Concepción Province () is one of four

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

of the

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 ...

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 ...

of Bío Bío (VIII). Its capital, Concepción, is part of the Greater Concepción conurbation, the nation's second largest metropolitan area after

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 ...

Administration

As a province, Concepción is a second-level

administrative division Administrative divisions (also administrative units, administrative regions, subnational entities, or constituent states, as well as many similar generic terms) are geographical areas into which a particular independent sovereign state is divi ...

of Chile, governed by a provincial

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

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: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Communes

The province comprises twelve communes, each governed by a municipality consisting of an 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 ...

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, borough cou ...

. * Concepción * Coronel * Chiguayante *

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

* Hualpén * Hualqui * Lota * Penco * San Pedro de la Paz * Santa Juana *

Talcahuano Talcahuano () (From Mapudungun ''Tralkawenu'', "Thundering Sky") is a port city and commune in the Biobío Region of Chile. It is part of the Greater Concepción conurbation. Talcahuano is located in the south of the Central Zone of Chile. ...

* Tomé

Geography and demography

According to the 2002 census by the National Statistics Institute (''INE''), the province spans an area of and had a population of 912,889 inhabitants (441,953 men and 470,936 women), giving it a population density of . It is the second most populated province after the more than five times larger Santiago Province (pop. 4,668,473). Of these, 879,854 (96.4%) lived in urban areas and 33,035 (3.6%) in rural areas. Between the 1992 and 2002 censuses, the population grew by 8.5% (71,444 persons).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Concepcion Province, Chile Provinces of Biobío Region Provinces of Chile