Villa Alemana


Villa Alemana is a city and commune in Chile's Zona Central. It was founded in 1896 by Italian and German immigrants. Villa Alemana is a part of the urban area known as Greater Valparaiso.

History

The city of Villa Alemana was founded due to the building of a railway, and was at the beginning of Chilean railway development. Its climate is so temperate that the slogan is "The City of Eternal Youth" or "City of the Mills".
Villa Alemana before being named was nothing but fields. There was a small vineyard, many trees and flowers and what prevailed was the hawthorn. For housing today Theater Pompeya were offered at 20 cents per meter of ground. And that was where Don Buenaventura Joglar had the idea to buy land and build a population which appointed as Villa Alemana because the Germans were the first to buy these sites.
On November 8, 1894, was founded under the name of Viña Miraflores. The property was owned by Don Buenaventura Joglar, who lot and set the name of Villa Alemana.
On January 5, 1918, the commune of Villa Alemana was established, but in 1928 it was incorporated in Quilpué. On June 7, 1933, Villa Alemana separated from Quilpué, recreating the commune of Villa Alemana.
Today, Villa Alemana is a bedroom community of Viña del Mar and Valparaíso.

Demographics

Until 1982 the commune had just over 55,000 residents.
According to the 2002 census of the National Statistics Institute, Villa Alemana spans an area of and has 95,623 inhabitants. Of these, 94,802 lived in urban areas and 821 in rural areas. The population grew by 33.4% between the 1992 and 2002 censuses.

Administration

As a commune, Villa Alemana 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 2012-2016 alcalde is José Sabat Marcos. The council has the following members:
Within the electoral divisions of Chile, Villa Alemana is represented in the Chamber of Deputies by Mr. Marcelo Schilling and Mr. Arturo Squella as part of the 12th electoral district,. The commune is represented in the Senate by Ignacio Walker Prieto and Lily Pérez San Martín as part of the 5th senatorial constituency.

Education

Previously the area had a German school, Deutsche Schule Villa Alemana.

Twin cities