Arauco Province

The **Arauco Province** () is one of three provinces of the Chilean region of Bío Bío (VIII). The provincial capital Is the city of Lebu.

## History

In 1852, the old province of Arauco was created with the southern parts of the province of Concepción; it had three departments: Arauco, Laja and Nacimiento.

In 1927, Arauco was eliminated as a province and became again part of the province of Concepción but, in 1934, Arauco was made again a province with the departments Arauco, Cañete and Lebu. When the regions were created in 1975, the Bío Bío region was formed with the Arauco, Biobío, Concepción and Ñuble provinces.

## Geography

The Arauco province is in the southwest of the Bío Bío region along the Pacific Ocean, with an area of . The capital, Lebu, is on the coast about  south of Concepción, the capital of the region.

Arauco is bordered to the north by the Concepción province, to the northeast by the Biobío province, to the east by the Malleco province (Araucanía region), to the south and southwest by the Cautín province (Araucanía region and to the west by the Pacific Ocean.

The **Mocha** island is a small island that is west of the Arauco province, in the Pacific Ocean. It is part of the _comuna_ of Lebu. It has an area of about .

## Population

(last national census), there were 157,255 people living in the province, giving it a population density of  inhabitants/km². The urban population was 117,569 persons ( of the total).

The largest city in 2002 of the province is Curanilahue with 30,126 inhabitants. Its capital Lebu, has a population of 20,838 inhabitants. Other cities are Cañete (19,839 inhabitants), Arauco (16,291 inhabitants) and Los Álamos (13,035 inhabitants).

## Administration

As a province, Arauco is a second-level administrative division, consisting of 7 communes (_comunas_). The city of Lebu serves as the provincial capital. The province is administered by a governor.

|Code|Comuna|Capital|Area <small>(km²)</small>|Population <small>(2002)</small>|Density||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|08201|**5** Lebu|Lebu|align="right"|561.4|align="right"|25,035|align="right"||
|08202|**1** Arauco|Arauco|align="right"|956.1|align="right"|34,873|align="right"||
|08203|**2** Cañete|Cañete|align="right"|1,089.2|align="right"|31,270|align="right"||
|08204|**3** Contulmo|Contulmo|align="right"|638.8|align="right"|5,838|align="right"||
|08205|**4** Curanilahue|Curanilahue|align="right"|994.3|align="right"|31,943|align="right"||
|08206|**6** Los Álamos|Los Álamos|align="right"|599.1|align="right"|18,632|align="right"||
|08207|**7** Tirúa|Tirúa|align="right"|624.4|align="right"|9,664|align="right"||
|colspan=3|**Total of the Arauco province**|**5,463.3**|**157,255**|****|||||

## Related pages

- Provinces of Chile

## Other websites

- Territorial division of Chile
- Gobierno Regional del Bío Bío Official website
- Province of Arauco website

## Infobox (settlement)

- **name**: Arauco Province
- **native name**: Provincia de Arauco
- **native name lang**: es
- **settlement type**: Provinces of Chile, Province of Chile
- **image skyline**: Lebu.jpg
- **image alt**: General view of Lebu
- **image caption**: General view of Lebu, Chile, Lebu
- **image seal**: Logotipo de la Gobernación de Arauco.svg
- **image map**: Provincia de Arauco.svg
- **mapsize**: 175px
- **map alt**: Location in the Bío Bío Region
- **map caption**: Arauco, in red, in the Bío Bío Region
- **pushpin map**: Chile
- **pushpin map narrow**: yes
- **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**: Bío Bío Region, Bío Bío
- **parts type**: Communes of Chile, Comunas
- **parts style**: para
- **p1**: Arauco, Chile, Arauco
- **p2**: Cañete, Chile, Cañete
- **p3**: Contulmo
- **p4**: Curanilahue
- **p5**: Lebu, Chile, Lebu
- **p6**: Los Álamos
- **p7**: Tirúa
- **seat type**: Capital city, Capital
- **seat**: Lebu, Chile, Lebu
- **government type**: Province, Provincial
- **leader title**: Governor
- **leader name**: Humberto Toro Vega
- **unit pref**: Metric
- **area total km2**: 5643.3
- **population total**: 157255
- **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
- **website**: [http://www.gobernacionarauco.gov.cl/ Official website]