Cauquenes Province is one of four provinces

Provinces of Chile

A province is the second largest administrative division in Chile, after a region. Each region is divided into provinces. There are 54 provinces in total....

 of the central 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...

an region of Maule

Maule Region

The VII Maule Region is one of Chile's 15 first order administrative divisions. Its capital is Talca. The region takes its name from the Maule River which, running westward from the Andes, bisects the region and spans a basin of about 20,600 km2...

 (VII). The provincial capital is the city of Cauquenes

Cauquenes

Cauquenes, a city and commune in Chile, is the capital of the Cauquenes Province and is located in the Maule Region.-History:According to the historical records of Alonso de Ercilla, Cauquenes was originally inhabited by an indigenous community of the Promaucaes, known as the Cauqui by the Inca or...

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Geography and demography

The provincial capital, Cauquenes, lies approximately 370 km (230 mi) southwest of Santiago

Santiago

Santiago is the capital city of Chile. Santiago may also refer to:*Santiago *Santiago , a Spanish given name*Santiago!, a shortened form of the Reconquista battle cry "Santiago y cierra, España"...

. According to the 2002 census by 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...

 (INE), the province spans an area of 3027.2 sqkm and had a population of 57,088 inhabitants (28,356 men and 28,732 women), giving it a population density of 18.9 PD/sqkm. Of these, 38,660 (67.7%) lived in urban areas and 18,428 (32.3%) in rural areas. Between the 1992 and 2002 censuses, the population grew by 3.3% (1,846 persons).

Administration

As a province, Cachapoal is a second-level administrative division

Administrative divisions 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....

 of Chile, governed by a provincial governor

Governor

A governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...

 who is appointed by the president

President of Chile

The President of the Republic of Chile is both the head of state and the head of government of the Republic of Chile. The President is responsible of the government and state administration...

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Communes

The province is composed of three communes, each governed by a municipality consisting of 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...

 and 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...

: Cauquenes, Chanco and Pelluhue

Pelluhue

Pelluhue is a town and commune in the Cauquenes Province of central Chile's eighth region of Maule.-Geography:...

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