Antofagasta Region

The **II Antofagasta Region** () is one of Chile's 15 first order administrative divisions. It is the second-largest region of Chile. To the east it borders Bolivia and Argentina.

The capital of the region is the port city of Antofagasta.

## History

The area away from the coast was populated by the Atacama people around the great dry salt lake called Salar de Atacama, the river basin of the Loa and valleys and oasis across the altiplano, with the most important settlement being the town of San Pedro de Atacama.

The region used to be Bolivian until the War of the Pacific started in 1879.

## Geography

The Antofagasta region borders the Tarapacá region to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the southeast, the Atacama region to the south and the Pacific Ocean to the west.

The Llullaillaco volcano is the region's highest elevation at ; it is on the border with Argentina.

The only  river of the region is the Loa river, the longest river of Chile, with a length of .

### Climate

The climate of the region is extremely arid (a desert climate) but somewhat milder near the coast and the highest mountains.

The three types of desert climate in the region are, (with the Köppen climate classification)
- Coastal Desert Climate (BWn), along the coast.
- Normal Desert Climate (BW)
- Desert Climate in High Mountains (BWh), found in mountains over  high.

Nearly all of the region does not have any vegetation except close to the Loa river or at oases such as San Pedro de Atacama.

## Population

, there were (estimated) 622,640 persons living in the region, for a population density of  inhabitants/km².

The largest cities (2002 census) of the region are the capitals of the three provincesː Antofagasta (285,255 inhabitants), Calama (126,135 inhabitants) and Tocopilla (23,352 inhabitants).

## Administration

The Antofagasta region is divided in three provincesː

|Provinces|Capital|Code|Comunas|Area (km²)|Population <small>2002</small>|||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|rowspan=4 valign="top"|Antofagasta (021)|rowspan="4" valign="top"|Antofagasta|02101|**1** Antofagasta|align="right"|30,718.1|align="right"|296,905|
|02102|**2** Mejillones|align="right"|3,803.9|align="right"|8,418|||||
|02103|**3** Sierra Gorda|align="right"|12,886.4|align="right"|2,356|||||
|02104|**4** Taltal|align="right"|20,405.1|align="right"|11,100|||||
|colspan=4 style="text-align:right"|**Total of the Antofagasta province**|align="right"|67,813.5|align="right"|318,779|||||
|rowspan=3 valign="top"|El Loa (022)|rowspan=3 valign="top"|Calama|02201|**5** Calama|align="right"|15,596.9|align="right"|138,402|
|02202|**6** Ollagüe|align="right"|2,963.9|align="right"|318|||||
|02203|**7** San Pedro de Atacama|align="right"|23,438.8|align="right"|4,969|||||
|colspan=4 style="text-align:right"|**Total of the El Loa province**|align="right"|41,999.6|align="right"|143,689|||||
|rowspan=2 valign="top"|Tocopilla (023)|rowspan=2 valign="top"|Tocopilla|02301|**9** Tocopilla|align="right"|4,038.8|align="right"|23,986|
|02302|**8** María Elena|align="right"|12,197.2|align="right"|7,530|||||
|colspan=4 style="text-align:right"|**Total of the Tocopilla province**|align="right"|16,236.0|align="right"|31,516|||||
|colspan=4|**Total of the region**|align="right"|126,049.1|align="right"|493,984|||||

## Related pages

- Atacama Desert

## Other websites

- Territorial division of Chile
- Official website of the Local Government

## Infobox (settlement)

- **official name**: Antofagasta Region
- **native name**: Región de Antofagasta
- **native name lang**: es
- **settlement type**: Regions of Chile, Region of Chile
- **seat type**: Capital (political), Capital
- **seat**: Antofagasta, Chile, Antofagasta
- **subdivision type**: List of sovereign states, Country
- **parts type**: Provinces of Chile, Provinces
- **parts**: Tocopilla Province, Tocopilla, El Loa Province, El Loa, Antofagasta Province, Antofagasta
- **leader title**: Intendant
- **leader name**: Marco Antonio Díaz
- **leader party**: National Renewal (Chile), RN
- **image skyline**: Vista desde el Monumento Natural La Portada, Antofagasta.jpg
- **image caption**: Morro Moreno National Park
- **image flag**: Flag of Antofagasta Region, Chile.svg
- **flag size**: 120px
- **flag alt**: Flag of Antofagasta Region
- **image shield**: Coat of arms of Antofagasta Region, Chile.svg
- **shield size**: 75px
- **shield alt**: Coat of Arms of Antofagasta Region
- **image map**: Antofagasta in Chile 2018.svg
- **mapsize**: 250px
- **map caption**: Map of Antofagasta Region
- **area total km2**: 126049.1
- **area rank**: 2
- **elevation max m**: 6723
- **elevation min m**: 0
- **population total**: 599335
- **population as of**: 2017 census
- **population rank**: 9
- **population density km2**: auto
- **blank name sec1**: Human Development Index, HDI (2019)
- **blank info sec1**: 0.875

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