Occupation of the territory At the end of the 19th century, the occupation of the area began by Chileans who arrived mainly from two origins. On one hand, settlers came from
Araucanía, via Argentine Patagonia, to the valleys of the
Aysén,
Simpson, and
Cisnes rivers, and to the
Lake General Carrera basin. On the other hand, many colonizers of the maritime coast and the
Guaitecas Islands came from the
Chiloé Archipelago. At the dawn of the 20th century, larger-scale economic activities began, led by livestock companies, which allowed the region to be permanently settled. The first recorded visit to the area that today constitutes the city of Coyhaique corresponds to Captain Enrique Simpson Baeza, who on December 19, 1872, observed part of the area after navigating up the
Aysén River for eighty days as part of his third hydrographic expedition. As part of the colonization process promoted by the Chilean state following the
1902 Arbitral Award, issued by British King
Edward VII to set the border with the
Argentine Republic, the occupation and settlement of the territory through private initiative was encouraged by leasing large tracts of land. Thus, in 1903, the valleys of the Coyhaique,
Mañihuales, and Ñirehuao rivers were granted on a twenty-year concession to Luis Aguirre, a resident of
Punta Arenas. He later transferred his rights to the Sociedad Industrial de Aysén (S.I.A.), an entity formed by Magellanic capitalists led by
Mauricio Braun. Shortly after acquiring the land, clearing began for livestock use, a process that involved
slash-and-burn or forest fires over vast areas of native forest, in some cases lasting years. In 1906, the company established its main facilities at a place known as “Pampa del Corral”, at the confluence of the Simpson and Coyhaique rivers, several of which are now protected as a historical monument. The site was strategically located, with overland connections to
Puerto Aysén and the settlement of
Balmaceda. The establishment of an urban center in the central zone of the territory enabled rapid growth, eventually eclipsing the town of Balmaceda (founded in 1917) and, at the same time, creating an urban base in the region’s main livestock area. By the mid-1930s, the large leasing companies began to withdraw, as did spontaneous individual colonization, allowing the development of the new city. From then on, state action to settle population and invest in public works became dominant, a situation that continues in the Aysén Region to this day. Later, in 1959, Law No. 13,375 created the Department of Coyhaique, at a time when the city had already surpassed the port as the region’s main population center. In the 1970s, coinciding with the crisis in livestock farming, economic activity came to depend largely on public investment, with urban areas becoming the center and engine of regional activity. On May 21, 1971, television arrived in the city with the opening of Channel 8 of Televisión Nacional de Chile, initially an independent station that later formed a small regional network.
Regional capital In 1974, as part of the administrative reorganization initiated by the
military dictatorship following the coup d’état, the regional capital was transferred from Puerto Aysén to Coyhaique. Likewise, in 1976,
Augusto Pinochet Ugarte and the
Chilean Army strongly promoted the construction of the
Carretera Austral, which significantly created, improved, and developed the region’s road connectivity, allowing for the first time—overland access for many families across much of the area. At the beginning of the 21st century, the city is seen to have grown steadily, while its isolation from the rest of Chile has been substantially reduced. Partly due to perceived neglect by the government in Santiago and the high cost of living resulting from ongoing connectivity problems, a
series of protests occurred in February 2012, disrupting the city’s usual tranquility. ==Geography==