San Vicente de Tagua Tagua, or simplified as San Vicente, is a

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 ...

an commune and

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

Cachapoal Province Cachapoal Province () is one of three provinces of the central Chilean region of O'Higgins (VI). Its capital is the city of Rancagua (pop. 214,344). Geography and demography According to the 2002 census by the National Statistics Institute (''I ...

O'Higgins Region The Libertador General Bernardo O'Higgins Region (, ), often shortened to O'Higgins Region (), is one of Chile's 16 first order administrative divisions. It is subdivided into three provinces. It is named in honour of Bernardo O'Higgins Riquel ...

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 Vicente spans an area of and had 40,253 inhabitants (20,095 men and 20,158 women). Of these, 21,965 (54.6%) 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 18,288 (45.4%) 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. The population grew by 14.5% (5,086 persons) between the 1992 and 2002 censuses. The 2012 census reported 44,046 inhabitants, an increase of 9.4% from 2002 to 2012.Codigo 6117, San Vicente,

Administration

As a commune, San Vicente is a third-level

administrative division Administrative divisions (also administrative units, administrative regions, subnational entities, or constituent states, as well as many similar generic terms) are geographical areas into which a particular independent sovereign state is divi ...

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. 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 ...

, San Vicente 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 Alejandra Sepúlveda ( PRI) and Javier Macaya (

UDI Udi may refer to: Places * Udi, Enugu, a local government areas and city in Nigeria * Udi Hills, Enugu State, Nigeria * Udi, a place in the Etawah district of Uttar Pradesh, India People Given name * Udi Aloni (born 1959), Israeli-American film ...

) as part of the 34th electoral district, together with

San Fernando San Fernando may refer to: People *Ferdinand III of Castile (c. 1200–1252), called ''San Fernando'' (Spanish) or ''Saint Ferdinand'', King of Castile, León, and Galicia Places Argentina *San Fernando de la Buena Vista, city of Greater Buenos ...

Chimbarongo Chimbarongo, Chile, is a city and commune located south of Santiago in the Colchagua Province of the O'Higgins Region. Many of the people of Chimbarongo make their living weaving wickerwork, ''mimbre'', baskets. Demographics According to the 2 ...

Peumo Peumo is a Chilean city and commune in Cachapoal Province, O'Higgins Region. It is believed that Peumo was named for the vast amount of Cryptocarya alba, or Peumo trees, that grow there. Demographics According to the 2002 census A census ( ...

Pichidegua Pichidegua () is a Chilean commune and town in Cachapoal Province, O'Higgins Region. Demographics According to the 2002 census of the National Statistics Institute, Pichidegua spans an area of and has 17,756 inhabitants (9,208 men and 8,548 wo ...

and Las Cabras. 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 ...

Andrés Chadwick Piñera Andres or Andrés may refer to: *Andres, Illinois, an unincorporated community in Will County, Illinois, US *Andres, Pas-de-Calais, a commune in Pas-de-Calais, France *Andres (name) *Hurricane Andres * "Andres" (song), a 1994 song by L7 See also ...

(UDI) and Juan Pablo Letelier Morel ( PS) as part of the 9th senatorial constituency (O'Higgins Region).

Archaeology

Tagua-Tagua represents a very early

Paleo-Indian Paleo-Indians were the first peoples who entered and subsequently inhabited the Americas towards the end of the Late Pleistocene period. The prefix ''paleo-'' comes from . The term ''Paleo-Indians'' applies specifically to the lithic period in ...

archaeological site, and it is dated to 11,380 ±380 ¹⁴C yr BP (before present). This is an ancient

pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...

site where humans butchered large animals that they hunted. The site was discovered in the 1860s. An upper, younger stratum is about 1 m below the surface. The older stratum is about 2.4 m below the surface, and contains chipped stone tools. Horse and mastodon remains are represented, as well as smaller animals.

Notes and references

External links

*
Municipality of San Vicente de Tagua Tagua
{{Authority control Communes of Chile Populated places in Cachapoal Province Pre-Clovis archaeological sites in the Americas