El Loa Province () is one of three
provinces
A province is an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outside Italy. The term ''provi ...
of the northern
Chilean region of
Antofagasta
Antofagasta () is a port city in northern Chile, about north of Santiago. It is the capital of Antofagasta Province and Antofagasta Region. According to the 2015 census, the city has a population of 402,669.
Once claimed by Bolivia follo ...
(II). It is named after the longest of
rivers in Chile, the
Loa River
The Loa River (Spanish: Río Loa) is a U-shaped river in Chile's northern Antofagasta Region. At long, it is the country's longest river and the main watercourse in the Atacama Desert.
Course
The Loa's sources are located on Andean mountain sl ...
. The provincial capital is
Calama.
Geography and demography
According to the 2012 census by the
National Statistics Institute (''INE''), the province spans an area of
and had a population of 142,686 inhabitants, giving it a population density of . It is the sixth largest province in the country. Between the 1992 and 2002 censuses, the population grew by 14.9% (18,610 persons).
Communes
*
Calama (capital)
*
Ollagüe
*
San Pedro de Atacama
San Pedro de Atacama is a Chilean town and commune in El Loa Province, Antofagasta Region. It is located east of Antofagasta, some 106 km (60 mi) southeast of Calama and the Chuquicamata copper mine, overlooking the Licancabur volcan ...
References
External links
Delegation of El Loa
{{Authority control
Provinces of Antofagasta Region
Provinces of Chile