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The Valparaíso Region (Spanish: Región de Valparaíso, pronounced [balpaɾaˈiso]) is one of Chile's 16 first order administrative divisions.[FN 1] With the country's second highest population of 1,790,219 million in 2017, and fourth smallest area of 16,396.1 km2 (6,331 sq mi), the region is Chile's second most densely populated after the Santiago Metropolitan Region to the southeast.[1]

Valparaíso Region

Región de Valparaíso
Skyline of Valparaíso Region
Flag of Valparaíso Region
Coat of Arms of Valparaíso Region
Coat of arms
Map of Valparaíso Region
Map of Valparaíso Region
Country Chile
ProvincesPetorca, Los Andes, San Felipe de Aconcagua, Quillota, Quilpué, Valparaíso, San Antonio,  Isla de Pascua
 • IntendantJorge Martínez Durán (RN)
 • Total16,396.1 km2 (6,330.6 sq mi)
Area rank13
Lowest elevation
0 m (0 ft)
 (2017 census)[1]
 • Total1,790,219
 • Rank2
 • Density110/km2 (280/sq mi)
ISO 3166 codeCL-VS
HDI (2017)0.841[2]
very high
WebsiteOfficial website ‹See Tfd›(in Spanish)
Hills in Valparaiso
Viña del Mar
Playa de Reñaca
The Moai of Easter Island

Its capital is the port city of Valparaíso, other important cities include Viña del Mar, Quillota, Quilpué, and San Antonio.


Geography and natural featuresEdit

The region is on the same latitude as the Santiago Metropolitan Region. Its capital is Valparaíso, which is the site for the National Congress of Chile and an important commercial port. Also in this region is the top resort city of Viña del Mar. Additionally, the Pacific islands of Easter Island (Isla de Pascua), Isla Salas y Gómez, the Juan Fernández Islands and the Desventuradas Islands fall under the Valparaíso Region's administration.

The Valparaíso Region is part of the very restricted range of the endangered Chilean Wine Palm, Jubaea chilensis; in prehistoric times this endemic Chilean tree had a significantly larger range.[FN 2]


The Region of Valparaíso is populated by some 1.71 million inhabitants. The population density reached 94.1 inhabitants/km2. 91.6% of the population lives in urban areas and only 8.4% of the population lives in rural areas.

The most populous municipalities in the region are Valparaíso, with 308,000 inhabitants Viña del Mar, with 287,000 inhabitants, which together with Villa Alemana, Quilpué and Concón form the Gran Valparaíso a continuum of 1.75 million people. There are also Quillota, with about 201,000 inhabitants and San Antonio with more than 200,000 inhabitants with estimates at 250,000 to be the region's second largest city[citation needed]. Soon will be added as a city with large population: the planned city of El Communa del Andes since they will be brought more than 40,000 miners required for the expansion of the mine Codelco Chile Andina Division on the foot of the Andes mountains.[citation needed]

Immigration and cultureEdit

Valparaíso developed as a trans-oceanic rest stop for fishing ships, sea cruise-liners, and international naval ships. Therefore, a large proportion of residents have a variety of national origins, ethnic groups, and cultures. The 16th-century colonial population was founded by male settlers from the Spanish regions of Andalusia, Asturia and León, and the large Basque contingent has given rise to a substantial Basque Chilean population. Large numbers came from other countries of Latin America from Mexico to Uruguay, esp. came during colonial rule in the 17th century. And in the late 18th–early 19th centuries came a small wave of Galician settlers from the Spanish region of Galicia.

It is thought[by whom?] the majority of Valparaíso's people have some non-Spanish European background, such as: British and Irish, Australians and New Zealanders, North Americans (U.S. or Canadian), Croats and Bosnians, Dutch and Belgians, French, Germans, Greeks, Italians, Portuguese and Scandinavians. Also there are more or less assimilated groups of Chilean Jews (mostly Ashkenazi), as well as Christians from the Ottoman Empire, primarily Syro-Lebanese and a large Palestinian community in the town of La Calera.

In racial terms, the majority of Valparaíso's inhabitants are castizos, meaning that their paternal origins are overwhelmingly from white whalers, settlers and traders of various European nationalities, including colonial Spanish settlers, while their maternal origins usually stems from unions between colonial Spanish men and local indigenous women, including Mapuche, Inca, Aymara and North American Indian descent (transplanted Cherokees are reported to come in the late 19th century, though it could well be a myth). Smaller numbers of East Asians mostly Chinese, Japanese or Korean, minuscule numbers of Afro-Chileans, as well as a component of Polynesians whose ancestors were kidnapped from Easter Island and the Marquesas Islands further adding to the region's Hispanicized melting pot.

Economics and industryEdit

The Valparaíso region is a host of agricultural lands, wine producers, and industrial activity such as copper mining and cement. Chile's largest oil refinery is located in Concón (on the mouth of the Aconcagua River and about 20 km north of Valparaíso) and there are two important copper ore refineries: the state-owned Ventanas (on the coast and north of Concón) and the private works in Chagres, about 55 miles (90 km) inland.

The region also is a hub for chemicals and gas storage near the port of Quintero. In the interior valleys, there is a booming export industry mainly around the avocado (palta), chirimoyas and flowers as the most important products. The most striking recent development has been the cultivation of hillsides using high tech drip feed irrigation. This has allowed otherwise dry and unproductive land to bear high yields.

Provinces and communesEdit

Region Province Commune Area
Isla de Pascua
Isla de Pascua 164 3,791 link
Los Andes
San Esteban 1,362 14,400 link
Rinconada 123 6,692 link
Los Andes 1,248 60,198 link
Calle Larga 322 10,393 link
Marga Marga
Villa Alemana 97 95,623 link
Quilpué 537 128,578 link
Limache 294 39,219 link
Zapallar 288 5,659 link
Petorca 1,517 9,440 link
Papudo 166 4,608 link
La Ligua 1,163 31,987 link
Cabildo 1,455 18,916 link
Quillota 302 75,916 link
Olmué 232 14,105 link
Nogales 405 21,633 link
La Cruz 78 12,851 link
La Calera 61 49,503 link
Hijuelas 267 16,014 link
San Antonio
Santo Domingo 536 7,418 link
San Antonio 405 87,205 link
El Tabo 99 7,028 link
El Quisco 51 9,467 link
Cartagena 346 16,875 link
Algarrobo 176 8,601 link
San Felipe
Santa María 166 12,813 link
San Felipe 186 64,126 link
Putaendo 1,474 14,649 link
Panquehue 122 6,567 link
Llaillay 349 21,644 link
Catemu 362 12,112 link
Viña del Mar 122 286,931 link
Valparaíso 402 275,982 link
Quintero 148 21,174 link
Puchuncaví 300 12,954 link
Concón 76 32,273 link
Casablanca 953 21,874 link
Juan Fernández 148 633 link


Line notesEdit

  1. ^ Valparaíso Region, 2006
  2. ^ C. Michael Hogan, 2008


  1. ^ a b c "Valparaíso Region". Government of Chile Foreign Investment Committee. Retrieved 13 March 2010.[permanent dead link]
  3. ^ a b "National Statistics Institute" (in Spanish). Retrieved 30 December 2010.
  4. ^ a b "Territorial division of Chile" (PDF). Retrieved 30 December 2010.
  5. ^ "Asociacion Chilena de Municipalidades" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 19 April 2011. Retrieved 7 February 2011.

External linksEdit