Valdivia

Valdivia is a city and commune in southern Chile administered by the Municipality of Valdivia. The city is named after its founder Pedro de Valdivia and is located at the confluence of the Calle-Calle, Valdivia and Cau-Cau Rivers, approximately 15 km (9 mi) east of the coastal towns of Corral and Niebla. Since October 2007, Valdivia has been the capital of the newly created Los Ríos Region and is also the capital of Valdivia Province. The commune of Valdivia had 140,559 inhabitants (Valdivianos) of which 127,750 lived in the city according to the 2002 census. The main economic activities include tourism, wood pulp manufacturing, forestry, metallurgy, and beer production. The city is also the home of the Universidad Austral de Chile, founded in 1954, and Centro de Estudios Científicos.