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**V Región de Valparaíso**


See other Chilean regions
Capital	Valparaíso
Provinces	Petorca Los Andes San Felipe de Aconcagua Quillota Valparaíso San Antonio Isla de Pascua
Area - Total	Ranked 13th 16,396.1 km²
Population - 2002 Census - Density	Ranked 3rd 1,539,852 94.1/km²
ISO 3166-2	CL-VS

The V Valparaíso Region (Spanish: V Región de Valparaíso) is one of Chile's 15 first order administrative divisions.^[1] with a population of 1.7 million.

Its capital is the port city of Valparaíso, other important cities include Viña del Mar, Quilpué and Villa Alemana.

[edit] Geography and natural features

The region is on the same latitude as the Santiago Metropolitan Region. Its capital is Valparaíso, which is the site for the National Congress of Chile and an important commercial port. Also in this region is the top resort city of Viña del Mar. Additionally, the Pacific Islands of Easter Island (Isla de Pascua), Isla Salas y Gómez, the Juan Fernandez Islands and the Desventuradas Islands fall under the Valparaíso Region's administration.

The Valparaíso Region is part of the very restricted range of the endangered Chilean Wine Palm, Jubaea chilensis; in prehistoric times this endemic Chilean tree had a significantly larger range.^[2]

[edit] Economics and industry

The Valparaíso region is host of agricultural lands, wine producers, and industrial activity such as copper mining and cement. Chile's largest oil refinery is located in Con-Con (on the mouth of the Aconcagua River and about 20 km north of Valparaíso) and there are two important copper ore refineries: the state owned Ventanas (on the coast and north of Con Con) and the private works in Chagres, about 55 miles (90 km) inland.

The region also is a hub for chemicals and gas storage near the port of Quinteros. In the interior valleys there is a booming export industry mainly around the avocado (palta), chirimoyas and flowers as the most important products. The most striking recent development has been the cultivation of hill sides using high tech drip feed irrigation. This has allowed otherwise dry and unproductive land to bear high yields.