The Commune of Santiago is the central

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

of the Santiago Province, located at the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Region in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

Central Zone The Central Indo-Aryan languages or Hindi languages are a group of related language varieties Spoken across North India and Central India. These language varieties form the central part of the Indo-Aryan language family, itself a part of the ...

. Locally, Santiago is usually abbreviated ''Stgo.'' It is also called as "Santiago Centro" ''(Downtown Santiago)'' in order to differentiate it from Greater Santiago, a larger entity which includes Santiago Commune along with other 36 communes.

History

The city of Santiago was founded on February 12, 1541 as "Santiago de la Nueva Extremadura" by

Pedro de Valdivia Pedro Gutiérrez de Valdivia or Valdiva (; April 17, 1497 – December 25, 1553) was a Spanish conquistador and the first royal governor of Chile. After serving with the Spanish army in Italy and Flanders, he was sent to South America in 1534, wh ...

. It is officially the provincial, regional and national capital. It encompasses the oldest part of the city —that enclosed by old rail lines—, including downtown, and houses all major government infrastructure, including the government palace

La Moneda Palacio de La Moneda (, ''Palace of the Mint''), or simply La Moneda, is the seat of the President of the Republic of Chile. It also houses the offices of three cabinet ministers: Interior, General Secretariat of the Presidency and General Secre ...

Demographics

According to the 2002

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses in ...

of the National Statistics Institute, the commune has an area of and a population of 200,792 (99,155 men and 101,637 women), giving it a population density of . The population shrank by 13.1% (30,185 persons) in the ten years since the 1992 population of 230,977. In 2002, there were 17,514 households, each with an average income of $38,648 in PPP

US dollar The United States dollar ( symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the officia ...

s in 2006. The commune is subdivided into 29 census districts.

Administration

As a commune, Santiago is a third-level administrative division of Chile administered by a

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...

, headed by a

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

who is directly elected every four years. Since 2021 the mayoress is Irací Hassler ( PCCh). The communal council has the following members: * Dafne Concha Ferrando ( PCCh) * Camila Davagnino Reyes ( PCCh) * Virginia Palma Erpel ( PCCh) * Rosario Carvajal Araya (Ind- PI) * Yasna Tapia Cisternas ( COM) * Ana María Yáñez Varas ( RD) * Marcela Urquiza Díaz (Ind- PEV) * Paola Melo Cea ( PS) * Juan Mena Echeverría ( RN) * Santiago Mekis Arnolds ( RN) Within the electoral divisions of Chile, Santiago is represented in the Chamber of Deputies by Gonzalo Winter ( CS), Lorena Fries ( Unir), Emilia Schneider ( COM), Alejandra Placencia ( PCCh), Helia Molina ( PPD), Jorge Alessandri Vergara ( UDI), María Luisa Cordero (Ind- RN) and Johannes Kaiser ( PLR) as part of the 10th electoral district. The commune is represented in the Senate by Fabiola Campillai Rojas ( Ind), Claudia Pascual ( PCCh), Luciano Cruz Coke ( EVO), Manuel José Ossandon ( RN) and

Rojo Edwards José Manuel Rojo Edwards Silva (born 15 July 1977) is a Chilean politician and civil engineer. Rojo Edwards entered into the center-right party National Renewal in 2009. In december of that year he was elected as deputy for the Araucanía Re ...

( PLR) as part of the 7th senatorial constituency ( Santiago Metropolitan Region).

References

External links

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Municipality of Santiago
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ZIP Code Santiago
{{Authority control Communes of Chile Santiago, Chile Populated places in Santiago Province, Chile 1541 establishments in the Spanish Empire