La Calera (Chile)

La Calera is a city and commune in the Quillota Province of central Chile's fifth region of Valparaíso.GeographyLa Calera is located 66km northeast of Valparaíso, and 118km northwest of Santiago, in the Aconcagua River Valley. Its area is 60.5sqkm. La Calera borders Nogales to the north and west, Hijuelas to the east, and La Cruz to the south.The city of La Calera is partly enclosed by Route 5 and Route 60.HistoryLa Calera's name comes from the production of quicklime that is obtained from the processed limestone , extracted from the hills at the south of the town, which were already exploited by the Chilean and Peruvian Natives for some 400 years previously. Therefore, La Calera means "quicklime mine".The estate of La Calera belonged to the Jesuits up to 1767. The turning point came in 1842, when it was acquired by Bolivian citizen Ildefonso Huici, who started industrialising it with local products. By 1844, a small town had emerged consisting mainly in a number of workers' dwellings located around the factories and production centres established in it, giving life to what La Calera is today.