Chañaral

Chañaral is a small coastal city and commune in the Atacama region in the north of Chile. It is the capital of the province of Chañaral.

Its name, Chañaral means a "place where there are many trees of chaña" (the Chilean name for Geoffroea decorticans).

History
In 1824, Diego de Almeyda found a large area with copper ore in the region; later, he looked for a place from where to export the mineral and began to form a small village in the place where is the present town of Chanaral. In 26 October 1833, José Joaquín Prieto founded the Distrito de Chañaral ("Chañaral District").

Geography
The commune of Chañaral has an area of 5772.4 km2. The city of Chañaral is to the north of Santiago at 788 km and to the north of the city of Copiapó at 167 km.

The commune is bordered on the north by the Antofagasta region, on the east by the Diego de Almagro commune, on the south by the Copiapó province and on the west by the Pacific Ocean.

Near the town of Chañaral, to the north, is the Pan de Azúcar National Park.

The Salado river flows into the Pacific Ocean in the commune of Chañaral; it is about 140 km long.

Chañaral has a very dry climate, a desert climate. The average amount of precipitation for the year, during 47 years, is only 12.3 mm.

Population
(last national census), there were 13,143 people living in the commune, giving it a population density of inhabitants/km².

Chañaral is the largest city of the province with a population, in 2002, of 12,123 inhabitants. The small town of Salado has 1,149 inhabitants.

Related pages

 * Atacama Desert
 * Provinces of Chile

Other websites

 * Territorial division of Chile
 * Gobierno Regional de Atacama Official website
 * Province of Chanaral website