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

+ Antofagasta Region - Provinces and comunas Provinces Capital Code Comunas Area(km²) Population2002 Antofagasta(021) Antofagasta 02101 1 Antofagasta 30,718.1 296,905 02102 2 Mejillones 3,803.9 8,418 02103 3 Sierra Gorda 12,886.4 2,356 02104 4 Taltal 20,405.1 11,100 Total of the Antofagasta province 67,813.5 318,779 El Loa(022) Calama 02201 5 Calama 15,596.9 138,402 02202 6 Ollagüe 2,963.9 318 02203 7 San Pedro de Atacama 23,438.8 4,969 Total of the El Loa province 41,999.6 143,689 Tocopilla(023) Tocopilla 02301 9 Tocopilla 4,038.8 23,986 02302 8 María Elena 12,197.2 7,530 Total of the Tocopilla province 16,236.0 31,516 Total of the region 126,049.1 493,984

Related pages
Atacama Desert

References

Other websites

 Territorial division of Chile 
 Official website of the Local Government