacy of German and Swiss immigration. Livestock herding was especially influenced by British, Greek and Yugoslavian settlers.

In the late 19th century, a small number of Cherokee and Oklahoman settlers of American Indian descent from the USA was brought to the Libertador General Bernardo O'Higgins Region by the Chilean government, displaced by white settlement in Oklahoma. They founded in the 1880s a cooperative farm named Ovasso (an Osage word for "the end" or "edge"), which was later abandoned.[dubious – discuss]

There is a small colony of Aartis or "Artas", East Indians descended from hired railway workers from British India in the early 20th century.[dubious – discuss]

The relatively small distance from Santiago has led to a growing urban influence in the local culture. The largest city, Rancagua, is fast becoming a suburb of Santiago's upper-class professional workforce.

Regional festivals

Anniversaries Date English Name Spanish Name Notes 1–2 October Disaster of Rancagua Desastre de Rancagua In memory of the Battle
of Rancagua which occurred in 1814