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Travel to Chile — Unbiased reviews and great
deals from TripAdvisorChile
| Republic of Chile National
name: República de Chile President:
Michelle Bachelet (2006)
Current government officials
Land area: 289,112 sq mi (748,800 sq km);
total area: 292,260 sq mi (756,950 sq km) Population (2008 est.): 16,432,536 (growth
rate: 0.8%); birth rate: 14.8/1000; infant mortality rate: 8.1/1000;
life expectancy: 77.1; density per sq mi: 21
Capital and largest city (2003 est.):
Santiago, 5,333,100 (metro. area), 4,372,800
(city proper) Other large cities:
Viña del Mar, 303,100; Valparaíso, 274,100; Talcahuano, 252,800;
Temuco, 247,200; Concepción, 217,600 Monetary unit: Chilean Peso
Language:
Spanish
Ethnicity/race:
white and white-Amerindian 95%, Amerindian 3%,
other 2%
National Holiday:
Independence Day, September 18
Religions:
Roman Catholic 89%, Protestant 11%, small Jewish
population Literacy rate: 96% (2006
est.) Economic summary: GDP/PPP
(2007 est.): $231.1 billion; per capita $13,900. Real growth
rate: 5%. Inflation: 4.4%. Unemployment: 7%.
Arable land: 3%. Agriculture: grapes, apples, pears,
onions, wheat, corn, oats, peaches, garlic, asparagus, beans; beef,
poultry, wool; fish; timber. Labor force: 6.3 million;
agriculture 13.6%, industry 23.4%, services 63% (2003).
Industries: copper, other minerals, foodstuffs, fish
processing, iron and steel, wood and wood products, transport
equipment, cement, textiles. Natural resources: copper, timber,
iron ore, nitrates, precious metals, molybdenum, hydropower.
Exports: $58.21 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.): copper, fruit, fish
products, paper and pulp, chemicals, wine. Imports: $35.37
billion f.o.b. (2006 est.): petroleum and petroleum products,
chemicals, electrical and telecommunications equipment, industrial
machinery, vehicles, natural gas. Major trading partners: U.S.,
Japan, China, South Korea, Netherlands, Brazil, Italy, Mexico,
Argentina (2004). Communications:
Telephones: main lines in use: 3.436 million (2005); mobile
cellular: 10.57 million (2005). Radio broadcast stations: AM
180 (eight inactive), FM 64, shortwave 17 (one inactive) (1998).
Television broadcast stations: 63 (plus 121 repeaters) (1997).
Internet hosts: 506,055 (2006). Internet users: 6.7
million (2005). Transportation:
Railways: total: 6,585 km (2005). Highways: total: 79,605
km; paved: 16,080 km; unpaved: 63,525 km (2001). Waterways: 725
km. Ports and harbors: Antofagasta, Arica, Huasco, Iquique,
Lirquen, San Antonio, San Vicente, Valparaiso. Airports: 36
(2006 est.). International disputes:
Chile rebuffs Bolivia's reactivated claim to restore the Atacama
corridor, ceded to Chile in 1884, offering instead unrestricted but
not sovereign maritime access through Chile to Bolivian gas and other
commodities; Peru proposes changing its latitudinal maritime boundary
with Chile to an equidistance line with a southwestern axis;
territorial claim in Antarctica (Chilean Antarctic Territory)
partially overlaps Argentine and British claims.
Major sources and definitions
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Geography
Situated south of Peru and west of Bolivia and
Argentina, Chile fills a narrow 2,880-mi (4,506 km) strip between the
Andes and the Pacific. One-third of Chile is covered by the towering
ranges of the Andes. In the north is the driest place on Earth, the
Atacama Desert, and in the center is a 700-mile-long (1,127 km) thickly
populated valley with most of Chile's arable land. At the southern tip of
Chile's mainland is Punta Arenas, the southernmost city in the world, and
beyond that lies the Strait of Magellan and Tierra del Fuego, an island
divided between Chile and Argentina. The southernmost point of South
America is Cape Horn, a 1,390-foot (424 m) rock on Horn Island in the
Wollaston group, which belongs to Chile. Chile also claims sovereignty
over 482,628 sq mi (1,250,000 sq km) of Antarctic territory; the Juan
Fernández Islands, about 400 mi (644 km) west of the mainland; and Easter
Island, about 2,000 mi (3,219 km) west.
Government
Republic.
History
Chile was originally under the control of the
Incas in the north and the nomadic Araucanos in the south. In 1541, a
Spaniard, Pedro de Valdivia, founded Santiago. Chile won its independence
from Spain in 1818 under Bernardo O'Higgins and an Argentinian, José de
San Martin. O'Higgins, dictator until 1823, laid the foundations of the
modern state with a two-party system and a centralized government.
The dictator from 1830 to 1837, Diego Portales,
fought a war with Peru in 1836–1839 that expanded Chilean territory. Chile
fought the War of the Pacific with Peru and Bolivia from 1879 to 1883,
winning Antofagasta, Bolivia's only outlet to the sea, and extensive areas
from Peru. Pedro Montt led a revolt that overthrew José Balmaceda in 1891
and established a parliamentary dictatorship lasting until a new
constitution was adopted in 1925. Industrialization began before World War
I and led to the formation of Marxist groups. Juan Antonio Ríos, president
during World War II, was originally pro-Nazi but in 1944 led his country
into the war on the side of the Allies.
In 1970, Salvador Allende became the first
president in a non-Communist country freely elected on a Marxist program.
Allende quickly established relations with Cuba and the People's Republic
of China, introduced Marxist economic and social reforms, and nationalized
many private companies, including U.S.-owned ones. In Sept. 1973, Allende
was overthrown and killed in a military coup covertly sponsored by the
CIA, ending a 46-year era of constitutional government in Chile.
The coup was led by a four-man junta headed by
Army Chief of Staff Augusto Pinochet, who eventually assumed the office of
president. Committed to “exterminat[ing] Marxism,” the junta suspended
parliament, banned political activity, and severely curbed civil
liberties. Pinochet's brutal dictatorship led to the imprisonment,
torture, disappearances, execution, and expulsion of thousands of
Chileans. A government report in 2004 indicated that almost 28,000 people
had been tortured during his rule, and that at least 3,200 murders and
disappearances had taken place.
The economy, in tatters under Allende's
Socialist revolution, gradually improved after Chile's return to
privatization under Pinochet. In 1989, Pinochet lost a plebiscite on
whether he should remain in power. He stepped down in Jan. 1990 in favor
of Patricio Aylwin. In Dec. 1993, Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle, the candidate
of a center-left coalition and son of a previous president, was elected
president.
Pinochet, who had retained his post as army
commander in chief after the 1989 plebiscite, retired in March 1998. In
Oct. 1998, he was arrested and detained in England on an extradition
request issued by a Spanish judge who sought Pinochet in connection with
the disappearances of Spanish citizens during his rule. British courts
ultimately denied his extradition, and Pinochet returned to Chile in March
2000. He died in Dec. 2006 at age 91, before facing trial for the abuses
of his 17-year dictatorship.
Ricardo Lagos became president in March 2000,
the first Socialist to run the country since Allende. Chile's economic
growth slowed to 3% for 2001, partly the result of a drop in international
copper prices and the economic turmoil in neighboring Argentina. In 2003
there were several minor financial scandals involving insider information
and bribery. In response, Lagos introduced new reforms promising greater
transparency. In 2004, Chile passed a law permitting divorce for the first
time.
In 2006 presidential elections, Socialist
Michelle Bachelet won 53% of the vote. The former pediatrician is a
survivor of the Pinochet dictatorship, which was responsible for her
father's death and subjected her to prison, torture, and exile. Bachelet
took office on March 11, becoming Chile's first female chief of state. She
promised to continue Chile's successful economic policies while increasing
social spending. Her first major challenge came when 700,000 of the
nation's students organized a national boycott in May demanding
educational reform. The students called off the strike in June after the
government agreed to address their concerns.
In January 2008 president Bachelet swore in six
new ministers to her 22-member cabinet. The major change was the
appointment of Christian Democrat leader Edmundo Perez Yoma for Interior
Minister, the top political post of the cabinet. Bachelet also replaced
ministers of economy, public works, mining, agriculture, and planning. The
cabinet changes are not expected to affect government policy.
On April 17, 2008, education minister, Yasna
Provoste, was impeached by parliament after failing to explain the
disappearance of about $580 million in school funds.
See also Encyclopedia: Chile.
U.S. State Dept. Country Notes:
Chile
National Institute of Statistics (INE) (In Spanish only)
www.ine.cl/ .
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