Cauquenes Province ( es, Provincia de Cauquenes) is one of four

provinces A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outsi ...

of the central

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

of Maule (VII). The provincial

capital Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used f ...

is the city of

Cauquenes Cauquenes, a city and commune in Chile, is the capital of the Cauquenes Province and is located in the Maule Region. History According to the historical records of Alonso de Ercilla, Cauquenes was originally inhabited by an indigenous community o ...

Geography and demography

The provincial capital, Cauquenes, lies approximately southwest of

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

. According to the 2002 census by the

National Statistics Institute National Institute of Statistics may refer to: *National Institute of Statistics of Bolivia *National Institute of Statistics of Cambodia *National Institute of Statistics and Census of Costa Rica *National Institute of Statistics and Census of Nica ...

(''INE''), the province spans an area of and had a population of 57,088 inhabitants (28,356 men and 28,732 women), giving it a population density of . Of these, 38,660 (67.7%) lived in urban areas and 18,428 (32.3%) in rural areas. Between the 1992 and 2002 censuses, the population grew by 3.3% (1,846 persons).

Administration

As a province, Cachapoal is a second-level

administrative division Administrative division, administrative unit,Article 3(1). country subdivision, administrative region, subnational entity, constituent state, as well as many similar terms, are generic names for geographical areas into which a particular, ind ...

of Chile, governed by a provincial

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

who is appointed by the

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Communes

The province is composed of three communes, each governed by a municipality consisting of an

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

and

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, rural counci ...

, Chanco and

Pelluhue Pelluhue (in Mapudungun: ''land of clams'') is a town and commune in the Cauquenes Province of central Chile's seventh region of Maule. Geography The commune of Pelluhue has an area of and is bordered on the north by Chanco, on the south by C ...

References

{{Authority control Provinces of Maule Region Provinces of Chile