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Regions of Chile Information

Chile is divided into 15 regions (in Spanish, regiones; singular región), which are the country's first-level administrative division. Each region is headed by an intendant (intendente), appointed by the President, and an indirectly-elected body known as regional board (consejo regional).

Regions are divided into provinces (second-level administrative division), each headed by a governor (gobernador), appointed by the President. There are 54 provinces, in total. Provinces are further divided into communes (third and lowest level administrative division), which are governed by municipalities.

Contents

Naming

Each region is given a Roman numeral, followed by a name (e.g. IV Región de Coquimbo, read as "fourth region of Coquimbo" in Spanish). When the regional structure was created, Roman numerals were assigned in ascending order from north to south, with the northernmost region designated as I (first) and the southernmost region as XII (twelfth). The Santiago Metropolitan Region, located in the center of the country and home to the country's capital Santiago, was excluded from this naming scheme and given instead the initials RM, standing for Región Metropolitana ("Metropolitan Region" in Spanish). With the creation of regions XIV in the south and XV in the north (XIII is not used) in 2007, the north-south Roman numeral order was broken.

History of the regional structure

The current administrative divisions of Chile were created in 1974 and limited to 13 regions (this limitation was eliminated in 2005 via a constitutional reform). Previously, Chile was divided into 25 provinces, which were further divided into departments, and then into communes. The new territorial organization was implemented in phases with some initial "pilot regions" beginning to operate in 1974, extending the process on January 1, 1976 to the rest of the country. The Santiago Metropolitan Region began to operate in April 1980.

In December 2006 two new regions were created: the northern Arica and Parinacota Region, by taking out the two northernmost provinces from the Tarapacá Region; and Los Ríos Region in the south, encompassing the province of Valdivia, formerly part of the Los Lagos Region.[1] Both regions became operative in October 2007.

List of regions

Main article: Ranked list of Chilean regions
Key Name (English/Spanish) Capital Area (km2) Population
XV Arica and Parinacota Región de Arica y Parinacota Arica 16,898.6 189,644
I Tarapacá Región de Tarapacá Iquique 41,799.5 238,950
II Antofagasta Región de Antofagasta Antofagasta 126,049.1 493,984
III Atacama Región de Atacama Copiapó 75,176.2 254,336
IV Coquimbo Región de Coquimbo La Serena 40,579.9 603,210
V Valparaíso Región de Valparaíso Valparaíso 16,396.1 1,539,852
VI O'Higgins Región del Libertador General Bernardo O'Higgins Rancagua 16,387 780,627
VII Maule Región del Maule Talca 30,296.1 908,097
VIII Biobío Región del Biobío Concepción 37,062.6 1,861,562
IX Araucanía Región de la Araucanía Temuco 31,842.3 869,535
XIV Los Ríos Región de Los Ríos Valdivia 18,429.5 356,396
X Los Lagos Región de Los Lagos Puerto Montt 48,584.5 716,739
XI Aisén Región Aisén del General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo Coihaique 108,494.4 91,492
XII Magallanes and Antártica Chilena Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena Punta Arenas 132,297.2 150,826
RM Santiago Metropolitan Región Metropolitana de Santiago Santiago 15,403.2 6,061,185

Note: Populations are from the 2002 Census.[2]

See also

References

  1. ^ La Nación
  2. ^ "About Chile". Government of Chile Foreign Investment Committee. http://www.cinver.cl/english/chile/chile.asp. Retrieved 13 March 2010.
 ·  · Regions of Chile

Aisén · Antofagasta · Araucanía · Arica and Parinacota · Atacama · Biobío · Coquimbo · Los Lagos · Los Ríos · Magallanes · Maule · O'Higgins · Santiago Metropolitan · Tarapacá · Valparaíso
 ·  ·  Spanish terms for country subdivisions
National · Federal distrito federal / cantón · departamento · estado · provincia · comunidad autónoma · región
Regional · Metropolitan comarca · comuna · distrito · municipalidad · municipio · merindad · corregimiento · anteiglesia / delegación · parroquia
Urban · Rural aldea · alquería · asentamiento · barrio · colonia · fraccionamiento / comisaría · pedanía · pueblos jóvenes · ranchería · parroquia · vereda
Historical subdivisions in italics.
 ·  · First-level administrative divisions of South American countries

Argentina · Bolivia · Brazil · Chile · Colombia · Ecuador · Guyana · Panama* · Paraguay · Peru · Suriname · Trinidad and Tobago* · Uruguay · Venezuela

* Territories also in or commonly reckoned elsewhere in the Americas (North America).
Table of administrative country subdivisions by country

Categories: Regions of Chile | Subdivisions of Chile | Lists of country subdivisions | Country subdivisions of the Americas | First-level administrative country subdivisions | Chile-related lists

 

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