Rancagua is located approximately 85 kilometres south of Santiago. It was founded as a colonial town in 1743 by Manso de Velasco and is located near the Cachapoal River. The year 2000 population was approximately 250,000 inhabitants.

There is little here to attract most tourists, although it serves as a major supply and support center for the surrounding mining (El Teniente mine, regarded as the largest copper mine in the world) and agricultural activities.  Historically, the city is known for the "Disaster of Rancagua" in 1814, when Chilean revolutionaries lost a major battle to the Spanish and Royalist forces. Near the El Teniente Mine is the ghost town of Sewell, a beautiful old mining town located on a steep slope.