Cordillera Pelada

Cordillera Pelada (Spanish for Bald Range or Barren Range) is a mountain range in southern Los Ríos Region, southern Chile. It is located along the Pacific coast and forms part of the larger Chilean Coast Range. It got its name pelada from the Spanish word for bare or bald in reference to large fires that once burned the forests on the cordillera.^{[citation needed]}

Pelada Range
View of Fitzroya forests of Cordillera Pelada in La Unión commune
Geography
Country	Chile
Region(s)	Los Ríos, Los Lagos
Range coordinates	40°22.2′S 73°37.8′W
Parent range	Cordillera de la costa
Geology
Orogeny	Toco
Rock age	Carboniferous[1]
Rock type(s)	Schists and gneiss of the Bahía Mansa Metamorphic Complex

From about 1750 to 1943, when the land between Maullín River and Valdivia was colonized by Spain and Chile, numerous fires of Fitzroya woods occurred in Cordillera Pelada. These fires were initiated by Spaniards, Chileans, and Europeans. Earlier, from 1397 to 1750 the Fitzroya woods of Cordillera Pelada also suffered from fires that originated from lightning strikes and indigenous inhabitants.^[2]

See also

• Chilean Coast Range
• Cordillera de Nahuelbuta
• Cordillera de Mahuidanchi

References

1. The Geology of Chile
2. Lara, A.; Fraver, S.; Aravena, J.C.; Wolodarsky-Franke, F. (1999), "Fire and the dynamics of Fitzroya cupressoides (alerce) forests of Chile's Cordillera Pelada", Écoscience, 6 (1): 100–109, archived from the original on 2014-08-27