Toltén 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 ...

an commune located at the lower flows Toltén River at the southern coast of

Cautín Province Cautín Province () is one of two Provinces of Chile, provinces in the southern Chilean Regions of Chile, region of La Araucanía Region, La Araucanía (IX), bounded on the north by Arauco Province, Arauco and Malleco Province, Malleco provinces, ...

which is part of

Araucanía Region The Araucanía ( ), La Araucanía Region ( ) is one of Chile's 16 first-order administrative divisions, and comprises two provinces: Malleco in the north and Cautín in the south. Its capital and largest city is Temuco; other important cities ...

. The commune is administered by the municipality

Nueva Toltén Nueva Toltén is a Chilean town in Toltén commune, Cautín Province, Araucania Region. It is located near the mouth of the Toltén River that drains Villarrica Lake, and is also SW of Temuco. Nueva Toltén was founded after the original comm ...

, the main harbour and town within the commune.

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, Toltén spans an area of and has 11,216 inhabitants (5,827 men and 5,389 women). Of these, 4,123 (36.8%) 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 7,093 (63.2%) 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 7% (845 persons) between the 1992 and 2002 censuses. The main settlements are Nueva Toltén, Queule, Villa Los Boldos and Los Pinos.

Administration

As a commune, Toltén 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 2008–2012 alcalde is Rafael García Ferlice ( 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 ...

, Toltén 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 René Manuel García ( RN) and Fernando Meza ( PRSD) as part of the 52nd electoral district, together with Cunco, Pucón, Curarrehue, Villarrica, Loncoche and Gorbea. 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 José Garcia Ruminot ( RN) and Eugenio Tuma Zedan ( PPD) as part of the 15th senatorial constituency (Araucanía-South).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tolten Communes of Chile Populated places in Cautín Province 1866 establishments in Chile Coasts of Araucanía Region es:Toltén it:Toltén nl:Toltén pt:Toltén ru:Тольтен