I. Municipality of Paillaco

The commune of Paillaco - which in Mapudungun means calm waters - is located in the Province of Valdivia, Region of Los Ríos. Bordered north with Valdivia and Los Lagos, south with La Union, west with Corral and east with Futrono. According to the 2017 Census, it has a population of 20,188 inhabitants, of which 61.7% corresponds to urban population and 38.3% to rural population. Its main areas of economic activity are linked to the agroforestry and trade sectors. The first inhabitants of Paillaco were mapuche that lived scattered by the fields, dedicated to the cultivation of the earth, to the hunting and to the artisanal fishing. The emergence of the town is linked to the arrival of the railroad, as a result of which in the 1890s hundreds of carrilans were temporarily established in this area, to supply the gravel trains that were building the route between Purey and Osorno The growth of the village demanded the appointment of a municipal delegation dependent on the Municipality of La Union, to administer urban planning with the structuring of the blocks, streets and sidewalks, along with the conquest of the first public offices. On August 17, 1934, the commune of Paillaco was created through Decree Law No. 5456, during the government of President Arturo Alessandri Palma, a territorial ordinance that began to govern on October 18 of the same year.