Melipilla (

Mapudungun Mapuche (, Mapuche & Spanish: , or Mapudungun; from ' 'land' and ' 'speak, speech') is an Araucanian language related to Huilliche spoken in south-central Chile and west-central Argentina by the Mapuche people (from ''mapu'' 'land' and ''che ...

for "four Pillans") 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 eas ...

an commune and

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 fo ...

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 ...

of the province of the same name, located in the

Santiago Metropolitan Region Santiago Metropolitan Region ( es, link=no, Región Metropolitana de Santiago) is one of Chile's 16 first-order administrative divisions. It is the country's only landlocked administrative region and contains the nation's capital, Santiago. Mos ...

southwest of the nation's capital. The commune 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 , it has 108,540 inhabitants. An approximate population of 116,680 inhabitants is estimated in 2015. Melipilla spans an area of . Of these, 60,898 (64.4%) 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 33,642 (35.6%) 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 descr ...

Administration

As a commune, Melipilla 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, rural counc ...

, headed by 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) ...

who is directly elected every four years. The 2016-2020 alcalde is Ivan Campos. The council has the following members: * Darío Jeréz Jeréz (PPD) * Juan Manuel González Alarcón (PDC) * José Guerra Silva (PPD) * Javier Ramírez González (UDI) * Daniel Domínguez (PDC) * Claudio Martínez Medina (PS) * Fernando Pérez Aguirre (UDI) * Alexander Henríquez Armijo (RN) 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 ...

, Melipilla is represented in the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon R ...

by Raúl Leiva (PS),

Marisela Santibáñez Marisela del Carmen Santibáñez Novoa (born 24 April 1975) is a Chilean actress, presenter, and politician of the Communist Party (PCCh). She has been a member of the Chamber of Deputies for District 14 since March 2018. Biography Marisela Santi ...

(PC), Juan Antonio Coloma (UDI), Jaime Bellolio (UDI), Leonardo Soto (PS) and Renato Garín (RD) as part of the 14st electoral district. The commune is represented in the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

by Guido Girardi Lavín (PPD) and Andrés Allamand (RN).

Transport

Melitrén ''Melitrén'', also known as ''Tren del Maipo'' is a planned 61 km commuter railway line in the Chilean capital of Santiago, designed to link it with neighbouring town Melipilla, to be operated by Empresa de los Ferrocarriles del Estado. Backgrou ...

, a

commuter rail Commuter rail, or suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting commuters to a central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Generally commuter rail systems are con ...

line linking Melipilla with

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, whos ...

is currently being planned.

References

External links

*
Municipality of Melipilla
{{Communes in Santiago Metropolitan Region Communes of Chile Populated places established in 1742 Populated places in Melipilla Province Capitals of Chilean provinces 1742 establishments in the Spanish Empire