San Rafael, California

San Rafael (/ˌsæn rəˈfɛl/ SAN rə-FEL; Spanish pronunciation: [san rafaˈel]) (Spanish for "Saint Raphael") is a city and the county seat of Marin County, California, United States. The city is located in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. As of the 2010 census the city's population is 57,713.

History

What is now San Rafael was once the site of several Coast Miwok villages; Awani-wi, near downtown San Rafael, Ewu, near Terra Linda, and Shotomko-cha, in Marinwood.Mission San Rafael Arcángel was founded in what is now downtown San Rafael as the 20th Spanish mission in the colonial Mexican province of Alta California by three priests—Father Narciso Durán from Mission San José, Father Abella from Mission San Francisco de Asís, Father Luis Gíl y Taboada from La Iglesia de Nuestra Señora Reina de los Angeles—on Dec. 14, 1817, four years before Mexico gained independence from Spain. Mission San Rafael Arcángel was located a donkey's day walk to the mission below it. The mission and the city are named after the Archangel Raphael, the Angel of Healing.

San Rafael

San Rafael (the Spanish-language name of the Archangel Raphael) is a common place-name in areas where that tongue is or was spoken:

Towns, cities, municipalities, etc.

San Rafael Department

San Rafael is one of the departments of Mendoza Province, Argentina. The seat of the department is in the city of San Rafael.

Statistics

Neighboring departments

Administration

The department is subdivided in 18 districts: Ciudad, El Cerrito, Cuadro Nacional, Las Malvinas District, El Sosneado (added in 2005, it used to belong to Cuadro Benegas, but then it was added as a district), Las Paredes, La Llave, Cuadro Benegas, Cuadro Nacional, Cañada Seca, Goudge, Jaime Prats, Monte Comán, Rama Caída, Real del Padre, Punta del Agua, Villa Atuel and Villa 25 de Mayo.

San Rafael, Chile

San Rafael is a town and commune of the Talca Province in the Maule Region of Chile. The town serves as the communal capital.

Demographics

According to the 2002 census of the National Statistics Institute, San Rafael spans an area of 263.5 km² (102 sq mi) and has 7,674 inhabitants (3,903 men and 3,771 women). Of these, 3,482 (45.4%) lived in urban areas and 4,192 (54.6%) in rural areas. The population grew by 6.5% (465 persons) between the 1992 and 2002 censuses.

Administration

As a commune, San Rafael 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 2008-2012 alcalde is Patricio Poblete Yáñez (UDI).

Within the electoral divisions of Chile, San Rafael is represented in the Chamber of Deputies by Pablo Lorenzini (PDC) and Pedro Pablo Alvarez-Salamanca (UDI) as part of the 38th electoral district, (together with Curepto, Constitución, Empedrado, Pencahue, Maule, San Clemente, Pelarco and Río Claro). The commune is represented in the Senate by Juan Antonio Coloma Correa (UDI) and Andrés Zaldívar Larraín (PDC) as part of the 10th senatorial constituency (Maule-North).