From salty-desert top to glacier-crowded bottom, Chile is a gobsmacking reminder of nature's beauty and power. This narrow trickle of a country is jammed with enough geysers, mountains, beaches, forests and volcanos to keep adventure nuts slavering for a lifetime.

Never more than 150 miles across, Chile's odd geography is bordered by 2,700 miles of Pacific coastline to the west, Peru to the north and Bolivia and Argentina to the east. Chile also has jurisdiction over the islands off its coast, including Easter Island, 2,300 miles to the west, and claims a large part of Antarctica. Within the chain of the Andes Mountains stretching the length of the country are over 2,000 volcanoes. Chile's distinctive culture has survived the turbulent political events of its recent history and is thriving once again, thanks to a people noted for their resilience. Chile's population is spread between a few sophisticated cities with strong European influences surrounded by rural areas with deeply held indigenous traditions, especially prevalent in the Andean foothills and southern plains.

OFFICIAL NAME

Republic of Chile

GOVERNMENT STRUCTURE

Democracy

PRESIDENT

Michelle Bachelet (2006)
Socialist Party
First woman president
A surgeon, pediatrician and epidemiologist by profession, she is the former Minister of Health and Minister of Defense.

POPULATION

16,432,674 (2006 est.)

CAPITAL

Santiago
Population 5.6 million

OTHER IMPORTANT CITIES (ranked by population)

Concepcion
Vina del Mar
Valparaiso
Talcahuano
Temuco
Antofagasta
Rancagua

ETHNICITY

Mestizo 90%
European descent 5%
Amerindian 3%
Other 2%

LANGUAGES

Spanish
Mapuche (Aracanian)

LITERACY

95.7%

LIFE EXPECTANCY

Men 72.63
Women 79.42

RELIGION

Roman Catholic 89%
Protestant 11%

AREA

292,000 square miles

PROTECTED AREAS (19% of its territory)

National parks 31
National reserves 48
 

NATIONAL FLOWER

Cattleya Orchid Copihue (La pageria rosea) Chilean Bellflower

NATIONAL BIRD

Andean Condor

NATIONAL ANIMAL

Huemul

MAJOR INDUSTRIES

Copper
Iron
Forestry
Fish products

MAJOR AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS

Wine
Apples
Pears
Onions

CUISINE

Chile is famous for its seafood, prepared simply or in hearty soups and stews, and its premium red and white wines. Beef and chicken are staples, and vegetarian alternatives may have to be requested in restaurants. Among its national dishes are choclo, a beef and chicken pie topped with a basil-seasoned corn mixture and baked in a clay pot, parotos, a bean vegetable dish and cazuela, a stew of chicken or beef. Empanadas (fried or baked dough filled with meat or fruit) and humitas (a version of the tamale made of corn dough often mixed with onion) are popular as snack foods.

CURRENCY

Chilean Peso (CLP)

TIME ZONE

1 hour earlier than Eastern Standard Time

INTERNATIONAL DIALING CODE

56

ELECTRICITY

220 V, 50 Hz

Pre 20th Century History

Pre-Columbian Chile was peopled by a variety of ancient cultures, many of them politically subject to the Incas who they predated by many centuries. The country's varied topography governed the character of its population groups and the extent to which they were subject to Inca aggression. Native groupings included Aymara farmers in the desert north, who cultivated maize and tended flocks of llamas and alpacas; fisherfolk in the coastal areas; Diaguita Indians in the mountainous interior; Araucarian Indians in the centre and south, whose fishing and agricultural settlements were barely touched by Incan incursions; and numerous groups of archipelagic hunters and fishers in the remote south.
All territory west of Brazil was granted to Spain by the 1494 Spanish-Portuguese treaty. The Spanish assigned the task of conquering Chile to Pedro de Valdivia, whose expedition reached Chile's fertile Mapocho Valley in 1541. Santiago was founded in the same year, with the cities of La Serena, Valparaíso, Concepción, Valdivia and Villarrica following soon after. The Río Biobío marked the southern extent of Spanish incursions, where they were barred by the resistance of the fierce Mapuche tribes. Valdivia rewarded his followers with enormous land grants, which resembled the great feudal estates of his Spanish homeland. Although mining and business outstripped agriculture as Chile's merchant megaliths, it was the social structure of the estates that shaped colonial Chile. The native population was devastated by the unwitting introduction of infectious diseases, and the mestizo population, the offspring of Spanish and Indian unions, were used as tenant laborers on these huge estates, many of which were still intact in the 1960s.
By the 1820s, the cumbersome methods by which taxation was extracted by a stagnant and complacent Spain allowed a flowering pan-American identity to blossom into a push for full independence. Simón Bolívar and José de San Martín led armies of freedom fighters from Venezuela to Peru, and from Argentina into Chile. Bernardo O'Higgins, son of an Irish immigrant and erstwhile viceroy of Peru, became supreme director of the new Chilean republic. The newly independent Chile was a fraction of its eventual size, consisting of Santiago and Concepción, and had fuzzy borders with Bolivia and Argentina. The coming of the railways and military triumphs over Peru and Bolivia in the War of the Pacific (1879-83) incorporated the mineral-rich Atacama desert to the north and the southern temperate territories. Chile quickly achieved a degree of political stability and relative democracy, enabling rapid agricultural development and the advancement of mining, industry and commerce. The now empowered working class and the nouveau riche both challenged the political power of the landowning oligarchy in a brief but bloody civil war in the 1890s.

Modern History

The first half of the 20th century saw the political climate swing between right and left with no government having sufficient support to cement large-scale reform. Infrastructure development was generally sluggish, leading to rural poverty and urbanisation through desperation. It was not until the 1960s that social reforms were successfully instituted by the Christian Democrats, who targeted housing, education, health and social services. These policies threatened the conservative elite's privileges and also offended the radical left. Chile's politics were becoming increasingly militant, polarised and ideology-based when the Marxist Allende's leftist coalition of Socialists, Communists and extremists snuck to victory in 1970. Allende introduced sweeping economic reforms, including the state takeover of many private enterprises and the wholesale redistribution of income.
General Pinochet seized power in a bloody coup on 11 September 1973 using jets to bomb the presidential palace. Allende died, apparently by his own hand, and thousands of his supporters were murdered. Dark days followed, with assassinations, purges and enforced exiles commonplace. In a 1988 referendum to approve his presidency, voters rejected him by a majority of 12%. In the 1989 multiparty elections, Christian Democrat Patricio Aylwin beat Pinochet's candidate, Hernan Buchi, and power was peacefully transferred. Democracy returned to Chile, although many of the previous regime's power brokers wielded a lingering influence for many years.
Eduardo Frei undertook the challenge of reconciling Chileans with their difficult past by accelerating human rights tribunals and inquiries into the fate of Chile's 3000 disappeared. Unfortunately, resistance from the political arm of the military machine severely hampered his efforts. Frei also struggled in matters of constitutional reform, failing to eliminate eight institutional senators appointed by Pinochet who are not subject to a popular vote (this was finally achieved by his successor in 2005). Frei's economic reforms, however, did help alleviate crushing poverty to some degree.
Elected in 2000, President Ricardo Lagos, formerly Frei's public works minister, was the first Socialist to hold the highest office since Allende.

Recent History

Chile's copper-dependent economy is a regional leader, growing steadily for two decades and boosted by recent skyrocketing copper prices. Pinochet has continued to dominate recent political history. His arrest in London in 1998 at the request of a Spanish judge investigating human rights violations unleashed an international furore. In March 2000 the general returned to Chile, where a court stripped him of his immunity from prosecution and he was formally charged with kidnapping.
In July 2001, a Chilean Court ruled that Pinochet was unfit to stand trial. This setback for those seeking judicial restitution also meant that Pinochet could no longer hold on to his lifelong senatorial sinecure. Since then, Chileans have witnessed a string of yo-yoing court decisions - first stripping his immunity or declaring him fit for trial, then subsequently reversing the ruling. Revelations made in early 2005 about Pinochet's secret foreign bank accounts - in which he squirreled away more than 27000000.00 - added to the charges, and implicated his wife and son.
A run-off election in January 2006 saw Chile elect their first female president, Michelle Bachelet. Shortly after her election, Bachelet chose equal numbers of men and women in her cabinet. Her victory also saw in a fourth consecutive term for the ruling Concertación coalition
 

Weather Overview

Chile's mountainous geography spanning over 30° of latitude makes for some strange climatic variation. Summer and winter in Chile's north are quite restrained with temperatures in the 15-25°C (63-77°F) range throughout the year with only slight seasonal change. Rain is of no concern as this coast-to-desert landscape is one of the driest in the world, despite heavy cloud cover from April to December. Central Chile has far more pronounced seasonal change with average daily highs of 29°C (85°F) from December to February and dropping to around 14°C (58°F) in June. Rainfall is heaviest in the winter months but still only moderate and falling on few days at this time. Down south rainfall increases dramatically, peaking in June with most days succumbing to the wet. Temperatures in this region are slightly cooler with low 20°C (around 70°F) summer highs and plunging into the single digits (around 42°F) in the middle of the year
 

 Anything and everything grows in Chile, and eating well here means taking advantage of the tremendous range and outstanding quality of seafood and locally produced agricultural products.
Though seeking out local dishes and specialties is always part of the adventure, there are a few dishes that you'll come across nearly everywhere.
Empanadas are snack-sized turnovers filled with meat, cheese, or shellfish, and are a staple of daily life, not to be missed.
Fresh-baked bread, in a variety of styles, is available in local panaderias in even the smallest towns. A surprising variety of excellent sandwiches make for good, quick meals.
Chile's seafood is unequalled in variety and quality. Mussels, clams, and urchins, oysters and scallops, salmon and sea bass, the list of fish and shellfish goes on and on, and a morning visit to fish markets anywhere in the country is an overwhelming sensory experience. Paila marina is a delectable shellfish stew available throughout the country.
North American and European visitors will find the quality of red meat served here to far exceed that which they are accustomed to. Asados (barbeques) and parilladas (mixed grill) are extremely popular and widely available.
Finally, even the most voracious sweet-tooth will be satisfied by locally made italian-style ice cream (helado) and deserts made with dulce de leche, also known as manjar.
From north to south, Chilean cuisine is as varied and unexpected as the country's marvelous geography.