Valparaíso Region

The Valparaíso Region (, ) is one of Chile's 16 first order administrative divisions.Valparaíso Region, 2006 With the country's second-highest population of 1,896,053 , and fourth-smallest area of , the region is Chile's second most densely populated after the Santiago Metropolitan Region to the southeast. The region also includes Chile's remote islands of the Pacific Ocean, including Rapa Nui and the Juan Fernandez Islands.

Its capital is the port city of Valparaíso; other important cities include Viña del Mar, Quillota, San Felipe, Quilpué, Villa Alemana, and San Antonio.

Administration As a region, Valparaíso is a first-level administrative division. Since 2021, the region is governed by the governor, who is elected by popular vote. The current governor is Rodrigo Mundaca (Broad Front). The Presidential Delegate has been (Independent) since 11 March 2026.

Geography

The region is on the same latitude as the Santiago Metropolitan Region. Its capital is Valparaíso, which is the site for the National Congress of Chile and an important commercial port. Also in this region is the top resort city of Viña del Mar. Additionally, the Pacific islands of Easter Island, Isla Salas y Gómez, the Juan Fernández Islands and the Desventuradas Islands fall under the Valparaíso Region's administration.

The Valparaíso Region is part of the restricted range of the endangered Chilean wine palm (Jubaea chilensis); in prehistoric times, this endemic Chilean tree had a significantly larger range.C. Michael Hogan, 2008

Demographics The Valparaíso Region is populated by 1.89 million inhabitants. The population density reached 94.1 inhabitants/km2. 91.6% of the population lives in urban areas and only 8.4% of the population lives in rural areas.

The most populous municipalities in the region are Valparaíso, with 308,000 inhabitants and Viña del Mar, with 287,000 inhabitants, which together with Villa Alemana, Quilpué and Concón form the Greater Valparaíso, a continuum of 1.75 million people. There are also Quillota, with about 201,000 inhabitants and San Antonio with more than 200,000 inhabitants with estimates at 250,000 to be the region's second-largest city.

Immigration and culture

Valparaíso developed as a trans-oceanic rest stop for fishing ships, sea cruise-liners, and international naval ships. Therefore, a large proportion of residents have a variety of national origins, ethnic groups, and cultures. The 16th-century colonial population was founded by male settlers from the Spanish regions of Andalusia, Asturia and León, and the large Basque contingent has given rise to a substantial Basque Chilean population. Large numbers came from other countries of Latin America from Mexico to Uruguay, esp. came during colonial rule in the 17th century. And in the late 18th–early 19th centuries came a small wave of Galician settlers from the Spanish region of Galicia.

It is thought the majority of Valparaíso's people have some non-Spanish European background, such as: British and Irish, Australians and New Zealanders, North Americans (U.S. or Canadian), Croats and Bosnians, Dutch and Belgians, French, Germans, Greeks, Italians, Portuguese and Scandinavians. Also, there are more or less assimilated groups of Chilean Jews (mostly Ashkenazi), as well as Christians from the Ottoman Empire, primarily Syro-Lebanese and a large Palestinian community in the town of La Calera.

In racial terms, the majority of Valparaíso's inhabitants are castizos, meaning that their paternal origins are overwhelmingly from white whalers, settlers and traders of various European nationalities, including colonial Spanish settlers, while their maternal origins usually stems from unions between colonial Spanish men and local indigenous women, including those of Mapuche, Inca, Aymara and North American Indian descent (transplanted Cherokees are reported to come in the late 19th century, though it could well be a myth). Smaller numbers of East Asians, mostly Chinese, Japanese or Korean, minuscule numbers of Afro-Chileans, as well as a component of Polynesians whose ancestors were kidnapped from Easter Island and the Marquesas Islands, further added to the region's Hispanicized melting pot.

Economics and industry The Valparaíso Region is a host of agricultural lands, wine producers, and industrial activity such as copper mining and cement. Chile's largest oil refinery is located in Concón (on the mouth of the Aconcagua River and about north of Valparaíso) and there are two important copper ore refineries: the state-owned Ventanas (on the coast and north of Concón) and the private works in Chagres, about inland.

The region also is a hub for chemicals and gas storage near the port of Quintero. In the interior valleys, there is a booming export industry, mainly around the avocado (palta), chirimoyas and flowers. The most striking recent development has been the cultivation of hillsides using high-tech drip feed irrigation. This has allowed otherwise dry and unproductive land to bear high yields.

Provinces and communes + Region Province Commune Area(km2) 2002Population WebsiteValparaísoIsla de Pascua Isla de Pascua 164 3,791 link Los Andes San Esteban 1,362 14,400 link Rinconada 123 6,692 link Los Andes 1,248 60,198 link Calle Larga 322 10,393 linkMarga Marga Villa Alemana 97 95,623 link Quilpué 537 128,578 link Limache 294 39,219 link Olmué 232 14,105 link Petorca Zapallar 288 5,659 link Petorca 1,517 9,440 link Papudo 166 4,608 link La Ligua 1,163 31,987 link Cabildo 1,455 18,916 link Quillota Quillota 302 75,916 link Nogales 405 21,633 link La Cruz 78 12,851 link La Calera 61 49,503 link Hijuelas 267 16,014 link San Antonio Santo Domingo 536 7,418 link San Antonio 405 87,205 link El Tabo 99 7,028 link El Quisco 51 9,467 link Cartagena 346 16,875 link Algarrobo 176 8,601 link San Felipe Santa María 166 12,813 link San Felipe 186 64,126 link Putaendo 1,474 14,649 link Panquehue 122 6,567 link Llaillay 349 21,644 link Catemu 362 12,112 link Valparaíso Viña del Mar 122 286,931 link Valparaíso 402 275,982 link Quintero 148 21,174 link Puchuncaví 300 12,954 link Concón 76 32,273 link Casablanca 953 21,874 link Juan Fernández 148 633 link

Valparaíso Region

Bron en licentie