Retiro is a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

and commune in

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 ...

, located in Linares Province, in the seventh

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 Maule.

Geography

Retiro is located to the south of

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 ...

, to the south of the city of Linares (the provincial capital), and 15 km to the north of the city of Parral. The municipality has a surface of and is bordered by San Javier and Longaví on the north, by Parral on the south, by Cauquenes ( Province of Cauquenes), on the west and by Longaví on the east.

History

The commune was founded officially on December 22, 1891. President

Ramón Barros Luco Ramón Barros Luco (; June 9, 1835 – September 20, 1919) was President of Chile between 1910 and 1915. Barros Luco was born in 1835 in Santiago, Barros Luco was son of Ramón Luis Barros Fernández and Dolores Luco Fernández de Leiva. He gra ...

owned a manor house in this area. Retiro was, therefore, visited frequently by well-known politicians and statesmen of the time, and in general by those that contributed to the decision-making process in the country affairs. The name of "Retiro" (''Retirement'') was given to the commune on account of being the place of retirement - leisure - of President Barros Luco.

Demography

According to data from the 2002 Census of Population and Housing, the population of the commune of Retiro was 18,487; of these, 4,708 (25.4%) lived in

urban area An urban area is a human settlement with a high population density and an infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas originate through urbanization, and researchers categorize them as cities, towns, conurbations or suburbs. In urbani ...

s and 13,779 (74.5%) 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 are typically desc ...

s. At that time, there were 9,036 women and 9,451, men. The town of Retiro, has 3,300 inhabitants, whereas Copihue, the second most populated locality in the commune has 1,300 and the village of Villaseca, slightly more than 300. Between 1992 and 2002, the communal population dropped by 6.2% from its 1992 population of 19,703 (a drop of 1,216 persons). During the same period of time, the population of the town of Retiro grew only marginally (70 people).

Economy

Agriculture, in particular

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink made from Fermentation in winemaking, fermented fruit. Yeast in winemaking, Yeast consumes the sugar in the fruit and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Wine is most often made f ...

producing and

cereal A cereal is a grass cultivated for its edible grain. Cereals are the world's largest crops, and are therefore staple foods. They include rice, wheat, rye, oats, barley, millet, and maize ( Corn). Edible grains from other plant families, ...

s cultivation constitutes the main economic activity of Retiro. The commune lies within the Maule Valley subregion of the Viticultural Region of the Central Valley of Chile.

Environs

In the area of Copihue (in the southern border of the commune, next to the

Pan-American Highway The Pan-American Highway is a vast network of roads that stretches about 30,000 kilometers (about 19,000 miles) from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, in the northernmost part of North America to Ushuaia, Argentina, at the southern tip of South America. I ...

or Ruta 5 Sur), lies the larger poplar wood of the country. It is owned by the "Compañía Chilena de Fósforos".

Administration

As a commune, Retiro 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, borough cou ...

, headed by an

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 ...

who is directly elected every four years. The 2008-2012 alcalde is Patricio Contreras Contreras ( PDC). Within the

electoral divisions of Chile This article covers the electoral division of Chile, which involves two distinct systems: # Chamber of Deputies of Chile, Chamber of Deputies and Senate of Chile, Senate: Chile is divided into electoral districts and senatorial constituencies for ...

, Retiro 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 Bourb ...

by Guillermo Ceroni ( PPD) and Ignacio Urrutia ( UDI) as part of the 40th electoral district, together with Longaví, Parral, Cauquenes, Pelluhue and Chanco. 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 Hernán Larraín (UDI) and Ximena Rincón González (PDC) as part of the 11th senatorial constituency (Maule-South).

References

{{Communes in Maule Region Populated places in Linares Province Communes of Chile Populated places established in 1937