Chiloé Province ( es, Provincia de Chiloé) is one of the 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 ...

in the southern

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 ...

an region of Los Lagos (X). It consists of all of

Chiloé Archipelago The Chiloé Archipelago ( es, Archipiélago de Chiloé, , ) is a group of islands lying off the coast of Chile, in the Los Lagos Region. It is separated from mainland Chile by the Chacao Channel in the north, the Sea of Chiloé in the east and ...

(including

Chiloé Island Chiloé Island ( es, Isla de Chiloé, , ) also known as Greater Island of Chiloé (''Isla Grande de Chiloé''), is the largest island of the Chiloé Archipelago off the west coast of Chile, in the Pacific Ocean. The island is located in southern ...

) with the exception of the

Desertores Islands Desertores Islands are a group of islands in the Sea of Chiloé, between Chiloé Island and the mainland of Chile. They are the easternmost islands of the Chiloé Archipelago. They are administered as part of the Chaitén commune, in the Palena P ...

. The province spans a surface area of . Its capital is Castro, and the seat of the Roman Catholic

bishopric In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

Ancud Ancud () is a city in southern Chile located in the northernmost part of the island and province of Chiloé, in Los Lagos Region. It is the second largest city of Chiloé Archipelago after Castro. The city was established in 1768 to function as ...

Administration

As a province, Chiloé 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 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 ten 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 council ...

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 142,194 inhabitants (71,386 men and 70,808 women), giving it a population density of . Of these, 82,058 (57.7%) lived in urban areas and 60,136 (42.3%) in rural areas. Between the 1992 and 2002 censuses, the population grew by 9.1% (11,805 persons).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chiloe Province . Provinces of Los Lagos Region Provinces of Chile