Linares Province

**Linares** () is one of four provinces of the central Chilean region of Maule (VII). The provincial capital and largest city is Linares.

## History

In 1873, the province of Linares was created from the old province of Maule; it had three departments: Linares, Parral and Loncomilla.

In 1927, Linares is eliminated as a province and became part of the new province of Maule but, in 1936, Linares was made again a province. When the regions were created in 1975, the Maule region was formed with the Curicó, Linares, Maule and Talca; later, the province of Cauquenes was added.

## Geography

Linares is a landlocked province (it does not border the ocean) with an area of , the largest province in the Maule region.

The province is at the very center of mainland Chile, and its capital is at  south of Santiago and  south of Talca, the regional capital, in the middle of a rich agricultural area and with many vineyards.

Linares is a landlocked province (it does not border the ocean) and is bordered to the north by the Talca province, to the east by Argentina, to the south by the Ñuble province (Bío Bío region) and to the west by the Cauquenes province.

## Population

(last national census), there were 253,990 people living in the province, giving it a population density of  inhabitants/km². The urban population was 139,742 persons ( of the total).

The largest city of the province is Linares, its capital, with a population, in 2002, of 65,133 inhabitants, followed by the cities of Parral (26,397 inhabitants) and San Javier (20,524 inhabitants).

## Administration

As a province, Linares is a second-level administrative division, consisting of 8 communes (_comunas_). The city of Linares serves as the provincial capital. The province is administered by a governor.

|Code|Comuna|Capital|Area <small>(km²)</small>|Population <small>(2002)</small>|Density||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|07401|**14** Linares|Linares|align="right"|1,465.7|align="right"|83,249|align="right"||
|07402|**13** Colbún|Colbún|align="right"|2,899.9|align="right"|17,619|align="right"||
|07403|**15** Longaví|Longaví|align="right"|1,453.8|align="right"|28,161|align="right"||
|07404|**16** Parral|Parral|align="right"|1,638.4|align="right"|37,822|align="right"||
|07405|**17** Retiro|Retiro|align="right"|827.1|align="right"|18,487|align="right"||
|07406|**18** San Javier|San Javier|align="right"|1,313.4|align="right"|37,793|align="right"||
|07407|**19** Villa Alegre|Villa Alegre|align="right"|189.8|align="right"|14,725|align="right"||
|07408|**20** Yerbas Buenas|Yerbas Buenas|align="right"|262.1|align="right"|16,134|align="right"||
|colspan=3|**Total of the Linares province**|**10,050.2**|**253,990**|****|||||

## Related pages

- Provinces of Chile

## Other websites

- Territorial division of Chile
- Gobierno Regional del Maule  Official website
- Province of Linares website

## Infobox (settlement)

- **name**: Linares
- **native name**: Provincia de Linares
- **native name lang**: es
- **settlement type**: Provinces of Chile, Province of Chile
- **image skyline**: Catedral de Linares Imagen 008.jpg
- **image alt**: Linares cathedral
- **image caption**: Linares cathedral
- **image seal**: Logotipo de la Gobernación de Linares.svg
- **image map**: Provincia de Linares.svg
- **mapsize**: 175px
- **map alt**: Location in the Maule Region
- **map caption**: Linares, in red, in the Maule 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**: Maule Region, Maule
- **parts type**: Communes of Chile, Comunas
- **parts style**: para
- **p1**: Linares, Chile, Linares
- **p2**: San Javier, Chile, San Javier
- **p3**: Villa Alegre, Chile, Villa Alegre
- **p4**: Yerbas Buenas
- **p5**: Colbún
- **p6**: Longaví
- **p7**: Retiro, Chile, Retiro
- **p8**: Parral, Chile, Parral
- **seat type**: Capital city, Capital
- **seat**: Linares, Chile, Linares
- **government type**: Province, Provincial
- **leader title**: Governor
- **leader name**: Aly Valderrama Villaroel
- **unit pref**: Metric
- **area total km2**: 10050.2
- **population total**: 542901
- **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**: .