Río Negro (, English: ''Black River'') is a

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 ...

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

Osorno Province Osorno Province () is one of the four provinces in the southern Chilean region of Los Lagos (X). The province has an area of and a population of 221,496 distributed across seven communes ( Spanish: ''comunas''). The provincial capital is the c ...

Los Lagos Region Los Lagos Region ( , 'Region of the Lakes') is one of regions of Chile, Chile's 16 regions, which are first order administrative divisions, and comprises four provinces: Chiloé Province, Chiloé, Llanquihue Province, Llanquihue, Osorno Provin ...

. The city is located 38 km south of Osorno and 6 km west of Route 5. It has an area of 1,266 km² and a population of 14,732 inhabitants (7,204 women and 7,528 men according to census 2002). The commune is bordered on the north by Osorno and

San Juan de la Costa San Juan de la Costa is a commune of Chile, located in the Osorno Province in the Los Lagos Region. The administration (municipalidad) is located at the hamlet of Puaucho, 34 km west of Osorno. San Juan de la Costa is known for a large prop ...

, on the east by Puerto Octay, on the west by the Pacific Ocean, and on the south by Purranque.

History

In the 19th century, the commune was a property located between Chahuilco and Purranque called ''Curileufu'' by the Huilliche. The town was founded on lands donated by Jose Miguel Alderete in the year 1896. The first

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 ...

(mayor) was Pedro González.

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, Río Negro spans an area of and has 14,732 inhabitants (7,528 men and 7,204 women). Of these, 6,583 (44.7%) 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 8,149 (55.3%) 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 fell by 8.1% (1294 persons) between the 1992 and 2002 censuses.

Administration

As a commune, Río Negro 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

who is directly elected every four years. The 2008-2012 alcalde is Carlos Schwalm Urzúa ( RN). The council has the following members: * Carlos Kusch ( UDI) * Pedro Carreño ( PDC) * Jaime Ramos ( Ind.- PS) * Patricio Alvarado (Ind.- RN) * Juan Saldivia Quintullanca (Ind.- PRI) * Rosiel del Río (Ind.-UDI) 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 ...

, Río Negro 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 Fidel Espinoza (PS) and Carlos Recondo (UDI) as part of the 56th electoral district, together with Puyehue, Purranque, Puerto Octay, Fresia, Frutillar, Llanquihue, Puerto Varas and Los Muermos. 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 Camilo Escalona Medina (PS) and Carlos Kuschel Silva (RN) as part of the 17th senatorial constituency (Los Lagos Region).

Localities and sectors

* Riachuelo *Chifin *Huellelhue Beach * Huilma *Millantué *Chan-Chan *Chahuilco *Ñancuan *Tres Esteros *Río Blanco *El Bolsón

Climate

The climate is oceanic (

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

: Cfb), with average temperatures of 11.4 °C.

References

External links

*
Municipality of Rio Negro
*
Austral Newspaper of Osorno
*
Visiones de Rio Negro Magazine
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rio Negro, Chile Communes of Chile Populated places established in 1896 Populated places in Osorno Province 1896 establishments in Chile