It is a country in South America. It lies between the Pacific Ocean and the Andes mountains. According to Chile, almost 1,250,000 square kilometers of region in Antarctica is also part of Chile. In the South, there are many forests and farmlands. In the North lies the driest desert of the world called Atacama Desert. The Spanish came here and invaded this country in 1541. In 1818, Chile got freedom from Spanish and surfaced as an independent nation. It is also among those South American countries that has stable economy. This country has one of the highly developed systems of telecommunication in South America.
Capital/Biggest City: Santiago
National Language: Spanish
Currency: Peso
National Bird: Andean Condor
National Sport: Rodeo
History
- Native Americans came here at almost 10,000 years before.
- The first person to show up in Chile from Europe was Ferdinand Magellan. He was a Portuguese discoverer and came to Chile in 1520.
- The name of the first governor of this country was a Spanish soldier named Pedro Gutiérrez de Valdivia. He attacked Chile in 1540. On February 12, 1541, Valdivia established the largest city of Chile named Santiago.
- In the first half of 19th century during the Chilean War of Independence, the leader from Chile, Bernardo O’Higgins Riquelme, got freedom for his country by driving out the Spanish conquerors.
Geography
- The most abundant minerals of Chile are copper, sodium nitrate (NaNO3) and potassium nitrate (KNO3).
- It is located in the Pacific Ring of Fire. A Ring of Fire is a location in the Pacific Ocean that stretches to about 40,000 kilometers and carries a lot of earthquakes including 452 volcanoes.
- All four seasons occur in Chile.
- The longest river of Chile is Loa River. It is about 440 kilometers long.
- In the South of Chile, there exists a glacier called Brüggen Glacier. It is 66 kilometers long and the longest one in southern hemisphere. Another name for this glacier is Pío XI Glacier.
Interesting Facts about Chile
- The biggest mine of copper around the world is Escondida. It is located in Chile’s Atacama Desert.
- Chile stands at the second position in the world as the biggest country of north-south direction. Brazil is the world’s longest north-south country.
- Chile is home to about one-third of the copper produced in the world.
- The flag of the Texas state looks a lot like the flag of Chile. It is because the flag of Chile was designed on the basis of the US flag.
- More than 60 percent of the people in Chile use internet. This percentage is the highest in the entire South America.
- Almost eighty five percent of the inhabitants of Chile live in towns or cities.
- Chile ranks seventh in the world in terms of economic freedom.
- Almost sixty percent of the exports of Chile comprise of copper.
More Facts
- Every year 2 million visitors around the world travel to Chile. Majority of these visitors came from Argentina.
- The first person from whole Latin America to have Nobel Prize in Literature was Gabriela Mistral. She was from Chile.
- The most popular poet of Chile is Pablo Neruda. He also received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1971.
- The best-selling author of Chile is Isabel Allende.
- Football is the most famous sport in Chile. Tennis is also a thriving sport in this country.
- The first female President of Chile was Michelle Bachelet Jeria. She was elected on January 2006.
- Majority of people in Chile are Roman Catholic.
- There are 15 administrative divisions in Chile.
- There are 372 airfields in Chile.
- Chile had a severe earthquake on February 27, 2010. The magnitude of this tremor on Richter Scale was 8.8 and killed almost 500 people.
- There are almost 3,000 fungi species in this country.
- Some of the large mammals of Chile are Puma, Guanaco and Chilla.
- There are no diseases of Phylloxera, fruit fly or Mad Cow in this country.
