Maipu

Maipú is a commune of Chile located in Santiago Province, Santiago Metropolitan Region, integrated into the Greater Santiago conurbation. It was founded on February 16, 1821 and it is the place of the Battle of Maipú (April 5, 1818), where Chile's independence was consolidated. Inhabitants are mostly part of a young middle class. According to the 2002 census, Maipú was the second largest commune in Chile, behind Puente Alto. However, the National Statistics Institute estimates that as of 2006, Maipú has surpassed the latter in population.

According to the 2002 census of the National Statistics Institute, Maipú spans an area of 133 km2 (51 sq mi) and has 468,390 inhabitants (227,285 men and 241,105 women). Of these, 464,882 (99.3%) lived in urban areas and 3,508 (0.7%) in rural areas. The population grew by 82.6% (211,840 persons) between the 1992 and 2002 censuses.