Introduction Arica-Parinacota Region Tarapacá Region Antofagasta Region Atacama Region Coquimbo Region Valparaíso Region O´Higgins Region Maule Region Bío Bío Region La Araucanía Region Los Ríos Region Los Lagos Region Aysén Region Magallanes & the Chilean Antartic Region Metropolitan Region

Capital: Valparaíso

Area: 16,396.1 km2

Population: 1,539,852 inhabitants (2002 Census)

Population density: 94.1 inhab/km2

Principal economic activities: Port services, manufacturing, agriculture, construction and tourism.

 

Although this is one of Chile's smallest regions in terms of areas, it is well-known abroad for its landscapes and architecture. It includes Isla de Pascua (Easter Island)and the Juan Fernández Archipelago, with its Robinson Crusoe Island, as well as the multi-colored hills of Valparaíso, the beaches and resorts closest to Santiago, the ski slopes of Portillo and two of the enchanting houses of Nobel poet Pablo Neruda.

The regional capital, Valparaíso, is also Chile's main port. It is located on a calm bay chosen by the Spaniards in the sixteenth century as the place to moor with supplies for Santiago, 119 kms inland. Today, it is the seat of Congress.

The city includes a narrow seaboard, known as the plan, where most businesses, services and institutions are located, while most of the population lives on one of the 44 surrounding hills.

In May 2003, Valparaíso was designated Chile's “Arts Capital” and is the seat of the National Council for the Arts. This decision reflected the importance of Valparaíso's architectural heritage and traditions and its increasing level of cultural activity, encouraged by the community and the port's universities.

Valparaíso's historic center is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This includes the La Matriz Church -- on the site of the port's first chapel built in 1559-- and the surrounding area where the first dwellings were built as well as the Alegre and Valparaíso hills where British and German settlers congregated in the nineteenth century and the cable cars that climb the hills.

The region's other main city is Viña del Mar which now virtually adjoins Valparaíso. Until 1855 when a railway was built from the port along the cliffs, this was a vast farm estate. However, it gradually became popular for outings and people from Valparaíso began to build summer homes there, with the large gardens for which the port lacked space. Still known as the Ciudad Jardín (Garden City), Viña del Mar was officially founded in 1874.

Small towns nestle in the valleys of the interior and the main border pass and customs post for land traffic between Chile and Argentina --Los Libertadores-- is located up in the Andes Mountains on the road to the city of Mendoza in Argentina. An average 1,300 vehicles pass through Los Libertadores each day.

Viña del Mar is home to the Cerro Castillo palace, the summer residence of Chile's presidents, with its privileged view across the Bay of Valparaíso and the Pacific Ocean.

This is a prime tourist region. Easter Island, 3,700 kms out in the Pacific Ocean, is known, visited and researched principally because of its mysterious moais. These giant stone statues, which have a height of up to 23 meters and weigh as much as 80 tons, were the ceremonial centers of the ancestors of the rapanui people who, according to legend, arrived there in the sixth century under King Hotu Matu'a from the island of Hiva.

The Juan Fernández Archipelago was discovered by Juan Fernández, a Portuguese sailor, in 1573. Its steep hills are home to a wealth of native plants as well as the highly-valued sandalwood tree, and the archipelago is a Biosphere Reserve.

Most of its 629 inhabitants live on Robinson Crusoe Island where they make a living from fishing -- especially lobsters-- and tourism.

Two of Pablo Neruda's picturesque houses are located on the coast of the Valparaíso Region. La Sebastiana in Valparaíso is a convoluted five-story building that Neruda adapted in order to have a view over the bay, even from the shower. “I built the house/ I made it from air first/ Then I raised the flag in the air/ and left it hanging/ from the firmament, from the star, from / the light and from the dark”.

Neruda bought his house in Isla Negra in 1939. This was where he wrote the Canto General, his largest work. The house still contains many of the objects he brought back from his travels, such as snail shells and boat figureheads --“my biggest toys”.

 

Coordinates and area

The Valparaíso Region stretches between 32°02'S and 33°57'S and from 70°00'W to the Pacific Ocean and includes a number of islands (Pascua, Salas and Gómez, San Félix, San Ambrosio and the Juan Fernández Archipelago). According to a 1:50,000 map drawn up by Military Geographic Institute (IGM), it has an area of 16,396.1 km2. 

 

Land formation

In terms of physical geography, the Valparaíso Region is complex, comprising coastal plains with long sandy beaches interspersed by cliffs, plateaus of river sediment, east-west ranges of hills stretching from the coast to the Andes, east-west ranges that form part of main Andes chain and semi-arid transitional basins. 

 

Climate

Rainfall is heavier and more regular than in regions to the north and it has the following main climate zones: steppe with frequent cloud cover, warm temperate with winter rainfall, temperate steppe with winter rainfall, cold mountain steppe and high-altitude tundra. 

 

Water resources

The Juncal and Colorado Rivers meet to form the Aconcagua River, with a 7,640-km2 basin and a length of 190 kms, which also receives water from the Putaendo River. Its level rises sharply with the melting of snow in the Andes when it can become torrential. In the north of the region, the Petorca water system is fed by both rainfall and snow while the La Ligua system depends on snow. 

 

Population

According to the 2002 Census, the region had a population of 1,539,852 inhabitants of whom 752,828 were men and 787, 024 were women, giving a population density of 94.1 inhabitants/km2. Between 2000 and 2005, the population expanded at an estimated mean annual rate of 1.06%.

Urban centers account for 90% of the region's population and include ten cities with a population of over 20,000 inhabitants. The largest is Viña del Mar, followed by Valparaíso and Quilpué with 286,931, 275,982 and 128,578 inhabitants, respectively. Together with Villa Alemana (95,623 inhabitants), these three cities form Greater Valparaíso, Chile's third largest urban center.  

 

Economic sectors

Manufacturing is important in the Valparaíso Region and includes the production of tobacco, canned food, vehicles and cement as well as mineral refining in Las Ventanas and Catemu and oil refining in Concón. Agricultural activity includes the cultivation of grapes, avocados, custard apples, market garden produce and flowers. Hotels and restaurants serve the tourist market along with a casino, a horse track, song festivals and knitwear crafts (Valle Hermoso and La Ligua) and the traditional crafts of Easter Island. Port services are among the most important in the country. Copper mines also exist in Río Blanco.  

 

Administrative divisions

REGIONAL CAPITAL	PROVINCES	MUNICIPALITIES
Valparaíso	Petorca	La Ligua Petorca Cabildo Zapallar Papudo
	Los Andes	Los Andes San Esteban Calle Larga Rinconada
	San Felipe de Aconcagua	San Felipe Putaendo Santa María Panquehue Llaillay Catemu
	Quillota	Quillota La Cruz La Calera Nogales Hijuelas Limache Olmué
	Valparaíso	Valparaíso Viña del Mar Quintero Puchuncaví Quilpué Villa Alemana Casablanca Juan Fernández Concón
	San Antonio	San Antonio Cartagena El Tabo El Quisco Algarrobo Santo Domingo
	Isla de Pascua	Isla de Pascua

Foreign Direct Investment DL 600 Statistics in the Valparaíso Region (1974 - 2008), (Excel, 42 Kb.)

You may find information about this Region in the following websites (spanish):

- Gobierno Regional
- TodoChile
- ProChile
- Corfo
- Servicio de Impuestos Internos
- Gobierno de Chile
- Cámara Chilena de la Construcción
- Servicio Nacional de Turismo

Also, in the National Statistics Bureau Website you may find more regional information (spanish): Census, Regional Economic Reports, Territorial Publications, Projects, Statistics and other Publications.