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Just hanging around: Congrio fish for sale at Angelmo fish market, Puerto Montt
© Roberto Gerometta
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Beached fishing boats at low tide, Angelmo, Puerto Montt
© Wayne Walton
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Chilean stew for two: a Curanto concoction at Angelmo fish market, Puerto Montt
© Roberto Gerometta
Puerto Montt: Overview
Settled by German colonists in the mid-19th century, Puerto Montt is one of southern Chile's most important cities: an administrative capital booming on the back of a billion dollar salmon industry. For travelers, it's the place to catch a ferry, or catch up on a couple of night's sleep in transit.
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HISTORY AND CULTURE
As the Spanish conquistadors pushed their way south from present-day Santiago, they were motivated by stories of precious metals and the possibility of a large, docile indigenous work force. The land of La Araucanía and the Lakes District would be the ideal territory to continue the imperial dream. Or maybe not. The Mapuche waged one of the fiercest and most successful defenses against the European invaders anywhere in the Americas, and the Spanish were not able to settle south of the Biobío River until the mid to late 19th century.
Around 1848, Germans were recruited by the Chilean government to settle the Lakes District, leaving their mark on architecture, food, manufacturing and dairy farming. Puerto Montt was founded by the German settlers in 1851 and named after then Chilean president Manuel Montt.
Throughout the 20th century, the port city grew rapidly as the administrative center of the new territory. The rail line arrived from Santiago in 1912, creating a transport link from the capital to Chiloe and the Magallanas. An earthquake caused destruction in the city in 1960, but it was quickly rebuilt. Puerto Montt is also remembered for a 1969 'massacre' in which a group of landless squatters were forced off vacant farmland under orders from the government. Their homes were burnt down and 11 were shot dead.
Today, Puerto Montt is one of Chile's fastest growing cities, thanks mainly to the salmon industry. From the mid-1980s, salmon farming in submerged cages was developed on a massive scale and is now one of Chile's top five exports. Puerto Montt is the epicenter of the farming and export industry, which directly employs some 30,000 people and is estimated to indirectly employ another 15,000 Chileans. Billions of dollars in investment are pushing farming operations further south into Patagonia, and the industry is expected to grow by 50% over the next decade, overtaking Norway.
Tourism is also an explosive industry in this part of Chile and, although not a tourist town, Puerto Montt is an important link between the Lakes District, Chiloe and Patagonia.
