Diego de Almagro () 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 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 ...

in Chañaral Province, Atacama Region. The commune has an area of . The area is named after

Diego de Almagro Diego de Almagro (; – July 8, 1538), also known as El Adelantado and El Viejo, was a Spanish conquistador known for his exploits in western South America. He participated with Francisco Pizarro in the Spanish conquest of Peru. While subd ...

. Until 1977, the city was named ''Pueblo Hundido'' ("Sunk Town").

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 in ...

of the National Statistics Institute, Diego de Almagro had 18,589 inhabitants (10,031 men and 8,558 women). Of these, 17,674 (95.1%) 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 915 (4.9%) 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 ...

s. The population fell by 32.4-32.4% (8926 persons) between the 1992 and 2002 censuses.

Administration

As a commune, Diego de Almagro is a third-level administrative division of Chile 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 who is directly elected every four years. The 2008-2012 alcalde is Isaias Zavala Torres. The council has the following members: * Egidio Masias Herrera * Maria Torrejon Rojas * Yerko Guerra Rivera * Hector Zamora Garcia * Eliecer Gaytan Pizarro * Mario Araya Rojas Within the electoral divisions of Chile, Diego de Almagro is represented in the Chamber of Deputies by Lautaro Carmona ( PC) and Carlos Vilches ( UDI) as part of the 5th electoral district, (together with Chañaral and

Copiapó Copiapó () is a city and commune in northern Chile, located about 65 kilometers east of the coastal town of Caldera. Founded on December 8, 1744, it is the capital of Copiapó Province and Atacama Region. Copiapó lies about 800 km nort ...

). The commune is represented in the Senate by Isabel Allende Bussi ( PS) and Baldo Prokurica Prokurica ( RN) as part of the 3rd senatorial constituency (Atacama Region).

References

{{Communes in Atacama Region Communes of Chile Populated places in Chañaral Province