Casablanca (), meaning "white house", is a

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 ...

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

and commune located in Valparaíso Province,

Valparaíso Region The Valparaíso Region ( es, Región de Valparaíso, links=no, ) is one of Chile's 16 first order administrative divisions.Valparaíso Region, 2006 With the country's second-highest population of 1,790,219 , and fourth-smallest area of , ...

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 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, wh ...

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 is a green-skinned grape variety that originates from the Bordeaux region of France. The grape most likely gets its name from the French words ''sauvage'' ("wild") and ''blanc'' ("white") due to its early origins as an indigenous grape in ...

and

Chardonnay Chardonnay (, , ) is a green-skinned grape variety used in the production of white wine. The variety originated in the Burgundy wine region of eastern France, but is now grown wherever wine is produced, from England to New Zealand. For new a ...

. The commune of Casablanca spans an area of .

Demographics

According to the 2002

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses inc ...

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, built-up area or urban agglomeration is a human settlement with a high population density and infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas are created through urbanization and are categorized by urban morphology as cities, ...

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 typically are descri ...

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, 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 of th ...

. The 2008-2012 alcalde is Manuel Jesús Vera Delgado. 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 Chile has two distinct electoral division systems: * To elect members of the Chamber of Deputies and of the Senate, Chile is divided into several electoral divisions, namely electoral districts and senatorial constituencies. * To elect members of t ...

, 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 primarily used to identify where the grapes for a wine were grown, although other types of food often have appellations as well. Restrictions other than geographical boun ...

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 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 ...

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

Sauvignon Blanc is a green-skinned grape variety that originates from the Bordeaux region of France. The grape most likely gets its name from the French words ''sauvage'' ("wild") and ''blanc'' ("white") due to its early origins as an indigenous grape in ...

and

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

Equator The equator is a circle of latitude, about in circumference, that divides Earth into the Northern and Southern hemispheres. It is an imaginary line located at 0 degrees latitude, halfway between the North and South poles. The term can al ...

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:

, Pinot Noir,

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

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