San Miguel, Chile


San Miguel is a commune of Chile located in Santiago Province, Santiago Metropolitan Region. It was founded on August 10, 1896.

History

The history of San Miguel dates back to the 16th century when Gaspar Banda, assistant to the conquistador Diego de Almagro, created a hermitage to Saint Michael the Archangel in this territory in 1575. In 1881, the Iglesia de San Miguel Arcángel was built on the same site as the 1575 hermitage.
At the beginning of the 19th century, the place emerged as an agricultural area, with wheat, barley and wine plantations. The land was owned by Bernardo O'Higgins, liberator and father of the Chilean nation, who used it as his vacation home.
Ramón Subercaseaux brought wine strains directly from Bordeaux, France, and his wines acquired international prestige, notably at the Exposition Universelle of 1889 in Paris. His 1840 house is still preserved as a cultural center and is open to the public.
The commune of San Miguel was founded on August 10, 1896. At the beginning of the 20th century, the area began to be urbanized in the style of a European garden city, with large mansions, parks, squares and many trees in the streets. In later years, development followed a more middle-class urban style.
In the civic square in front of the city hall, a statue of José Miguel Carrera. The statue was designed by Auguste Dumont, the same sculptor who made the statue of Napoleon on the Vendôme Column in Paris.

Administration

As a commune, San Miguel is a third-level administrative division of Chile administered by a municipal council, headed by an alcalde who is directly elected every four years. The alcalde's office is located at Gran Avenida No. 3418. The 2024–2028 alcalde is Carol Bown Sepúlveda. The communal council has the following members:
  • Luis Sanhueza Bravo
  • Felipe Guevara Stephens
  • Claudia Rojas Miranda
  • Eva Merino Garcés
  • Claudio Escobar Oyarzún
  • Gabriel Zúñiga Aravena
  • Viviana Llambias Miranda
  • Carla Santana Bustamante
San Miguel belongs to the 28th electoral division and the 8th senatorial constituency. It is represented in the Chamber of Deputies of the National Congress by the deputies Guillermo Teillier del Valle and Pedro Browne Urrejola. It is represented in the Senate by senators Soledad Alvear and Pablo Longueira.

Demographics

According to the 2002 census of the National Statistics Institute, San Miguel spans an area of and has 78,872 inhabitants, and the commune is an entirely urban area. The population fell by 4.8% between the 1992 and 2002 censuses. The demonym for a person from San Miguel is sanmiguelino for a man or sanmiguelina for a woman.

Statistics

  • Average annual household income: US$39,670
  • Population below poverty line: 2.5%
  • Regional quality of life index: 82.17, high, 6 out of 52
  • Human Development Index: 0.765, 31 out of 341

    Notable ''sanmiguelinos''

  • Los Prisioneros
  • Gepe
  • Paulina Urrutia
  • Ruben Palma
  • Themo Lobos
  • Francisco Dominguez
  • Daniela Vega