The XI Aisén Region of General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo (Spanish: XI Región Aisén del General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo), also spelled Aysén, is one of Chile's 15 first order administrative divisions. Although the third largest in area, the region is Chile's most sparsely populated region with a population of 105,000. The capital of the region is Coihaique, the region's former namesake.
It is the least populous of the fifteen regions. The shape of the landscape is marked by several glaciations that formed a lot of lakes, channels and fjords. The region still has icefields including the Northern Patagonian Ice Field and the Southern Patagonian Ice Field, the world's largest after those in Antarctica and Greenland. Laguna San Rafael National Park, reachable only by boat or plane, is one of its most popular tourist destinations. Until the construction of Route 7 (the Carretera Austral, or Southern Highway) in the 1980s, the only overland routes from north to south through the region were extremely primitive tracks.
The XI Aisén Region of General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo (Spanish: XI Región Aisén del General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo), also spelled Aysén, is one of Chile's 15 first order administrative divisions. Although the third largest in area, the region is Chile's most sparsely populated region with a population of 105,000. The capital of the region is Coihaique, the region's former namesake.
It is the least populous of the fifteen regions. The shape of the landscape is marked by several glaciations that formed a lot of lakes, channels and fjords. The region still has icefields including the Northern Patagonian Ice Field and the Southern Patagonian Ice Field, the world's largest after those in Antarctica and Greenland. Laguna San Rafael National Park, reachable only by boat or plane, is one of its most popular tourist destinations. Until the construction of Route 7 (the Carretera Austral, or Southern Highway) in the 1980s, the only overland routes from north to south through the region were extremely primitive tracks.