Talcahuano (Spanish pronunciation: [talkaˈwano]) (From Mapudungun Tralkawenu, "Thundering Sky") is a port city and commune in the Biobío Region of Chile.

According to the 2002 census of the National Statistics Institute, Talcahuano spans an area of 145.8 km2 (56 sq mi) and has 250,348 inhabitants (121,778 men and 128,570 women).

However, the site of Talcahuano began to appear in history books as early as 1544 when Genoese captain Juan Bautista Pastene discovered the mouth of the Biobío river while exploring the coast in his ships San Pedro and Santiaguillo.

main naval base which is home of the historical relic, the Huáscar, a Peruvian ironclad ship (British-made), which was captured in 1879 during the War of the Pacific.

As a commune, Talcahuano is a third-level administrative division of Chile administered by a municipal council, headed by an alcalde who is directly elected every four years.

The commune is represented in the Senate by Alejandro Navarro Brain (MAS) and Jacqueline Van Rysselberghe Herrera (UDI) as part of the 12th senatorial constituency (Biobío-Cordillera).

Talcahuano entered football history when Ramón Unzaga Asla, a player for the local club Estrella del Mar, invented the famous bicycle kick (also known as "chilena") there in 1914.

[citation needed] The city is also the birthplace of Sammis Reyes, a former Chilean men's national basketball player who converted to American football.