Santiago (commune) 3.27

The Commune of Santiago is the central commune of the Santiago Province, located at the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Region in Chile's Central Zone. Locally, Santiago is usually abbreviated Stgo. It is also called as "Santiago Centro" (Downtown Santiago) in order to differentiate it from Greater Santiago, a larger entity which includes Santiago Commune along with other 36 communes.HistoryThe city of Santiago was founded on February 12, 1541 as "Santiago de la Nueva Extremadura" by Pedro de Valdivia. It is officially the provincial, regional and national capital. It encompasses the oldest part of the city —that enclosed by old rail lines—, including downtown, and houses all major government infrastructure, including the government palace La Moneda.DemographicsAccording to the 2002 census of the National Statistics Institute, the commune has an area of 22.4sqkm and a population of 200,792 (99,155 men and 101,637 women), giving it a population density of 8963.9PD/sqkm. The population shrank by 13.1% (30,185 persons) in the ten years since the 1992 population of 230,977. In 2002, there were 17,514 households, each with an average income of $28,648 in PPP US dollars in 2006.