Talagante () is a

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

and the

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 f ...

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 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 ...

of central

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 ...

. The word ''Talagante'' in

Quechua Quechua may refer to: *Quechua people, several indigenous ethnic groups in South America, especially in Peru *Quechuan languages, a Native South American language family spoken primarily in the Andes, derived from a common ancestral language **So ...

comes from ''talacanta'', meaning "Lazo de Hechicero", which was the proper name of the ''

curaca A ''kuraka'' (Quechua for the principal governor of a province or a communal authority in the Tawantinsuyu), or curaca (hispanicized spelling), was an official of the Inca Empire who held the role of magistrate, about four levels down from the Sa ...

'', or ruler, who dominated this central valley on behalf of the

Inca empire The Inca Empire (also known as the Incan Empire and the Inka Empire), called ''Tawantinsuyu'' by its subjects, (Quechua for the "Realm of the Four Parts", "four parts together" ) was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The admin ...

during the arrival of the Spaniards.

Geography

Talagante can be found in the

Chilean Central Valley The Central Valley ( es, Valle Central), Intermediate Depression, or Longitudinal Valley is the depression between the Chilean Coastal Range and the Andes Mountains. The Chilean Central Valley extends from the border with Peru to Puerto Montt in ...

at an elevation of , to the southwest of the national capital of

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, whose ...

. 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 incl ...

of the

National Statistics Institute National Institute of Statistics may refer to: *National Institute of Statistics of Bolivia *National Institute of Statistics of Cambodia *National Institute of Statistics and Census of Costa Rica *National Institute of Statistics and Census of Nica ...

, Talagante spans an area of and has 59,805 inhabitants (29,468 men and 30,337 women). Of these, 49,957 (83.5%) 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, t ...

s and 9,848 (16.5%) 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 132800% (59,760 persons) between the 1992 and 2002 censuses.

Administration

As a commune, Talagante 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 counci ...

, 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) a ...

who is directly elected every four years. The 2012-2016 alcalde is Raúl Leiva Carvajal (IND), and his council members are: * Luis Silva Pavez ( PDC) * Sebastián Rosas Guerrero ( PS) * Patricio Huerta Moraga ( RN) * María Eugenia Torres Miranda ( PPD) * Félix Donoso Gómez ( PS) * Juan Cartagena Diaz (

UDI Udi may refer to: Places * Udi, Enugu, a local government areas and city in Nigeria * Udi, a place in the Etawah district of Uttar Pradesh, India People * Udi Gal (born 1979), Israeli Olympic sailor * Udi Vaks (born 1979), Israeli Olympic judoka ...

) 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 ...

, Talagante 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 Denise Pascal ( PS) and Gonzalo Uriarte (

) as part of the 31st electoral district, (together with Peñaflor, El Monte,

Isla de Maipo Isla de Maipo is a town and commune of the Talagante Province in central Chile's Santiago Metropolitan Region. Geography Isla de Maipo can be found in the Chilean Central Valley approximately southwest of the metropolitan area of Santiago and ab ...

Melipilla Melipilla (Mapudungun for "four Pillans") is a Chilean commune and capital city of the province of the same name, located in the Santiago Metropolitan Region southwest of the nation's capital. The commune spans an area of . Demographics Accord ...

, María Pinto,

Curacaví Curacaví () is a city and commune in the Melipilla Province of central Chile's Santiago Metropolitan Region. Its climate is temperate Mediterranean with a long dry season, experiencing high temperatures in summer and low temperatures in winter. C ...

Alhué Alhué () is a Chilean town and commune located in Melipilla Province, Santiago Metropolitan Region. Demographics According to the 2002 census of the National Statistics Institute, Alhué spans an area of and has 4,435 inhabitants (2,343 men an ...

, San Pedro and

Padre Hurtado Padre Hurtado () is a Chilean commune in the Talagante Province, in the Metropolitan Region. Part of the Greater Santiago conurbation and one of the outermost communes of it, the commune is named after Saint Alberto Hurtado, who was popularly k ...

). 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 Jovino Novoa Vásquez (UDI) as part of the 7th senatorial constituency (Santiago-West). All of these have been owned by the mayor Emmanuel Acuna.

References

External links

*
Municipality of Talagante
{{Authority control Communes of Chile Populated places in Talagante Province Capitals of Chilean provinces 1837 establishments in Chile