Carahue is a city and commune in southern Chile

Chile

Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

. It is located 56 km west of Temuco

Temuco

Temuco is a city and commune, capital of the Cautín Province and of the Araucanía Region in southern Chile. The name comes from the Mapudungun language, meaning "temu water"; "temu" is a tree used by Mapuches for medicinal purposes. The city is located 670 km south of Santiago...

, on the northern bank of the Imperial River

Imperial River (Chile)

Imperial River is a river located in the Araucanía Region of Chile. It is formed at the confluence of the Chol Chol and Cautín Rivers in the vicinity of the city of Nueva Imperial....

.

The city was founded as La Imperial

La Imperial, Chile

La Imperial or Ciudad Imperial was a city founded by Pedro de Valdivia on April 16, 1552 and named in honor of the Emperor Charles V. It was abandoned on April 5, 1600 and destroyed as a result of the Mapuche Uprising of 1598 during the War of Arauco. The ruins were called Antigua Imperial...

  April 16, 1552 by Pedro de Valdivia

Pedro de Valdivia

Pedro Gutiérrez de Valdivia or Valdiva was a Spanish conquistador and the first royal governor of Chile. After serving with the Spanish army in Italy and Flanders, he was sent to South America in 1534, where he served as lieutenant under Francisco Pizarro in Peru, acting as his second in command...

.
La Imperial or Antigua [Old] Imperial, was abandoned and destroyed as a result of the Mapuche Uprising of 1598

Destruction of Seven Cities

The Destruction of the Seven Cities in Araucanía was a result of the great Mapuche revolt in 1598. It is considered sometimes as the end of the Conquest of Chile...

 during the War of Arauco in 1600, and refounded in 1882, in course of Occupation of the Araucania

Occupation of the Araucanía

The Occupation of Araucanía was a series of military campaigns, agreements and penetrations by the Chilean army and settlers which led to the incorporation of Araucanía into Chilean national territory...

, under the name Carahue.

Demographics

According to the 2002 census

Census

A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...

 of the National Statistics Institute

National Statistics Institute (Chile)

The National Statistics Institute of Chile is a state-run organization of the Government of Chile, created in the second half of the 19th century and tasked with performing a general census of population and housing, then collecting, producing and publishing official demographic statistics of...

, Carahue spans an area of 1340.5 sqkm and has 25,696 inhabitants (13,017 men and 12,679 women). Of these, 11,596 (45.1%) lived in urban area

Urban area

An urban area is characterized by higher population density and vast human features in comparison to areas surrounding it. Urban areas may be cities, towns or conurbations, but the term is not commonly extended to rural settlements such as villages and hamlets.Urban areas are created and further...

s and 14,100 (54.9%) in rural areas. The population grew by 0.8% (196 persons) between the 1992 and 2002 censuses.

Administration

As a commune, Carahue is a third-level administrative division of Chile administered by a municipal council

Municipal council

A municipal council is the local government of a municipality. Specifically the term can refer to the institutions of various countries that can be translated by this term...

, headed by an alcalde

Alcalde

Alcalde , or Alcalde ordinario, is the traditional Spanish municipal magistrate, who had both judicial and administrative functions. An alcalde was, in the absence of a corregidor, the presiding officer of the Castilian cabildo and judge of first instance of a town...

 who is directly elected every four years. The 2008-2012 alcalde is Héctor Figueroa Ramírez (UDI).

Within the electoral divisions of Chile, Carahue is represented in the Chamber of Deputies

Chamber of Deputies of Chile

The Chamber of Deputies of the Republic of Chile is the lower house of Chile's bicameral Congress. Its organisation and its powers and duties are defined in articles 42 to 59 of Chile's current constitution....

 by José Manuel Edwards (RN

National Renewal (Chile)

National Renewal , is a liberal conservative political party belonging to the Chilean right-wing political coalition Coalition for Change in conjunction with the Independent Democratic Union and the Chile First movement...

) and Joaquín Tuma (PDC

Christian Democratic Party

Christian democratic parties are those political parties that seek to apply Christian principles to public policy. The underlying Christian democracy movement emerged in 19th-century Europe, largely under the influence of Catholic social teaching, and it continues to be influential in Europe and...

) as part of the 51st electoral district, (together with Nueva Imperial

Nueva Imperial

Nueva Imperial is a city and commune in the south of Chile. It is located in Cautín Province in the Araucanía Region. Nueva Imperial lies about to the west of Temuco, the regional capital.-Geography:...

, Saavedra, Teodoro Schmidt

Teodoro Schmidt, Chile

Teodoro Schmidt is a Chilean town and commune located in Cautín Province, Araucanía Region. Teodoro Schmidt spans a coastal area of .-Demographics:...

, Freire

Freire, Chile

Freire is a Chilean town and commune in Cautín Province, Araucanía Region. According to the 2002 census, the commune population was 25,514 and has an area of ....

, Pitrufquén

Pitrufquén

Pitrufquén is a Chilean city and commune in Cautín Province, Araucanía Region. The city is located 30 km south of Temuco and lies immediately south of the Toltén River, along Chile Highway 5.-History:...

 and Cholchol

Cholchol

Cholchol is a Chilean town and commune located in Cautín Province, Araucanía Region. The commune was created by Law 19,944 on April 22, 2004 by dividing off the northern area of the existing Nueva Imperial commune.-Demographics:...

). The commune is represented in the Senate

Senate of Chile

The Senate of the Republic of Chile is the upper house of Chile's bicameral National Congress, as established in the current Constitution of Chile.-Composition:...

 by José Garcia Ruminot (RN) and Eugenio Tuma Zedan (PPD

Party for Democracy

The Party for Democracy is a political party in Chile; it is social democratic in its political orientation. It was founded in December 1987 by Ricardo Lagos, who aimed at forming a legal social democratic party . The party continued to function after the defeat of Pinochet...

) as part of the 15th senatorial constituency (Araucanía-South).

External links

• Municipality of Carahue