Atacama Region

- _This article is about the Atacama Region; for the desert, see Atacama Desert._

The **Atacama Region Region** () is one of Chile's 15 first order administrative divisions. The southern portion of the Atacama Desert is in the region; the rest of the desert is in the other regions to the north (_Norte Grande_ natural region).

The capital of the region is the city of Copiapó; it is at  north of Santiago, the capital of country.

## History

From 1843, Atacama was a province of Chile but in 1974, with the creation of the Regions of Chile, it became one of those regions.

## Geography

The Atacama region borders the Tarapacá region to the north, Argentina (provinces of Catamarca, La Rioja and San Juan), on the east, the Coquimbo region on the south and the Pacific Ocean on the west.

The highest mountains of the region are: Nevados Ojos del Salado,  high, and Nevado Tres Cruces,  high; they are in the Andes, in the border with Argentina.

## Population

, there were (estimated) 312,486 persons living in the region, for a population density of  inhabitants/km².

The largest city in the region is its capital, Copiapó, with 125,983 inhabitants (2002 census).

## Administration

The Atacama region is divided in three provinces: Chañaral, Copiapó and Huasco.

|Provinces|Capital|Code|Comunas|Area (km²)|Population <small>2002</small>|||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|rowspan=3 valign="top"|Copiapó (031)|rowspan=3 valign="top"|Copiapó|03101|**4** Copiapó|align="right"|16,681.3|align="right"|129,091|
|03102|**3** Caldera|align="right"|4,666.6|align="right"|13,734|||||
|03103|**5** Tierra Amarilla|align="right"|11,190.6|align="right"|12,888|||||
|colspan=4 style="text-align:right"|**Total of the Copiapó province**|align="right"|32,538.5|align="right"|155,713|||||
|rowspan=2 valign="top"|Chañaral (032)|rowspan=2 valign="top"|Chañaral|03201|**1** Chañaral|align="right"|5,772.4|align="right"|13,543|
|03202|**2** Diego de Almagro|align="right"|18,663.8|align="right"|18,589|||||
|colspan=4 style="text-align:right"|**Total of the Chañaral province**|align="right"|24,436.2|align="right"|32,132|||||
|rowspan=4 valign="top"|Huasco (033)|rowspan=4 valign="top"|Vallenar|03301|**9** Vallenar|align="right"|7,083.7|align="right"|48,040|
|03302|**6** Alto del Carmen|align="right"|5,938.7|align="right"|4,840|||||
|03303|**7** Freirina|align="right"|3,577.7|align="right"|5,666|||||
|03304|**8** Huasco|align="right"|1,601.4|align="right"|7,945|||||
|colspan=4 style="text-align:right"|**Total of the Huasco province**|align="right"|18,201.5|align="right"|66,491|||||
|colspan=4|**Total of the region**|align="right"|**75,176.2**|align="right"|**254,336**|||||

## Related pages

- Atacama Desert
- Regions of Chile

## Other websites

- Territorial division of Chile
- Gobierno Regional de Atacama  Official website

## Infobox (settlement)

- **official name**: Atacama Region
- **native name**: Región de Atacama
- **native name lang**: es
- **settlement type**: Regions of Chile, Region of Chile
- **seat type**: Capital (political), Capital
- **seat**: Copiapó, Chile, Copiapó
- **subdivision type**: List of sovereign states, Country
- **parts type**: Provinces of Chile, Provinces
- **parts**: Chañaral Province, Chañaral, Copiapó Province, Copiapó, Huasco Province, Huasco
- **leader title**: Intendant
- **leader name**: Francisco Sánchez
- **leader party**: National Renewal (Chile), RN
- **image skyline**: Panoramica de la laguna con las tres Cimas de fondo.jpg
- **image caption**: Nevado Tres Cruces National Park
- **image flag**: Flag of Atacama, Chile.svg
- **flag size**: 120px
- **flag alt**: Flag of Atacama Region
- **image shield**: Coat of arms of Atacama, Chile.svg
- **shield size**: 75px
- **shield alt**: Coat of Arms of Atacama Region
- **image map**: Atacama in Chile 2018.svg
- **mapsize**: 250px
- **map caption**: Map of Atacama Region
- **area total km2**: 75176.2
- **area rank**: 4
- **elevation max m**: 6891.3
- **elevation min m**: 0
- **population total**: 286168
- **population as of**: 2017 census
- **population rank**: 13
- **population density km2**: auto
- **blank name sec1**: Human Development Index, HDI (2019)
- **blank info sec1**: 0.855

- **website**: [http://www.goreatacama.cl/ Official website]
- **iso code**: ISO 3166-2:CL, CL-AT