The town is on a small peninsula off the main island, and shelters a small harbor. The island is in the Guaitecas Archipelago, at the southern end of the Gulf of Corcovado.[2][3] Melinka is served by Melinka Airport and is connected by gravel road to the hamlets of Repollal.
Melinka is culturally similar to Chiloé Archipelago[4] but its inhabitants custom to bring dogs on board in their travels is likely rooted in native Chono traditions.[5][6]
In 2017 Melinka had a population of 1329 inhabitants down from 1411 in 2002.[1][7]
The famous pirate Pedro Ñancúpel was captured in Melinka in 1886 and bought into justice in Ancud the same year.[12][13]
According to a local tradition the word melinka comes from Russian and means lovely. In fact, there is the Russian archaiccolloquialismмилёнка (transl. milyonka) which means "lovely."[14] Westhoff who came from Lithuania in the Russian Empire named Melinka after his sister.[13]
^Saavedra Gallo, Gonzalo (2011). "Tensiones modernizantes y condicionantes culturales del desarrollo en el borde costero del Sur Austral chileno" [Modernizing tensions and cultural conditioners of development in the south austral Chilean coastal seaboard]. Revista Lider (in Spanish). 19: 201–219.
^Alvarez, R. & Navarro, M. (2008). Informes Levantamiento de Información Etnográfica Usos Tradicionales del Borde Costero Provincia de Chiloé (región de Los Lagos) y Comuna de Las Guaitecas (región de Aysén). Valdivia: ONG Centro Ballena Azul, World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
^Simpson, E. (1874). Esploraciones hechas por la Corbeta Chacabuco al mando del capitán de fragata don Enrique M. Simpson en los Archipiélagos de Guaitecas, Chonos i Taitao. Santiago. Imprenta Nacional.