Lo Barnechea is a commune located in the northeastern sector of the province of Santiago and its area corresponds to 48% of this province. Its urban boundaries are: to the north with Los Andes of the Valparaíso region, to the west with Colina, to the southwest with Vitacura and Huechuraba, to the south with Las Condes and to the east with San José de Maipo. It developed around the old rural town of Lo Barnechea. Its population is heterogeneous, as it is inhabited by high and medium-high income families in sectors such as La Dehesa, Los Trapenses and El Arrayán, and also by medium-low and low income families, mainly in the town of Lo Barnechea, Población La Ermita and Cerro Dieciocho. History Lo Barnechea has had a long human occupation for thousands of years. Before the Incas, it was occupied by the Llolleo culture and the Bato tradition, and after them, the Aconcagua culture, the Promaucaes, the Incas and later the Spanish occupation. Its pre-Hispanic inhabitants were called huaicoches (in Mapudungún: waykoche 'people who live in a landslide zone') because of the huaicos or huaycos of the region (in Quechua: wayqu 'stream'). Also called lloclla (in Quechua: lluqlla 'alluvium'), these are violent alluvial floods in which a large amount of material from the slopes is dislodged and dragged by the water downstream to the bottom of the valleys, causing enormous burial sites in its path. In modern scientific terms, according to the Multinational Andean Project, a huayco is known as a debris flow, or debris flow. A huayco is caused by the violent fall of water, which drags mud, stones, trees and anything else in its path. Its origin may be due to an intense rainfall or the overflowing of a river or lagoon at high altitudes. The town of Lo Barnechea was created in the 19th century. So far, it has resisted the conurbation with Greater Santiago. The DFL 1-3260 of 9 March 1981, establishes the new commune of Lo Barnechea, from a subdivision of the commune of Las Condes, however until 1991, it was part of the communal grouping managed by the Municipality of Las Condes. By Decree with Force of Law No. 32-18.992 of 20 May 1991, the Municipality of Lo Barnechea was officially established, the same day as its neighbor Vitacura. Geography Terrain Rivers Mapocho River San Francisco Molina River Stream El Arrayán Stream (Nature Sanctuary)