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 . The city of Chañaral is to the north of Santiago at  and to the north of the city of Copiapó at .

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  long.

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

## 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

## Infobox (settlement)

- **official name**: Chañaral
- **native name lang**: es
- **settlement type**: List of cities in Chile, City and Communes of Chile, Commune
- **image skyline**: 2005.11.08 053 Plaza Chañaral Chile.jpg
- **image alt**: Chañaral square and church
- **image caption**: Chañaral town square and Catholic Church, Catholic church
- **image shield**: Escudo_de_Chañaral.svg
- **image map**: Comuna de Chañaral.svg
- **map alt**: Map of Chañaral commune in the Atacama Region
- **map caption**: The Chañaral commune in the Atacama Region
- **pushpin map narrow**: yes
- **pushpin map**: Chile
- **pushpin label position**: bottom
- **pushpin map caption**: Location in Chile
- **subdivision type**: List of sovereign states, Country
- **subdivision type1**: Regions of Chile, Region
- **subdivision name1**: Atacama Region, Atacama
- **subdivision type2**: Provinces of Chile, Province
- **subdivision name2**: Chañaral Province, Chañaral
- **established title**: Founded
- **established date**: 26 October 1833
- **government type**: City council, Municipal council
- **leader title**: Mayor, Alcalde
- **leader name**: Héctor Volta Rojas
- **unit pref**: Metric
- **area total km2**: 5772.4
- **elevation m**: 198
- **population total**: 13143
- **population as of**: 2002 Census
- **population density km2**: auto
- **timezone**: Time in Chile, CLT
- **utc offset**: −4
- **timezone dst**: Time in Chile, CLST
- **utc offset dst**: −3
- **area code**: 56 + 552
- **blank name**: Köppen climate classification, Climate
- **blank info**: Desert climate, BWn
- **website**: [http://www.munichanaral.cl/ Official website]