Palena Province
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Palena Province
Provincia de Palena | |
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UTC-3 (CLT) | |
Area code | 56 + 65 |
Website | Government of Palena |
Palena Province (Spanish: Provincia de Palena) is the southernmost administrative area in Chile's Los Lagos Region Los Lagos (X). The area is also called Continental Chiloe or Northern Patagonia, as geographers consider the Palena Province to be the starting point of Chilean Patagonia which extends south from Palena all the way to Tierra del Fuego. Palena Province is remote, beautiful, and difficult to access. In fact, Palena is one of the most sparsely populated provinces in the country and features a stunning geography characterized by steep fjords, wild rivers, hot springs, and numerous snow-capped volcanos. Chile's Austral Highway (Carretera Austral) is not continuous through the jagged geography of Palena Province. Motorists accessing the area by car are required to take two ferries across fjords to cross the province.
Historically, Chaiten was the provincial capital. Due to the eruption of
Due to its location in front of
.Administration
As a province, Palena is a second-level administrative division, governed by a provincial governor appointed by the president. The province comprises four communes, each governed by a municipality, headed by an alcalde.
Communes
Geography and demography
According to the 2002 census by the National Statistics Institute (INE), the province spans an area of 15,301.9 km2 (5,908 sq mi) and had a population of 18,971 inhabitants (10,255 men and 8,716 women), giving it a population density of 1.2/km2 (3/sq mi). It is the seventh least populated province in the country. Of these, 7,624 (40.2%) lived in urban areas and 11,347 (59.8%) in rural areas. Between the 1992 and 2002 censuses, the population grew by 1.2% (223 persons).[1]
References
- ^ a b c d "Territorial division of Chile" (PDF) (in Spanish). National Statistics Institute. 2007. Retrieved 23 March 2011.