Rinconada () is a

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

and commune in the Los Andes Province of central

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 ...

Valparaíso Region The Valparaíso Region (, ) is one of Chile's 16 Regions of Chile, first order administrative divisions.Valparaíso Region, 2006 With the country's second-highest population of 1,790,219 , and fourth-smallest area of , the region is Chile's sec ...

. It was created on 18 January 1897 by

Federico Errázuriz Echaurren Federico Errázuriz Echaurren (Santiago, November 16, 1850 – Valparaíso, July 12, 1901) was a Chilean politician who served as the 12th president of Chile. Early life He was son of the president Federico Errázuriz Zañartu and of Eulogia ...

. Since the shrine to house the remains of Saint Teresa of Los Andes was built in the field of Auco, the municipality has become the spiritual capital of Chile due to the large number of pilgrims from all over the country. Behind the sanctuary is the

Monastery of the Holy Spirit The Monastery of the Holy Spirit, officially the Monastery of Our Lady of the Holy Spirit, is a Trappist monastery located near Conyers, Georgia, Conyers, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is part of the Catholic Church. As of 2024, the monastery ...

, where the community of

Discalced Carmelite The Discalced Carmelites, known officially as the Order of the Discalced Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel () or the Order of Discalced Carmelites (; abbrev.: OCD; sometimes called in earlier times, ), is a Catholic mendicant ...

Mothers resides.

Demographics

According to the 2002

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of the National Statistics Institute, Rinconada spans an area of and has 6,692 inhabitants (3,429 men and 3,263 women). Of these, 5,727 (85.6%) lived in

urban area An urban area is a human settlement with a high population density and an infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas originate through urbanization, and researchers categorize them as cities, towns, conurbations or suburbs. In urbani ...

s and 965 (14.4%) in

rural area In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry are typically desc ...

s. The population grew by 16.1% (927 persons) between the 1992 and 2002 censuses.

Administration

As a commune, Rinconada is a third-level

administrative division of Chile The administrative division or territorial organization of Chile exemplifies characteristics of a unitary state. State administration is functionally and geographically decentralized, as appropriate for each authority in accordance with the law ...

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, borough cou ...

, headed by an

alcalde ''Alcalde'' (; ) is the traditional Spanish municipal magistrate, who had both judicial and Administration (government), administrative functions. An ''alcalde'' was, in the absence of a corregidor (position), corregidor, the presiding officer o ...

who is directly elected every four years. The alcalde is Juan Galdames Carmona (

UDI Udi may refer to: Places * Udi, Enugu, a local government areas and city in Nigeria * Udi Hills, Enugu State, Nigeria * Udi, a place in the Etawah district of Uttar Pradesh, India People Given name * Udi Aloni (born 1959), Israeli-American film ...

). The council has the following members: * Rodolfo Figueroa Valle (UDI) * Pedro Caballeria Diaz ( PDC) * David Bustos Bustos (PDC) * Miguel Vargas Peralta (UDI) * Hermann Guerra Aracena ( RN) * Hector Sanchez Farias ( PRSD) Within the

electoral divisions of Chile This article covers the electoral division of Chile, which involves two distinct systems: # Chamber of Deputies of Chile, Chamber of Deputies and Senate of Chile, Senate: Chile is divided into electoral districts and senatorial constituencies for ...

, Rinconada is represented in 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 ...

by Marco Antonio Núñez ( PDC) and Gaspar Rivas ( RN) as part of the 11th electoral district, (together with Los Andes, San Esteban, Calle Larga, San Felipe, Putaendo, Santa María,

Panquehue Panquehue () is a Chilean town and commune in San Felipe de Aconcagua Province, Valparaíso Region. Geography Panquehue spans an area of . Demographics According to the 2002 census of the National Statistics Institute, Panquehue spans an ar ...

, Llaillay and Catemu). The commune is represented in the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

by Ignacio Walker Prieto ( PDC) and

Lily Pérez San Martín ''Lilium'' ( ) is a genus of Herbaceous plant, herbaceous flowering plants growing from bulbs, all with large and often prominent flowers. Lilies are a group of flowering plants which are important in culture and literature in much of the world ...

( RN) as part of the 5th senatorial constituency (Valparaíso-Cordillera).

References

External links

*
Municipality of Rinconada
{{Communes in Valparaíso Region Populated places in Los Andes Province Communes of Chile 1897 establishments in Chile