El Loa

The Province of El Loa () is one of three provinces of the northern Chilean region of Antofagasta (II). It is named after the longest river of Chile, the Loa. The provincial capital is Calama.

Geography
The El Loa province has an area of .

The province is bordered on the north by the Tarapacá region, on the east by Bolivia, on the south by Argentina and on the west by the Antofagasta and the Tocopilla provinces.

Population
 (last national census), there were 143,689 people living in the province, giving it a population density of  inhabitants/km².

The largest city of the province is Calama, its  capital, with a population, in 2002, of 126,135 inhabitants.

Administration
As a province, the El Loa province is a second-level administrative division, consisting of three communes (comunas). The city of Calama serves as the provincial capital. The province is administered by a governor.

+ El Loa province Code Comuna  Capital Area(km²) Population(2002) 02201 5 Calama Calama 15,596.9 138,402 02202 6 Ollagüe Ollagüe 2,963.9 318 02203 7 San Pedro de Atacama San Pedro de Atacama 23,438.8 4,969 Total of the El Loa province 41,999.6 143,689

References

Other websites
 Territorial division of Chile 
 Province of El Loa website 

El Loa
Category:Antofagasta Region