Puerto Montt (Mapuche: Meli Pulli) is a port city and commune in southern Chile, located at the northern end of the Reloncaví Sound in the Llanquihue Province, Los Lagos Region, 1,055 km to the south of the capital, Santiago.

It is bounded by the communes of Puerto Varas to the north, Cochamó to the east and southeast, Calbuco to the southwest and Maullín and Los Muermos to the west.

The expedition was entrusted to Bernardo Philippi, a German naturalist and cartographer, but after his death in 1851, Vicente Perez Rosales took over his duties, and by the end of September started to chop trees at Reloncaví sound using local woodsman coming from Huar, Maillen, Huelmo and Calbuco Mainly.

Approximately four to five days after moving onto the land, the local Police Chief Rolando Rodríguez Marbán assured the squatters that they would not be disturbed, and could proceed with their home construction.

Following direct orders from the Minister of Interior Edmundo Pérez Zujovic, 250 armed policemen launched an assault on the squatting families at dawn.

The massacre of Puerto Montt and the public outcry that followed were major factors contributing to the defeat of Eduardo Frei's party in the Chilean presidential election of 1970 which was succeeded by Salvador Allende's Unidad Popular.

[citation needed] By 1979, Puerto Montt was nominated and later become the Capital of Los Lagos Region, thereby becoming the principal administrative, political and commercial centre of Southern Chile.

From the late 1980s, the city began to experience a new accelerated growth, both in population and in the economic sphere, mainly due to the installation of the industry Chilean salmon farm, of which Puerto Montt became its nerve center.

[3] Puerto Montt has a wet oceanic climate (Köppen: Cfb) with heavy rainfall throughout the year but a drying trend in the summer.

[citation needed] Puerto Montt is the capital of the Los Lagos Region and the Llanquihue Province, and the main sea port at the lower end of Chile's western continental land.

The city's economy is now based upon agriculture, cattle, and forestry on the surrounding islands, and fishing and salmon aquaculture in the fjords and nearby Pacific Ocean.

[13] Since 2012 the current mayor has been Gervoy Paredes Rojas who was reelected at 2016 Municipal elections with an end term up to 2020 and the current members of the council are Fernado España España (PS), Sonia Hernandez Asencio (PS), Luis Matamala Almonacid (PDC), Veronica Sanchez Silva (PDC), Juan Carlos Cuitiño Uribe (GEP), Rodrigo Wainraihgt Galilea (RN), Fernando Orellana Perez (RN), Marcia Muñoz Cochifas (IND), Hector Ulloa Aguilera (PPD) and Leonardo Gonzales Saez (PPD).

[14] Within the electoral division of Chile, representatives of Puerto Montt, District 26 (Puerto Montt, Cochamó, Maullín, Calbuco, Castro, Ancud, Quemchi, Dalcahue, Curaco de Vélez, Quinchao, Puqueldón, Chonchi, Queilén, Quellón, Chaitén, Hualaihué, Futaleufú and Palena) in the Chambers of Deputies 2018-2022 are Jenny Álvarez Vera (PS), Gabriel Ascencio Mansilla (PDC), Alejandro Santana Tirachini (RN), Carlos Kuschel Silva (RN) and Alejandro Bernales (Liberal Party).