Santiago Province, Chile

Santiago Province (Spanish: Provincia de Santiago) is one of the six provinces of the Santiago Metropolitan Region (RM) of central Chile. It encompasses the majority of the population of that region, including 31 of the 36 communities of Greater Santiago. The province spans 2,030.30 km (1,262 mi).

As a province, Santiago is a second-level administrative division of Chile. As its capital is also the regional capital, the duties of the provincial delegate are instead carried out by the regional delegate of the Santiago Metropolitan Region who is appointed by the president.

The province comprises 32 communes (Spanish: comunas), each governed by a municipality consisting of an alcalde and municipal council.

The climate of the Santiago Province, and generally of the Metropolitan Region is temperate Mediterranean cold, of the kind called continental. Precipitation is concentrated in the winter months, generally as snow over 1000 m above sea level and, in colder years, over the city of Santiago. Winter tends to be cold with frequent frosts during which temperature drops below 0 °C. The summer months are usually dry and hot. The Cordillera de la Costa acts as a climate screen and reduces marine influence, which makes the climate more continental. This situation becomes apparent when comparing precipitation from a coastal location such as Valparaíso (460 mm) with that of Santiago de Chile (360 mm).

The annual median precipitation reaches 367 mm on average. The annual median temperature comes out to 13.5 °C, with a median high of 21 °C and a median low of 6 °C.

Most of the province is made up of an extremely fertile, level prairie that the locals call la Depresión intermedia (Intermediate Depression). The terrain is known for its low elevation in relation to sea level and for being surrounded by hills, as well as emergent so-called island hills, such as Santa Lucía (an ancient extinct volcano), Blanco, and Renca, present today in the city of Santiago.

There is some occurrence of the endangered Chilean Wine Palm, Jubaea chilensis within the Santiago Province; this iconic tree of central Chile had a much larger range prehistorically, before the decimation of much of its habitat by the expanding human population.

Before the Iberian conquest, the central zone of Chile was sparsely inhabited by an indigenous population of Picunches, the northern branch of the Mapuches. The European occupation had a considerable impact on the native population and culture, which suffered a rapid and profound disintegration. Chief among the reasons was the Spanish Crown's granting of gifts of land to its colonists. In addition, the institution of a system of encomiendas, only abolished by the end of the 18th century, had irreversible consequences. It represented first the appropriation of indigenous ground, and second the practice of Spaniards receiving groups of natives who had to pay tribute. Over time, in the Province, as in the whole country, cultural identity became predominantly European in character, with minor hints of native character, thus setting in motion a process of homogenization of the population.