Curicó

**Curicó** is a Chilean city and commune in the Maule Region, in the Chilean Central Valley. Curicó is the capital city of the province of Curicó.

Curicó means, in Mapudungun, "Land of Black Water".

## History

Curicó was founded on 9 October 1743 by José Manso de Velasco when Chile was a Spanish colony with the name _San José de Buena Vista_.
In 1747, the Governor Juan Manuel de Rosas moved the city about  to the north, where it is now on the foot of the Buena Vista hill (now called "Cerro Condell"), because the original place was too humid.

Curicó got the title of "city" in 1830. The city was destroyed by an earthquake in 1928 and rebuilt during the following year. It  was badly damaged in the earthquake of February 2010.

## Population

(last national census), there were 119,585 people living in the commune, giving it a population density of  inhabitants/km². The urban population was 100,506 persons ( of the total).

The people from Curicó are called _Curican_ (in Spanish: _Curicanos_ for men and _Curicanas_ for women).

## Geography

The commune has an area of  and the city proper, .

The city of Curicó is at  south of Santiago and .

The rivers Guaiquillo and Mataquito are the main rivers that flow through the commune. Most of the territory of the commune is within the central plain (_Valle Central de Chile_). The valley is between low mountains to the west and east.

The commune of Curicó is bordered on the west by Rauco; on the north by Teno; on the east, by Romeral, and on the south, by Molina and Sagrada Familia.

### Climate

The Köppen climate classification type for the climate at Curicó is a "dry-summer subtropical climate" (also known as Mediterranean Climate) and of the subtype "Csb".

The average amount of precipitation for the year in Curicó is . The month with the most precipitation on average is July with  of precipitation. The month with the least precipitation on average is January with an average of .

The average temperature for the year in Curicó is . The warmest month, on average, is January with an average temperature of . The coolest month on average is July, with an average temperature of .

## Economy

The city's economy is based mainly on agriculture, because the Mediterranean climate creates comparative advantages with markets such as apples, wines, and cherries.

## Related pages

- Communes of Chile
- Provinces of Chile

## Other websites

- Gobierno Regional del Maule  Official website
- Province of Curicó website
- Municipality of Curicó

## Infobox (settlement)

- **name**: Curicó
- **native name lang**: es
- **settlement type**: City and Communes of Chile, Commune
- **image skyline**: Curico vom Cerro aus.JPG
- **image alt**: View of Curicó from Cerro Condell
- **image caption**: View of Curicó from Cerro Condell
- **image shield**: Escudo de Curicó.svg
- **shield alt**: Coat of arms
- **image map**: Comuna de Curicó.svg
- **map alt**: Location in the Maule Region
- **map caption**: Location in the Maule Region
- **pushpin map**: Chile
- **pushpin map narrow**: yes
- **pushpin label position**: bottom
- **pushpin map alt**: Location in Chile
- **pushpin map caption**: Location in Chile
- **established title**: Founded
- **established date**: 9 October 1743
- **established title1**: Founded as
- **established date1**: _San José de Buena Vista_
- **founder**: José Antonio Manso de Velasco
- **subdivision type**: List of sovereign states, Country
- **subdivision name**: Chile
- **subdivision type1**: Regions of Chile, Region
- **subdivision name1**: Maule Region, Maule
- **subdivision type2**: Provinces of Chile, Province
- **subdivision name2**: Curicó Province, Curicó
- **government type**: Municipality
- **leader title**: Mayor
- **leader name**: Javier Muñoz Riquelme
- **unit pref**: Metric
- **area total km2**: 1328.4
- **elevation m**: 208
- **population total**: 119585
- **population as of**: 2002
- **population density km2**: auto
- **population blank1 title**: Urban area, Urban
- **population blank1**: 100506
- **population blank2 title**: Rural area, Rural
- **population blank2**: 19079
- **population demonym**: Curican
- **timezone**: Time in Chile, CLT
- **utc offset**: -4
- **timezone dst**: Time in Chile, CLST
- **utc offset dst**: -3
- **postal code type**: Postal code
- **postal code**: 3349001
- **website**: [http://curico.cl/sitio/ Official website]