Torres del Paine 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 located in the inland of

Última Esperanza Province Última Esperanza (, meaning "Province of the Last Hope") is one of four provinces in the southern Chilean region of Magallanes and Antártica Chilena. The capital is Puerto Natales and it is named after Última Esperanza Sound. A section of it ...

and

Magallanes Region The Magallanes Region (), officially the Magallanes y la Antártica Chilena Region () or Magallanes and the Chilean Antarctica Region in English, is one of Chile's 16 first order administrative divisions. It is the southernmost, largest, and sec ...

. The commune is administered by the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

Cerro Castillo : Cerro Castillo is a jagged rocky peak located in the Aysén del General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo Region of Chile, within the Cerro Castillo National Reserve, Cerro Castillo National Park. ''Castillo'' means ''castle'' in Spanish, and the st ...

, the major settlement in the commune.

Torres del Paine National Park Torres del Paine National Park () is a national park encompassing mountains, glaciers, lakes, and rivers in southern Chilean Patagonia. The Cordillera del Paine is the park's centerpiece. It lies in a transition area between the Magellanic subpo ...

lies within the commune. ''Paine'' means "blue" in the native Tehuelche (Aonikenk) language and is pronounced ''PIE-nay''.Abraham, Rudolf (2011). ''Torres del Paine: Trekking in Chile's Premier National Park''. Milnthorpe: Cicerone Press
p. 17
. Retrieved 4 August 2015.

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, Torres del Paine spans an area of and has 739 inhabitants (543 men and 196 women), making the commune an entirely

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 ...

. The population grew by 53.3% (257 persons) between the 1992 and 2002 censuses.

Administration

As a commune, Torres del Paine 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 2012-2016 alcalde is Anahi Cardenas Rodríguez ( Ind.). 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 ...

, Torres del Paine 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 Juan Morano ( PDC) and

Gabriel Boric Gabriel Boric Font (; born 11 February 1986) is a Chilean politician and the President of Chile since 2022. He previously served two four-year terms as a deputy in the Chamber of Deputies of Chile, Chamber of Deputies. Boric first gained prom ...

( Ind.) as part of the 60th electoral district, which includes the entire

Magallanes y la Antártica Chilena Region The Magallanes Region (), officially the Magallanes y la Antártica Chilena Region () or Magallanes and the Chilean Antarctica Region in English, is one of Chile's 16 first order administrative divisions. It is the southernmost, largest, and sec ...

. 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 Carlos Bianchi Chelech (Ind.) and Carolina Goic ( PDC) as part of the 19th senatorial constituency (Magallanes y la Antártica Chilena Region).

Gallery

Image:Habitacional Castillo 014.jpg, Field Image:Cordillera del Paine, Torres del Paine National Park.jpg, Torres del Paine Image:Lago Grey,Chile o.jpg, Lake Grey Image:PN Torres del Paine.jpg, Lake Toro File:Monte Almirante Nieto.jpg, Almirante Nieto Massif
Oil on canvas

Eugenio Cruz Vargas Eugenio Cruz Vargas (Santiago de Chile, Santiago, October 2, 1923 – Olmué, January 18, 2014) was a notable Chilean poet and painter. His art was developed under the Realism (arts), naturalistic landscape and abstraction, and his collection of ...

References

External links

*
Municipality of Torres del Paine
{{Authority control Communes of Chile Populated places in Última Esperanza Province Populated places in Magallanes Region