Choapa Province is one of the provinces making up the Coquimbo Region of Chile. It has an area of 10,079.8 km² and a population of 81,681. The capital of the province is the town of Illapel .
6-524: The current presidential provincial delegate is Nataly Carvajal . The province is divided into four communes ( comunas ) administered by four municipalities: According to the 2002 census by the National Statistics Institute ( INE ), the province spans an area of 10,131.6 km (3,912 sq mi) and had a population of 81,681 inhabitants (41,578 men and 40,103 women), giving it a population density of 8.1/km (21/sq mi). Between
12-490: A "county" in Anglo-American usage and practice, and may be more universally understood as a "municipality". Each commune or municipality is governed by a directly elected body known as a municipal council ( concejo municipal ) consisting of a mayor ( alcalde ) and a group of councillors ( concejales ), for a period of four years. The communal civil service administration is known as the municipality ( municipalidad ) and
18-451: A conurbation may be broken into several communes. In sparsely populated areas, conversely, a commune may cover a substantial rural area together with several settled areas which could range from hamlets to towns or cities. The term "commune" is ambiguous in English, but the word is commonly used in translation for "comuna", although with some controversy among translators. A comuna is similar to
24-539: Is headquartered at the mayor's office ( alcaldía ). According to Chilean law, a single municipality may administer one or more communes, though currently, the only such case is the municipality of Cabo de Hornos , which administers the communes of Antártica and Cabo de Hornos . Chile's 346 communes are grouped into 56 provinces ( provincia , pl. provincias ), which are themselves grouped into 16 regions ( región , pl. regiones ). Traditionally, Chilean regions are listed in geographical order starting with
30-623: The 1992 and 2002 censuses, the population grew by 4.6% (3,603 persons). The Choapa Valley is located 400 km (250 mi) north of Santiago , in the southern part of the Region of Coquimbo , and is named after the province of “Choapa”. This area is within the narrowest part of Chile, where the Andes meet the Coastal range . The small valley consists of two sectors, Illapel and Salamanca . There are no wineries in any of these sectors, but vines planted on
36-658: The rocky, foothill soils produce small quantities of high quality Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon grapes with high acidity and low pH, which is increasing the interest for the area among many wine producers. Only one brand of wine, De Martino Syrah, currently holds the D.O. of “Choapa Valley”. Communes of Chile A commune ( Spanish : comuna , IPA: [koˈmuna] ) is the smallest administrative subdivision in Chile . It may contain cities , towns , villages , hamlets as well as rural areas. In highly populated areas, such as Santiago , Valparaíso and Concepción ,
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