San Miguel (

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

for "

Saint Michael Michael, also called Saint Michael the Archangel, Archangel Michael and Saint Michael the Taxiarch is an archangel and the warrior of God in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. The earliest surviving mentions of his name are in third- and second- ...

") is a commune of

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 Santiago Province,

Santiago Metropolitan Region Santiago Metropolitan Region () 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. Most commercial and administrative centers are loc ...

. It was founded on August 10, 1896.

History

The history of San Miguel dates back to the 16th century when Gaspar Banda, assistant to the conquistador Diego de Almagro, created a hermitage to Saint Michael the Archangel in this territory in 1575. In 1881, the Iglesia de San Miguel Arcángel was built on the same site as the 1575 hermitage. At the beginning of the 19th century, the place emerged as an agricultural area, with wheat, barley and wine plantations. The land was owned by

Bernardo O'Higgins Bernardo O'Higgins Riquelme (; 20 August 1778 – 24 October 1842) was a Chilean independence leader who freed Chile from Spanish rule in the Chilean War of Independence. He was a wealthy landowner of Basque people, Basque-Spanish people, Spani ...

, liberator and father of the Chilean nation, who used it as his vacation home. Ramón Subercaseaux brought wine strains directly from

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, and his wines acquired international prestige, notably at the Exposition Universelle of 1889 in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. His 1840 house is still preserved as a cultural center and is open to the public. The commune of San Miguel was founded on August 10, 1896. At the beginning of the 20th century, the area began to be urbanized in the style of a European garden city, with large mansions, parks, squares and many trees in the streets. In later years, development followed a more middle-class urban style. In the civic square in front of the city hall, a statue of

José Miguel Carrera José Miguel Carrera Verdugo (; October 15, 1785 – September 4, 1821) was a Chilean general, formerly Spanish military, member of the prominent Carrera family, and considered one of the founders of independent Chile. Carrera was the most impor ...

. The statue was designed by Auguste Dumont, the same sculptor who made the statue of

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

on the Vendôme Column in

Administration

As a commune, San Miguel 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 alcalde's office (''alcaldía'') is located at ''Gran Avenida No. 3418''. The 2024–2028 alcalde is Carol Bown Sepúlveda ( UDI). The communal council has the following members: * Luis Sanhueza Bravo ( RN) * Felipe Guevara Stephens ( RN) * Claudia Rojas Miranda ( UDI) * Eva Merino Garcés ( REP) * Claudio Escobar Oyarzún (Ind) * Gabriel Zúñiga Aravena ( PS) * Viviana Llambias Miranda ( FA) * Carla Santana Bustamante ( PC) San Miguel belongs to the 28th

electoral division An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provid ...

(together with

Pedro Aguirre Cerda Pedro Abelino Aguirre Cerda (; February 6, 1879 – November 25, 1941) was a Chilean political figure, educator, and lawyer who served as the 22nd president of Chile from 1938 until his death in 1941. He was Political moderate, moderate. A me ...

and Lo Espejo) and the 8th senatorial constituency (Santiago East). It 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 ...

of the National Congress by the deputies Guillermo Teillier del Valle ( PCCh) and Pedro Browne Urrejola (RN). It is represented in the Senate by senators Soledad Alvear (PDC) and Pablo Longueira (UDI).

Demographics

According to the 2002

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of the National Statistics Institute, San Miguel spans an area of and has 78,872 inhabitants (37,836 men and 41,036 women), and the commune is an entirely

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 ...

. The population fell by 4.8% (3997 persons) between the 1992 and 2002 censuses. The

demonym A demonym (; ) or 'gentilic' () is a word that identifies a group of people ( inhabitants, residents, natives) in relation to a particular place. Demonyms are usually derived from the name of the place ( hamlet, village, town, city, region, ...

for a person from San Miguel is ''sanmiguelino'' for a man or ''sanmiguelina'' for a woman.

Statistics

*Average annual household income: US$39,670 ( PPP, 2006) *Population below poverty line: 2.5% (2006) *Regional quality of life index: 82.17, high, 6 out of 52 (2005) *

Human Development Index The Human Development Index (HDI) is a statistical composite index of life expectancy, Education Index, education (mean years of schooling completed and expected years of schooling upon entering the education system), and per capita income i ...

: 0.765, 31 out of 341 (2003)

Notable ''sanmiguelinos''

Los Prisioneros Los Prisioneros ("The Prisoners") was a Chilean rock band formed in San Miguel, Chile, San Miguel, Santiago Province, Chile, Santiago, in 1982. Considered one of the most influential Latin-American bands of all time, they've been evaluated as pio ...

* Gepe * Paulina Urrutia * Ruben Palma * Themo Lobos * Francisco Dominguez * Daniela Vega San Miguel 787

References

External links

*
Municipality of San Miguel
{{Communes in Santiago Metropolitan Region Populated places in Santiago Province, Chile Geography of Santiago, Chile Communes of Chile Populated places established in 1896 1896 establishments in Chile