A commune (, ) is the smallest administrative subdivision in Chile. It may contain cities,

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

s, hamlets as well as rural areas. In highly populated areas, such as Santiago, Valparaíso and Concepción, a conurbation may be broken into several communes. In sparsely populated areas, conversely, a commune may cover a substantial rural area together with several settled areas which could range from hamlets to towns or cities. The term "commune" is ambiguous in English, but the word is commonly used in translation for "comuna", although with some controversy among translators. A comuna is similar to a "county" in Anglo-American usage and practice, and may be more universally understood as a "municipality". Each commune or municipality is governed by a directly elected body known as a municipal council (''concejo municipal'') consisting of a mayor (''alcalde'') and a group of councillors (''concejales''), for a period of four years. The communal civil service administration is known as the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

('' municipalidad'') and is headquartered at the mayor's office (''alcaldía''). According to Chilean law, a single municipality may administer one or more communes, though currently, the only such case is the municipality of Cabo de Hornos, which administers the communes of Antártica and Cabo de Hornos.Law 19,726
/ref> Chile's 346 communes are grouped into 56 provinces (, pl. ), which are themselves grouped into 16 regions (, pl. ).

List of communes by region and province

Traditionally, Chilean regions are listed in geographical order starting with the northernmost region, leaving the Santiago Metropolitan Region at the end. The following table lists all Chilean communes, providing a complete list of administrative divisions at all levels. Each commune's municipality website is given along with the area and population from the National Statistics Institute's most recent census conducted in 2002.

References

External links

Municipalities in Chile
directory of official links for each municipality {{DEFAULTSORT:Communes Of Chile Subdivisions of Chile Communes Communes, Chile

List of communes by region and province

See also

References

External links