Curicó is a province in the Maule Region of central Chile, lying between the provinces of Colchagua and Talca and extending from the Pacific to the Argentine frontier; area of 7,280.9 km², population 244,053. The eastern and western sections are mountainous, and are separated by the fertile valley of central Chile. The capital is Curicó, on the Mataquito River, 194 km south of Santiago.
The region is named for the Curis one of the tribes of Picunche or Promaucaes settled along the rivers of the central valley flowing into the Mataquito River, around the modern city of Curicó. Others tribes were the Tenu along the Teno River (the modern Rauco and Teno communes) to the north. To the south were the Gualemo along the Lontué River the modern Molina commune. Along the Mataquito were the tribes centered on the modern towns of Palquibudi in Sagrada Familia commune, La Huerta in Hualañé commune and Lora in Licantén commune. On the coast north of the river, the Vichuquén in the commune of the same name .
The province was created in 1865. Formerly it was part of the Colchagua Province. In 1974, because of a regionalisation process in Chile during the Augusto Pinochet regime executed by CONARA (Comisión Nacional de Reforma Administrativa in Spanish, National Commission of Administrative Reform in English), the province was reshaped, taking place in the recently created Maule Region .