Casablanca (), meaning "white house", 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 located in Valparaíso Province, Valparaíso Region.

Geography

The city of Casablanca is located on Route 68 between

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

and the city of Valparaíso, at about 30 minutes southeast of Valparaíso and 50 minutes northwest of Santiago traveling by car. It is a region known for white wine grapes, especially Sauvignon blanc and Chardonnay. The commune of Casablanca spans an area of .

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, Casablanca spans an area of and has 21,874 inhabitants (11,127 men and 10,747 women). Of these, 15,209 (69.5%) 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 6,665 (30.5%) 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 31.9% (5,284 persons) between the 1992 and 2002 censuses.

Administration

As a commune, Casablanca 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 ...

, which is headed by a directly elected

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 ...

. The 2021-2024 mayor is Francisco Riquelme López (FA). The communal council has the following members: * Rodrigo Martínez Roca * Roberto Burgos González * Pedro Caussade Pitté * Ángel Poggi Saa * Laura Reyes Salazar * Enrique Heck Escalante 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 ...

, Casablanca belongs to the 15th electoral district and 6th senatorial constituency.

Casablanca Valley wine region

The Casablanca Valley is a wine-producing region 75 km (47 mi) northwest of

. It is a Denomination of Origin (DO) defined by the Chilean

Appellation An appellation is a legally defined and protected geographical indication used to identify where the ingredients of a food or beverage originated, most often used for the origin of wine grapes. Restrictions other than geographical boundaries, s ...

system, the legally defined and protected geographical indication used to identify where the grapes for a wine were grown. The valley takes its name from the commune of Casablanca and stretches roughly 30 km (19 miles) east-west from eastern border of the Valparaíso province in the Valparaíso

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

. Vines were first planted here in the mid-1980s during the revitalization of the Chilean wine industry and it quickly became known for its white wines, most notably Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay, as well as

Pinot Noir Pinot noir (), also known as Pinot nero, is a red-wine grape variety of the species ''Vitis vinifera''. The name also refers to wines created predominantly from Pinot noir grapes. The name is derived from the French language, French words fo ...

, which thrives in its cooler climate. Although the valley is located at 33°S, much closer to the

Equator The equator is the circle of latitude that divides Earth into the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Southern Hemisphere, Southern Hemispheres of Earth, hemispheres. It is an imaginary line located at 0 degrees latitude, about in circumferen ...

than any European vineyard, viticulture here is possible because of the cooling influence of the Pacific Ocean, in the shape of cool morning fog and greater cloud cover than is found elsewhere in the north of Chile.

Grape distribution by varietal

* Climate: Cool Mediterranean climate with pronounced maritime influence. 540 mm (21.2 in) of rain per year. * Soils: clay and sandy soils. * Primary grapes: Chardonnay,

, Sauvignon Blanc. * Total hectares planted: 1,429 ha (3531 acres).Casablanca Valley distribution chart
www.winesofchile.org retrieved October 10, 2013

Sister city relations

* – Napa, California, USA

References

External links

*
Municipality of Casablanca
{{Authority control Communes of Chile Populated places in Valparaíso Province Wine regions of Chile 1753 establishments in the Spanish Empire