TEXT IN ENGLISH: The unknown history of the "Spanish colonial LOTA" (COLCURA, the oldest town in The Coal Basin) Journal report of the year 2013 ...

 

The Colcura BEACH-TOWN 

Excerpts from the real conversation with the Colcura's people 

Journalist:- Didn't you know that, for example, Colcura's 200 years older than Lota-City?-  

Madame Silvia Alarcón:- I had no idea.....I really had no idea, no!-

(....)

Older neighbor:- No. I didn't know how to tell him. First time I hear it.....(...)-

Granny:- What a thing!? No....no!

(...)

Journalist:- And what data do you know about the Colcura's History?

Granny:- No, what can i know....that it doesn't have any arrangement well.....¡no!.....they have never worried because we don't have any way-

Madame Silvia Alarcón:- Not, from history !!

Granny:- Ah! The story?.....The story?.....Ah!.....Chaff!!!!       

(....)

Madame Silvia Alarcón:- (In the living room of her house) In other words, we are important in Colcura-town, and we had NO IDEA !!!!-    

-

-

Colcura's Sunset 

And you?         

Didn't you know either?

For many....the beach-town of Colcura's a simple cove of fishermen. 

But neither the Concepción's people ("penquistas")!.....Nor the Lota's people ("lotinos")! Not even the inhabitants of this place! they have the slightest idea that the place has 352 years of history...

Located 26.7 miles from Concepción-City along the coast, in the middle of the route to Lebu-Town (or Arauco's Province).....today it's a humble coastal town between the dominant hills of Nahuelbuta and the Pacific Ocean, with a fishing cove that also serves as a beach in each season of summer, and has a population of approximately 1,500 inhabitants.   

The spanish conquerors
reached "Chilean soil"
(or Wallmapu, in Mapudungun
native language) in the
XVI CENTURY.- 

Since THE SPANISH FOUNDED CONCEPCIÓN-CITY IN YEAR 1550....there was an interest on the part of the conquerors to travel the entire valley south of the Bio-Bío's River..

And it was in the same year that Penco-Town was born when they first (1st) set foot on "Lotino" soil...

During the colony it was a place of military passage between Concepción-City and Arauco-Town. 

And untill the XVII century it was 1 of the most complicated places for these conquering travelers, since the Mapuche warriors were located on "Villagrán's Hill" (or "Cerro Villagrán") who, when seeing SPANIARDS in the place, went on the attack to defend their territory. The then ANDALICÁN'S VALLEY, as it was called in its beginnings, was the scene of 3 MAPUCHE TRIUMPHS in the years 1554, 1563 and 1568.    

THE FIRST of these battles was that of MARIHUEÑU in 1564, whose sides both "Spanish" and "Mapuche" were led by "Lautaro" and "Mr. Francisco de Villagra"...

In order to make this colonial road safer, GOVERNOR MR. PEDRO PORTER CASANATE founded the San Miguel Arcangel de Colcura's FORT in year 1661.         

And the following year in 1662......GOVERNER MR. ÁNGEL DE PEREDO who had been in office for a short time, not even a year! he founded the "Villa Santa María de Guadalupe", on the site that's now occupied by the Colcura's Town.  

-

Did you know that the LOTA's CITY also owes its name to Colcura? 

Well, the name of "Lota" comes from the Mapudungun Lenguage "Louta" which means "Small Farmhouse", and this name was referring to "Colcura"....NOT TO LOTA-CITY !!

In other words, to the valley where today this well-known cove of fishermen's located. 

This's because from the XVIII CENTURY the Spanish began to name the "Colcura's Valley" as LOTA, and not "Santa María de Guadalupe" as its official name was.....

In any case, it didn't reach a great development like other colonial cities such as "Concepción-City", "Arauco-Town" or "Santa Juana-Town", rather THE OLD COLONIAL LOTA or "Colcura" was a HUMBLE VILLAGE where many "Mapuche" chiefs also lived, in fact they lived in Colcura until the XIX CENTURY. 

Unlike Penco-Town where the local government (or municipality) is already working on its historical and patrimonial recovery...IN COLCURA ALMOST EVERYONE'S UNAWARE OF THE ORIGIN OF THIS COASTAL TOWN, even neighbors who have lived there for 40 years, and not even their "neighborhood leaders".  

-

-

Octavio Villegas,
1 of the interviewees for this report
journal. 

Octavo Villegas, director of the D.A.E.M of the Lota's Local Government (Municipality) gave his OPINION in this regard....

BUT A CLARIFICATION FIRST (1st) OF ALL !!!!

The acronym D.A.E.M refers to the local supervisions of schools. 

In English, DAEM means "Local Education Administrative Department".

And in spanish, means "Departamento administrativo de educación municipal" (Literal) 

..

Opinion: 

"In Colcura there are many historical events....¡eh!.....relevant, important....As part of that it takes there, for example, what's the fort.....and there are some cannons.

In Colcura!

And everything that's also Mapuche's history....

But also recognize that the Colcureño" (Colcura's people) "or the Colcurano themselves feel a little disconnected...

But also many of them aren't part of the identity of that story that you tell....¡eh!....colonial, do you get me!? Rather, they're people who settled to live for some reason there in an almost rural or country way".  

-

Colcura 

Could it be the lack of resources that makes it impossible to rescue the assets of the still unknown colonial LOTA-CITY !?

COLCURA.....

A HISTORIC BEACH-TOWN, 

IS THE LOTA'S BIRTHPLACE !!!!

-

Other places in the "Bio-Bío Zone" ("Central-South" Chile):

The Concepción's University Campus (UdeC) - Tourist description (OTHER Text in english)   

"Talcamávida Town" (A text written in Spanish)                           

The Colcura's Sunset (Beach)

Some Reggaetón and "Latin Trap" (Music - YouTube)

"Por el momento" (For the moment) - Nicky Jam ft. Plan B