Penco (Mapudungun: See (Pen), Water (Ko)), is a Chilean city and commune in Concepción Province, Bío Bío Region on the Bay of Concepción. Founded as the city of Concepción del Nuevo Extremo ('beginning of the new extreme') on February 12, 1550 by Pedro de Valdivia, it is the third oldest city in Chile, after capital Santiago founded first in 1541 and La Serena second in 1544. As there may be confusion between the demonyms of the inhabitants of Concepción and Penco. Due to the previous location of Concepción, inhabitants of that city are called penquistas while inhabitants of Penco are known as pencones.

History

In previous centuries, in the current location of Penco, was the first location where the city of Concepción was established, which is now the capital of the Bíobío Region. It was destroyed by Lautaro in 1554, and rebuilt and destroyed again by Lautaro in 1555.

Statistics

According to the 2002 census of the National Statistics Institute, Penco spans an area of 107.6 sqkm and has 46,016 inhabitants (22,366 men and 23,650 women). Of these, 45,361 (98.6%) lived in urban areas and 655 (1.4%) in rural areas. The population grew by 14% (5,657 persons) between the 1992 and 2002 censuses.

Administration

As a commune, Penco is a third-level administrative division of Chile administered by a municipal council, headed by an alcalde who is directly elected every four years. The 2012-2016 alcalde is Víctor Hugo Figueroa (ILE). Within the electoral divisions of Chile, Penco is represented in the Chamber of Deputies by Sergio Bobadilla (UDI) and Clemira Pacheco (PS) as part of the 45th electoral district, (together with Tomé, Florida, Hualqui, Coronel and Santa Juana). The commune is represented in the Senate by Alejandro Navarro Brain (MAS) and Hosain Sabag Castillo (PDC) as part of the 12th senatorial constituency (Biobío-Cordillera).

Places

In addition to the main town of Penco, the commune administers the following villages:

Notable people

Sources and external links