Pisco Elqui, Chile
Encyclopedia
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
an village (pueblo) in the commune of Paihuano
Paihuano
Paiguano or Paihuano is a small agricultural town and commune in the Elqui Province of the Coquimbo Region of Chile.-Demographics:According to the 2002 census of the National Statistics Institute, Paiguano had 4,168 inhabitants , making the commune an entirely rural area...
, Elqui Province
Elqui Province
Elqui Province is a province in the Chilean region of Coquimbo . The provincial capital is the city of Coquimbo. The province has an area of , and has 365,371 inhabitants.-Geography and demography:...
, Coquimbo Region
Coquimbo Region
The IV Coquimbo Region is one of Chile's 15 first order administrative divisions. It is some 400 km north of the capital, Santiago.The capital and largest city is La Serena, other important cities include the seaport Coquimbo and the agricultural centre...
. It is located in the Elqui Valley, 107 km east from La Serena, at about 1,300 metres above sea level.
This was the area where pisco
Pisco
Pisco is a colorless or yellowish-to-amber colored grape brandy produced in winemaking regions of Chile and Peru. Pisco was developed by Spanish settlers in the 16th century as an alternative to orujo, a pomace brandy that was being imported from Spain...
was distilled in the early history of Chile. The original name of the town was Las Gredas. It was later changed to La Unión. In 1936, the Law Decree 5,798 changed its name to Pisco Elqui to reinforce Chile's claim to have rights over the alcoholic drink, pisco
Pisco
Pisco is a colorless or yellowish-to-amber colored grape brandy produced in winemaking regions of Chile and Peru. Pisco was developed by Spanish settlers in the 16th century as an alternative to orujo, a pomace brandy that was being imported from Spain...
.
Nearby is the Montegrande town, where the Chilean Nobel Prize
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
laureate Gabriela Mistral
Gabriela Mistral
Gabriela Mistral was the pseudonym of Lucila de María del Perpetuo Socorro Godoy Alcayaga, a Chilean poet, educator, diplomat, and feminist who was the first Latin American to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, in 1945...
, was born.