Santiago is one of the six provinces of the Santiago Metropolitan Region of Chile. It encompasses the majority of the population of that region, including 31 of the 35 communities of Greater Santiago. Almost all of the province is made up of an extremely fertile, level prairie that the locals call la Depresión intermedia (Intermediate Depression). The terrain is known for its low elevation in relation to sea level and for being surrounded by hills, as well as emergent so-called island hills, such as Santa Lucía (an ancient extinct volcano), Blanco, and Renca, present today in the city of Santiago.
The climate of the Santiago Province, and generally of the Metropolitan Region is temperate Mediterranean cold, of the kind called continental. Precipitation is concentrated in the winter months, generally as snow over 1,000 m above sea level and occasionally, in colder years, over the city of Santiago. Winter tends to be cold with frequent frosts during which temperature drops below 0 °C. The summer months are usually dry and hot. The Cordillera de la Costa acts as a climate screen and reduces marine influence, which makes the climate more continental. This situation becomes apparent when comparing precipitation from a coastal location such as Valparaíso (460 mm) with that of Santiago de Chile (360 mm).
The annual median precipitation reaches 367 mm on average. The annual median temperature comes out to 13.5 °C, with a median high of 21 °C and a median low of 6 °C. Before the Iberian conquest, the central zone of Chile was scarcely inhabited by the indigenous population, the Picunches, the northern branch of the Mapuches. The European occupation had a considerable impact on the native population, which suffered a rapid and profound disintegration.
There are different reasons for this. Chief among them is the Crown's granting of gifts of land to the peninsular colonists. In addition to this, the institution of a system of encomiendas, that was only abolished by the end of the 18th century, had irreversible consequences. It represented first the appropriation of indigenous ground, and second the practice of Spaniards receiving groups of natives who had to pay tribute. With the pass of centuries, there was generated in the Province, as in the whole country, an identity of predominantly European character together with hints of native character, thus setting in motion a process of homogenization of the population.