Maule Region

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Map of Maule Region of Chile and Seal, below

The Maule Region (Chile's seventh administrative region from north to south) is made up of four provinces. Its capital is the city of Talca. The region takes its name from the Maule river, which running westward from the Andes, bisects the region and spans a basin of about 20,600 km². The Maule river is of considerable historic interest because, among other reasons, marked the southern limits of the Inca Empire.

1 Geography
2 Demography
3 Political and Administrative Division of Maule Region
4 Heritage
5 Politics
6 External links

[edit] Geography

The region covers an area of 30,296 km² and is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean; on the east by the Argentine Republic; on the north by the O'Higgins Region, and on the south by the Bío-Bío Region.

[edit] Demography

According to the 2002 Census the population of the region was 908,097. With one third of its population living in rural areas, Maule has a greater proportion of rural inhabitants than any other region of Chile.

[edit] Political and Administrative Division of Maule Region

The four provinces of the Region are:

Province	Surface in km²	Population	Capital
Curicó	7,281	244,053	Curicó
Talca	9,961	352,966	Talca
Linares	10,050	253,990	Linares
Cauquenes	3,027	57,088	Cauquenes

The provinces of the Maule Region are divided into "comunas". In total there are 30 of them.

Political & Administrative Division of Maule Region, Chile

province	Capital city	Comuna
Cauquenes	Cauquenes	1 Cauquenes
		2 Chanco
		3 Pelluhue
Curicó	Curicó	4 Curicó
		5 Hualañé
		6 Licantén
		7 Molina
		8 Rauco
		9 Romeral
		10 Sagrada Familia
		11 Teno
		12 Vichuquén
Linares	Linares	13 Colbún
		14 Linares
		15 Longaví
		16 Parral
		17 Retiro
		18 San Javier de Loncomilla
		19 Villa Alegre
		20 Yerbas Buenas
Talca	Talca	21 Constitución
		22 Curepto
		23 Empedrado
		24 Maule
		25 Pelarco
		26 Pencahue
		27 Río Claro
		28 San Clemente
		29 San Rafael
		30 Talca

[edit] Heritage

The Maule Region has produced a remarkable number of famous men and women, in particular writers and poets but also, statesmen and presidents, scientists and naturalists, churchmen, musicians and folklorists, journalists and historians. Thus, the Maule river - the long and wide artery that runs through the region - has been considered Chile's literary river par excellence. Many novels and short stories have had the river as their main background or protagonist. Several antologies, author's dictionaries and essays have given their account of the wealth of culture that the region has generated.

The region can boast many small towns and villages with well-preserved colonial rural architecture both in the religious as well as the civil fields. The Talca and Linares dioceses (the two Roman Catholic dioceses in the Maule region) have several parish churches of particular beauty and architectural and historic value.

[edit] Politics

[edit] Regional Intendant (Intendente)

Alexis Sepúlveda Soto

[edit] Provincial Governors

Curicó Province: Gloria Rojas
Talca Province: María Elena Villagrán
Linares Province: Gloria Alegría Vásquez
Cauquenes Province: María Angélica Sáez

[edit] Members of Parliament (Diputados)

The Maule Region is divided into five parliamentary districts. Each one of these returns two members of parliament or deputies.

The table shows the district number, the municipalities encompassed in each district and the names (and party) of the respective members of parliament.

District number	Municipalities encompassed in the district	Members of Parliament (Political party)
District 36	Curicó, Teno, Romeral, Molina, Sagrada Familia, Hualañé, Licantén, Vichuquén, Rauco	Roberto León (PDC), Sergio Correa (UDI)
District 37	Talca	Germán Verdugo (RN), Sergio Aguiló (PS)
District 38	Curepto, Constitución, Empedrado, Pencahue, Maule, San Clemente, Pelarco, Río Claro, San Rafael	Pablo Lorenzini (PDC), Pedro Pablo Álvarez-Salamanca (RN)
District 39	Linares, Colbún, San Javier, Villa Alegre, Yerbas Buenas	Osvaldo Palma (RN), Jorge Tarud (PPD)
District 40	Longaví, Retiro, Parral, Cauquenes, Pelluhue, Chanco	Guillermo Ceroni (PPD), Ignacio Urrutia (UDI)

[edit] Senators (Senadores)

The Maule Region is divided into two senatorial circumscriptions. One (Circunscription North) is composed by the provinces of Curicó and Talca and the other, by the provinces of Linares and Cauquenes. Thus, senatorial circumscription North encompasses parliamentary districts 36, 27 and 38, and senatorial circumscription South encompasses parliamentary districts 39 and 40. Each circumscription elects two Senators.

The table shows the circumscription name, the municipalities encompassed in each district and the names (and party) of the respective senators.

Circumscription number and name	Municipalities encompassed in the Circumscription	Members of Parliament (Political party)
(10) Región del Maule (Norte)	Curicó, Teno, Romeral, Molina, Sagrada Familia, Hualañé, Licantén, Vichuquén, Rauco, Talca, Curepto, Constitución, Empedrado, Pencahue, Maule, San Clemente, Pelarco, Río Claro, San Rafael	Jaime Gazmuri Mujica (PS), Juan Antonio Coloma Correa (UDI)
(11) Región del Maule (Sur)	Linares, Colbún, San Javier, Villa Alegre, Yerbas Buenas, Longaví, Retiro, Parral, Cauquenes, Pelluhue, Chanco	Jaime Naranjo Ortiz (PS), Hernán Larraín Fernández (UDI)

[edit] Final results: Chilean presidential election, 2005-2006

Runoff election 15 January 2006

[edit] Maule Region

Municipality (Comuna)	Michelle Bachelet: votes (%)	Sebastián Piñera: votes (%)
Cauquenes	8.879 (39,45%)	13.624 (60,54%)
Chanco	2.722 (44,82%)	3.350 (55,17%)
Pelluhue	1.862 (43,71%)	2.397 (56,28%)
Curicó	29.109 (52,41%)	26.425 (47,58%)
Hualañé	3.571 (61,66%)	2.220 (38,33%)
Licantén	2.462 (59,15%)	1.700 (40,84%)
Molina	13.598 (63,67%)	7.756 (36,32%)
Rauco	3.163 (55,29%)	2.557 (44,70%)
Romeral	3.828 (52,30%)	3.491 (47,69%)
Sagrada Familia	6.086 (65,75%)	3.170 (34,24%)
Teno	6.131 (49,27%)	6.311 (50,72%)
Vichuquén	1.659 (51,20%)	1.581 (48,79%)
Colbún	5.409 (57,51%)	3.996 (42,48%)
Linares	19.227 (46,20%)	22.385 (53,79%)
Longaví	7.247 (49,71%)	7.329 (50,28%)
Parral	8.996 (43,39%)	11.736 (56,60%)
Retiro	3.634 (39,99%)	5.453 (60,00%)
San Javier	11.626 (54,43%)	9.731 (45,56%)
Villa Alegre	4.438 (55,69%)	3.531 (44,30%)
Yerbas Buenas	4.222 (53,91%)	3.609 (46,08%)
Constitución	11.813 (57,61%)	8.689 (42,38%)
Curepto	3.630 (57,68%)	2.663 (42,31%)
Empedrado	1.258 (47,01%)	1.418 (52,98%)
Maule	4.942 (56,49%)	3.806 (43,50%)
Pelarco	2.494 (52,30%)	2.274 (47,69%)
Pencahue	3.686 (57,24%)	2.753 (42,75%)
Río Claro	3.508 (56,18%)	2.736 (43,81%)
San Clemente	11.875 (63,05%)	6.957 (36,94%)
San Rafael	2.559 (55,90%)	2.018 (44,09%)
Talca	51.144 (57,69%)	37.500 (42,30%)
Total votes: Maule Region	244.778 (53,45%) Michelle Bachelet	213.166 (46,54%) Sebastián Piñera