Regions of Chile

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Updates: 

On 2006-12-20, the Chilean congress passed a bill to create two new regions, to be called Los Ríos and Arica y Parinacota. At the same time, two new provinces were created: Ranco, with La Unión as its capital, split from Valdivia; and Tamarugal, capital Pozo Almonte, split from Iquique province. The new regions became official in October 2007.

FIPS PUB 10-4 Change Notice 13 was issued on 2008-02-04, with updated codes for the new set of regions. FIPS has responded very promptly on this change.

Country overview: 

Chile has been an independent nation throughout the 20th century. It has revamped its administrative division several times. Chile makes a distinction between administrative and political subdivisions, but the geographic areas are the same for both types.

Time zone note: Easter Island and Sala y Gómez are in the -6~ time zone.

Other names of country: 

1. Danish: Chile
2. Dutch: Chili, Republiek Chili (formal)
3. English: Republic of Chile (formal)
4. Finnish: Chile
5. French: Chili m
6. German: Chile n
7. Icelandic: Síle
8. Italian: Cile m
9. Norwegian: Chile, Republikken Chile (formal)
10. Portuguese: Chile m, República f do Chile m (formal)
11. Spanish: Chile m, República f de Chile m (formal)
12. Swedish: Chile

Origin of name: 

named Chile mapu by the Incas (Quechua chile: cold, mapu: land)

Primary subdivisions: 

Chile is divided into fifteen regiones (regions).

The 2002 census populations of regions were computed by adding the populations of the provinces in each region.

Note that Chile omitted Roman numeral XIII. This is apparently due to some sort of residual impression that Región Metropolitana should or could be region XIII.

Further subdivisions:

See the Provinces of Chile page.

According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, Chile is conventionally divided into seven "regions" with no administrative status. From north to south, they are:

1. Norte Grande (Big North): Antofagasta, Arica and Parinacota, Tarapacá
2. Norte Chico (Little North): Atacama, Coquimbo
3. Núcleo Central (Central Nucleus): Libertador, Maule, Santiago, Valparaíso
4. Bío-Bío: Bío-Bío, Malleco province of Araucanía region
5. La Frontera (the Border): Cautín province of Araucanía region
6. Los Lagos (the Lakes): Los Lagos and Los Ríos regions, except for Chiloé province
7. Las Canales (the Canals): Aisén, Magallanes, Chiloé province of Los Lagos region

The fifteen regiones are divided into 53 provincias (provinces), which are further subdivided into comunas (municipalities). There were 335 municipalities in 1995, 345 in 2004, 346 in 2008.

Territorial extent: 

Valparaíso includes Chile's remote Pacific islands: Isla de Pascua (Easter Island, or Rapa Nui), the Islas Juan Fernández (Más a Tierra, Más Afuera, and some smaller islands), Isla Sala y Gómez, and Islas de los Desventurados (San Félix, San Ambrosio, and some smaller islands). Más a Tierra (Spanish for "closer to land") is sometimes called Isla Róbinson Crusoe, and Más Afuera (Spanish for "farther out"), Isla Alejandro Selkirk. Alexander Selkirk, the real-life prototype for Robinson Crusoe, was marooned on Más a Tierra from 1704 to 1709.

Magallanes y Antártica Chilena includes the Chilean section of the island of Tierra del Fuego, the Islas Diego Ramírez, and Chile's claim in Antarctica. This book lists the Antarctic claim under Antarctica.

Chile and Argentina have had numerous boundary disputes and border adjustments over the years. In one such dispute, three small islands at the eastern end of the Beagle Channel (Islas Lennox, Nueva, and Picton) were awarded to Chile by mediation, effective 1985-05-02.

Origins of names: 

1. Aisén del General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo: Named for President Carlos Ibáñez del Campo (1877-1960).
2. Araucanía: For the native Araucanian or Mapuche Indians.
3. Atacama: For the Atacama Desert, from an ethnic name, possibly from Quechua tacama: black duck
4. Bío-Bío: For the Bío-Bío River (Río Bío-Bío).
5. Coquimbo: Quechua cullqui: silver, tampu: inn
6. Libertador General Bernardo O'Higgins: Named for Bernardo O'Higgins (1776-1842), the liberator of Chile. His birth surname, Chillán, is the name of a former department of Chile in Ñuble province.
7. Los Lagos: Spanish for "the lakes."
8. Los Ríos: Spanish for "the rivers."
9. Magallanes y Antártica Chilena: Spanish for "Magellan and the Chilean Antarctic." Named for the Strait of Magellan, which was named for Ferdinand Magellan (Portuguese: Fernão de Magalhães, ~1480-1521), the navigator who discovered the Strait of Magellan, which passes through this region.
10. Región Metropolitana de Santiago: Spanish for "Metropolitan Region of Santiago." The city was founded in 1541 by Pedro de Valdivia, who named it Santiago del Nuevo Extremo. Santiago was in honor of Saint James, patron saint of Castile; Nuevo Extremo (new limit) referred to it being the farthest point of the conquest at that time.
11. Valparaíso: After the city, which was named in 1536 by its founder, Juan de Saavedra, for his birthplace in Spain. The name was probably originally a contraction of Valle del Paraíso: valley of paradise.

Change history: 

1. 1902: Border between Chile and Argentina in Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego settled through British arbitration.
2. 1927: At the beginning of the century, Chile was divided into 23 provinces. By 1927, one additional territory had been created. There were 82 departamentos (departments) at that time. In 1927, President Carlos Ibáñez del Campo carried out a reform which left sixteen provinces and two territories on the highest administrative level, and 75 departments at the next level. However, the bureaucracy opposed the changes, and gradually reversed them until in 1940 there were 25 provinces (the earlier 23, plus Aysén and Osorno), subdivided into 85 departments, which were further subdivided into 278 municipalities. The 25 provinces remained quite steady, although the departments rose to 89.
3. 1929: Dispute between Chile and Peru over the area around Arica and Tacna resolved: Tacna province transferred from Chile to Peru; Arica remained part of Tarapacá province.
4. 1976-01-01: In another reform, the provinces were re-organized into the 13 regions shown below. For the correspondence between provinces and regions, see under "Population history" below.

1. 1985: Name of Aconcagua region changed to Valparaíso.
2. 2007-10-02: Los Ríos region formed by taking Valdivia province from Los Lagos.
3. 2007-10-08: Arica and Parinacota region formed by taking Arica and Parinacota provinces from Tarapacá.

Other names of subdivisions: 

1. Aisén del General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo: Aisén, Aysén (informal); Aysén del General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo (variant)
2. Araucanía: Araucánia (Portuguese); Araucanie (French); La Araucanía (variant)
3. Arica and Parinacota: Arica y Parinacota (Spanish)
4. Bío-Bío: Bíobío (obsolete)
5. Libertador General Bernardo O'Higgins: Libertador (informal)
6. Los Lagos: Os Lagos (Portuguese)
7. Magallanes y Antártica Chilena: Magalhães (Portuguese); Magellan et Antarctique Chilienne (French); Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena (formal)
8. Región Metropolitana de Santiago: Região Metropolitana de Santiago (Portuguese); Région Metropolitaine de Santiago (French); Región Metropolitana (variant)
9. Valparaíso: Aconcagua (obsolete)

Population history:

Region	1982-04-21	1992-04-22	2002-04-24
Aisén	65,478	82,071	91,492
Antofagasta	341,203	407,409	493,984
Araucanía	692,924	774,959	869,535
Atacama	183,071	230,786	254,336
Bío-Bío	1,516,552	1,729,920	1,861,562
Coquimbo	419,178	502,460	603,210
Libertador	584,989	688,385	780,627
Los Lagos	843,430	953,330	1,073,135
Magallanes	132,333	143,058	150,826
Maule	723,224	834,053	908,097
Santiago	4,294,938	5,170,293	6,061,185
Tarapacá	273,427	341,112	428,594
Valparaíso	1,204,693	1,373,967	1,539,852
13 regions	11,275,440	13,231,803	15,116,435