The Peralillo Department () was a proposed

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

an department in September 1972 by President

Salvador Allende Gossens Salvador Guillermo Allende Gossens (26 June 1908 – 11 September 1973) was a Chilean socialist politician who served as the 28th president of Chile from 1970 until his death in 1973. As a socialist committed to democracy, he has been describ ...

, with the purpose of de-centralizing the

Santa Cruz Department Santa Cruz () is the largest of the nine constituent departments of Bolivia, occupying about one-third (33.74%) of the country's territory. With an area of , it is slightly smaller than Japan or the US state of Montana. It is located in the ...

Peralillo Peralillo is a Chilean town and commune in Colchagua Province, O'Higgins Region. Demographics According to the 2002 census of the National Statistics Institute, Peralillo spans an area of and has 9,729 inhabitants (5,007 men and 4,722 women). ...

was proposed as the capital of the department by the Member of the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourb ...

Héctor Ríos. The communes which were proposed to form the department were the capital,

Marchigüe Marchigüe (), sometimes spelled Marchihue (), is a Chilean town and commune in the Cardenal Caro Province of Chile's sixth region of O'Higgins. Demographics According to the 2002 census of the National Statistics Institute, Marchigüe spans a ...

Pichilemu Pichilemu (, ), originally known as Pichilemo, is a beach resort cities in Chile, city and communes of Chile, commune in central Chile, and capital of Cardenal Caro Province in the O'Higgins Region. The commune comprises an urban centre and tw ...

, Rosario Lo Solís (now Litueche), La Estrella and

Pumanque Pumanque is a Chilean commune in Colchagua Province, O'Higgins Region. Demographics According to the 2002 census of the National Statistics Institute, Pumanque spans an area of and has 3,442 inhabitants (1,793 men and 1,649 women), making the ...

. The project of the Peralillo Department, however, was rejected, and the

Cardenal Caro Department Cardenal Caro Department () was one of the departments of Chile located in Colchagua Province. Background There were several attempts to create a department made up by the coastal communes of the province of Colchagua, including a proposal in the 1 ...

was created instead, with

as the capital, on 13 July 1973, by decree of President Allende.

References

Former departments of Chile Colchagua (historical province) {{O'Higgins-geo-stub