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Updates: 

The Ministry of Energy announced on 2015-01-28 that Chile would remain on summer time all year long, starting in 2015. On 2016-03-13, it reconsidered and reinstated the seasonal alternation. Henceforth Chile will observe standard time from the second Saturday in May to the second Saturday in August.

A census was taken in 2012, but the data were known to be corrupt. Not one, but two international commissions were called to consult on ways to restore integrity to the census results. This was Chile's first census to be taken on a de jure rather than de facto basis. Results have now been published, including "calculated" and "enumerated" (cuantaficada, censada) populations; the calculated population is equal to the enumerated plus the estimated number absent from their dwelling. The instructions say to use the calculated population for a fair comparison with earlier censuses, and I have done so in the table below.

Update 13 to Geopolitical Entities and Codes (formerly FIPS 10-4) is dated 2013-09-30. It changes the names of two regions from "Aisén del General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo" to "Aysén" and "Bío-Bío" to "Biobío." On 2014-10-29, ISO 3166-2 made the same change.

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. They are covered by FIPS PUB 10-4 Change Notice 13, dated 2008-02-04, and by Newsletter II-2, an update to the ISO 3166-2 standard, dated 2010-06-30.

Country overview: 

Short name	CHILE
ISO code	CL
GEC code	CI
Language	Spanish (es)
Time zone	-4~ (see note)
Capital	Santiago

 

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 Salas 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. Russian: Республика Чили (formal)
12. Spanish: Chile m, República f de Chile m (formal)
13. Swedish: Chile
14. Turkish: Şili Cumhuriyeti (formal)

Origin of name: 

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

Primary subdivisions: 

Chile is divided into sixteen regiones (regions).

Region	HASC	ISO	GEC	Rom	Population	Area(km.²)	Area(mi.²)	Capital
Aisén del General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo	CL.AI	AI	CI02	XI	94,271	108,494	41,890	Coihaique
Antofagasta	CL.AN	AN	CI03	II	530,879	126,049	48,668	Antofagasta
Araucanía	CL.AR	AR	CI04	IX	889,492	31,842	12,294	Temuco
Arica and Parinacota	CL.AP	AP	CI16	XV	212,813	16,873	6,515	Arica
Atacama	CL.AT	AT	CI05	III	284,992	75,176	29,026	Copiapó
Bío-Bío	CL.BI	BI	CI06	VIII	1,950,482	37,069	14,312	Concepción
Coquimbo	CL.CO	CO	CI07	IV	687,806	40,580	15,668	La Serena
Libertador General Bernardo O'Higgins	CL.LI	LI	CI08	VI	851,406	16,387	6,327	Rancagua
Los Lagos	CL.LG	LL	CI14	X	767,714	48,584	18,758	Puerto Montt
Los Ríos	CL.LR	LR	CI17	XIV	364,183	18,430	7,116	Valdivia
Magallanes y Antártica Chilena	CL.MA	MA	CI10	XII	155,332	132,291	51,078	Punta Arenas
Maule	CL.ML	ML	CI11	VII	955,048	30,296	11,697	Talca
Ñuble	CL.NB			XVI	480,609	13,178	5,088	Chillán
Región Metropolitana de Santiago	CL.RM	RM	CI12		6,604,835	15,403	5,947	Santiago
Tarapacá	CL.TP	TA	CI15	I	295,095	42,226	16,303	Iquique
Valparaíso	CL.VS	VS	CI01	V	1,697,581	16,396	6,331	Valparaíso
16 regions					16,341,929	756,096	291,930
Region: In the tables that follow, I will use shorter forms of the four longest region names. HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes. ISO: Codes from ISO 3166-2. GEC: Codes from GEC. Rom: Chile uses Roman numerals for the regions other than Santiago, sequenced from north to south. Population: 2012-04-09 census (source [7]). Area: Excludes Chile's Antarctic claim (Source [4]).

 

Note that Chile omitted Roman numeral XIII. However, the INE census code for Region Metropolitana is 13.

Further subdivisions:

See the Provinces of Chile page.

The sixteen regiones are divided into 57 provincias (provinces), which are further subdivided into comunas (municipalities). There were 335 municipalities in 1995, 345 in 2004, 346 in 2012.

According to source [1], 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

Source [4] lists somewhat different "natural units". Norte Grande and Norte Chico are as above. Zona Central is equal to Núcleo Central plus Bío-Bío. Zona Austral is equal to Las Canales minus Chiloé province. The rest of the country is Zona Sul.

Territorial extent: 

Región Metropolitana de Santiago is the only landlocked region. All the others have a Pacific coastline.

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 Salas 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.

The UN LOCODE page  for Chile lists locations in the country, some of them with their latitudes and longitudes, some with their ISO 3166-2 codes for their subdivisions. This information can be put together to approximate the territorial extent of subdivisions.

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 (source [2]). The 25 provinces are listed under "Population history" below.
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.

Region	HASC	FIPS	Rom	Population	Area(km.²)	Capital	Former provinces
Aconcagua	CL.VS	CI01	V	1,539,852	16,378	Valparaíso	Aconcagua, Valparaíso, part of Santiago
Aisén del General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo	CL.AI	CI02	XI	91,492	107,153	Coihaique	Aysén, small part of Chiloé
Antofagasta	CL.AN	CI03	II	493,984	125,306	Antofagasta	most of Antofagasta
Araucanía	CL.AR	CI04	IX	869,535	32,472	Temuco	Cautín, Malleco
Atacama	CL.AT	CI05	III	254,336	78,268	Copiapó	most of Atacama
Bío-Bío	CL.BI	CI06	VIII	1,861,562	36,007	Concepción	Arauco, Bío-Bío, Concepción, Ñuble
Coquimbo	CL.CO	CI07	IV	603,210	39,647	La Serena	Coquimbo, small part of Atacama
Libertador General Bernardo O'Higgins	CL.LI	CI08	VI	780,627	15,950	Rancagua	Colchagua, O'Higgins, small part of Santiago
Los Lagos	CL.LL	CI09	X	1,073,135	69,039	Puerto Montt	Llanquihue, Osorno, Valdivia, most of Chiloé
Magallanes y Antártica Chilena	CL.MA	CI10	XII	150,826	43,363	Punta Arenas	Magallanes
Maule	CL.ML	CI11	VII	908,097	30,518	Talca	Curicó, Linares, Maule, Talca
Región Metropolitana de Santiago	CL.RM	CI12		6,061,185	15,782	Santiago	most of Santiago
Tarapacá	CL.TA	CI13	I	428,594	58,073	Iquique	Tarapacá, small part of Antofagasta
13 regions				15,116,435	736,903
Region: In the tables that follow, I will use shorter forms of the four longest region names. HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes. If periods are replaced by hyphens, these are the same as the region codes from ISO standard 3166-2. FIPS: Codes from FIPS PUB 10-4. Rom: Chile uses Roman numerals for the regions other than Santiago, sequenced from north to south. Population: 2002-04-24 census. Source: INE Chile. Former provinces: Provinces that were reorganized into this region.

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.
4. 2017-08-02: Ñuble region formed by taking the provinces of Diguillín, Itata, and Punilla from Biobio region (former HASC code CL.BI). These changes are to be implemented 2018-09-08. See source [9].

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: Biobío (variant)
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	2012-04-09
Aisén	65,478	82,071	91,492	94.271
Antofagasta	341,203	407,409	493,984	530.879
Araucanía	692,924	774,959	869,535	889.492
Arica y Parinacota				212.813
Atacama	183,071	230,786	254,336	284.992
Bío-Bío	1,516,552	1,729,920	1,861,562	1.950.482
Coquimbo	419,178	502,460	603,210	687.806
Libertador	584,989	688,385	780,627	851.406
Los Lagos	843,430	953,330	1,073,135	767.714
Los Ríos				364.183
Magallanes	132,333	143,058	150,826	155.332
Maule	723,224	834,053	908,097	955.048
Santiago	4,294,938	5,170,293	6,061,185	6.604.835
Tarapacá	273,427	341,112	428,594	295.095
Valparaíso	1,204,693	1,373,967	1,539,852	1.697.581
13 regions	11,275,440	13,231,803	15,116,435	16.341.929

 

Province	Area(km.²)	1910	1940	1952-04-24	1957-06	1970-04-22	Capital
Aconcagua	10,204	132,730	118,049	128,378	154,075	161,262	San Felipe
Antofagasta	123,063	118,718	145,147	184,824	221,820	251,906	Antofagasta
Arauco	5,756	62,259	66,107	72,289	86,758	98,784	Lebu
Atacama	79,883	65,118	84,312	80,113	96,152	152,616	Copiapó
Aysén	88,984	42,925	17,014	26,262	31,518	48,858	Puerto Aysén
Bío-Bío	11,248	100,495	127,312	138,292	165,975	193,508	Los Ángeles
Cautín	17,370	161,935	374,659	365,072	438,149	422,810	Temuco
Chiloé	23,446	91,657	101,706	100,687	120,844	111,194	Ancud
Colchagua	8,431	159,421	131,248	139,531	167,459	168,516	San Fernando
Concepción	5,701	225,054	308,241	411,566	493,950	644,091	Concepción
Coquimbo	39,889	178,731	245,609	262,169	314,647	340,215	La Serena
Curicó	5,737	108,120	81,185	89,432	107,333	114,654	Curicó
Linares	9,820	111,773	134,968	146,257	175,534	189,403	Linares
Llanquihue	18,407	113,285	117,225	139,986	168,005	199,314	Puerto Montt
Magallanes	135,418	23,650	48,813	55,119	66,258	89,443	Punta Arenas
Malleco	14,277	113,020	154,174	159,419	191,330	177,089	Angol
Maule	5,626	115,568	70,497	72,181	86,629	82,863	Cauquenes
Ñuble	14,211	169,858	243,185	251,342	301,654	316,962	Chillán
O'Higgins	7,112	94,257	200,297	224,593	269,549	306,870	Rancagua
Osorno	9,083		107,341	123,059	147,693	160,159	Osorno
Santiago	17,422	546,599	1,268,505	1,754,954	2,106,249	3,230,790	Santiago
Talca	9,640	132,730	157,141	173,693	208,463	232,210	Talca
Tarapacá	55,287	115,940	104,097	102,789	123,365	174,981	Iquique
Valdivia	20,934	131,751	191,642	232,647	279,215	277,934	Valdivia
Valparaíso	4,818	299,466	425,065	498,254	597,990	738,336	Valparaíso
Total	741,767	3,415,060	5,023,539	5,932,995	7,120,614	8,884,768
Data for 1910 and 1957 are estimates; the others are census data. 1910 population of Tacna province (now part of Peru) is included in Aysén. 1970: Adjustment for undercount, which is estimated to be 4.8%, not included.

Sources: 

1. [1] Encyclopædia Britannica, 15th Edition, Chicago, 1984: Chile article
2. [2] "Intendentes y Gobernadores, Organos de Gobierno Interior", by Hernán Figueroa Escuti, Editorial Juridica de Chile, Santiago, 1953.
3. [3] 1940 population data from "Chile XI Censo de Población (1940)", Centro Latino de Demografia.
4. [4] División Político Administrativa y Censal 2007 , Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas (INE: National Statistics Institute) (long download).
5. [5] Library of Congress country study  (retrieved 1999).
6. [6] 1979 Demographic Yearbook , 31st Ed. Statistical Office, United Nations, New York, 1980 (retrieved 2011-12-28).
7. [7] Resultados, XVIII Censo de Población 2012 , Tomo I. INE (retrieved 2014-03-17).
8. [8] "Isla de Pascua y Juan Fernández serán territorios especiales." La Nación (http://www.lanacion.cl/prontus_noticias/site/artic/20070606/pags/20070606162046.html#, dead link, dated 2007-06-06, retrieved 2008-03-06).
9. [9] Creates the XVI Region of Ñuble and the Provinces of Ovinces of Diguillín, Punillia abd Itata  (retrieved 2018-03-13).

Acknowledgments: 

1. Sorin Cosoveanu
   2018-03-13 - Alerted us to the creation of three new provinces and the new region of Ñuble passed 2017-08-02. It will be implemented on 2018-09-08.