Portal:Chile

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The Chile Portal

The flag of Chile

Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the Southern Cone of southwestern South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, extending along a narrow strip of land between the Andes Mountains and the Pacific Ocean. According to the 2024 census, Chile had an enumerated population of 18.5 million. The country covers a territorial area of 756,102 square kilometers (291,933 sq mi), sharing borders with Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage to the south. It also administers several Pacific islands, including Juan Fernández, Isla Salas y Gómez, Desventuradas, and Easter Island, and claims about 1,250,000 square kilometers (480,000 sq mi) of Antarctica as the Chilean Antarctic Territory. The capital and largest city is Santiago, and the official and national language is Spanish.

Spain conquered and colonized the region in the mid-16th century, replacing Inca rule; however, they failed to conquer the autonomous tribal Mapuche people who inhabited what is now south-central Chile. Chile emerged as a relatively stable authoritarian republic in the 1830s after its 1818 declaration of independence from Spain. During the 19th century, Chile experienced significant economic and territorial growth, putting an end to Mapuche resistance in the 1880s and gaining its current northern territory in the War of the Pacific (1879–83) by defeating Peru and Bolivia.

In the 20th century, until the 1970s, Chile underwent a process of democratization and experienced rapid population growth and urbanization, while relying increasingly on exports from copper mining to support its economy. During the 1960s and 1970s, the country was marked by severe left-right political polarization and turmoil, which culminated in the 11 September 1973 coup d'état, with support from the United States, that overthrew Salvador Allende's democratically elected left-wing government. This was followed by a 16-and-a-half-year right-wing military dictatorship led by Augusto Pinochet, during which the 1980 Constitution was enacted, along with numerous political and economic reforms, and which was marked by widespread human rights violations, including more than 3,000 deaths and disappearances. The regime ended in 1990, following a referendum in 1988, and was succeeded by a center-left coalition, which ruled until 2010. (Full article...)

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This is a Good article, an article that meets a core set of high editorial standards.
Sairecabur and Saciel

Sairecabur (Spanish pronunciation: [sajɾekaˈβuɾ]) is a volcano located on the frontier between Bolivia and Chile. It is part of the Andean Central Volcanic Zone. Sairecabur proper is 5,971 m (19,590 ft) high; other mountains in the range are 5,722 m (18,773 ft) high Curiquinca, 5,819 m (19,091 ft) high Escalante and 5,748 m (18,858 ft) high Cerro Colorado, all of which have erupted a number of lava flows. Also in close proximity to Sairecabur lie the volcanic centres Licancabur, Putana and Juriques.

Sairecabur proper is accompanied by a 4.5 km (2.8 mi) wide caldera. Before the formation of this caldera the volcano may have been 7,000 m (23,000 ft) high and thus one of the highest volcanoes on Earth. After the formation of this caldera lava effusion occurred during the Pleistocene and Holocene; there is no reported historical activity, however. Eruption products on Escalante and Sairecabur include andesite and dacite. The climate is dry, cold and very sunny. (Full article...)

Selected biography -

Photograph by Eugenio Courret, 1881

Irene Morales Infante (1 April 1865 – 25 August 1890) was a Chilean soldier who served in the War of the Pacific. She was born in a barrio of Santiago, and lived in poverty throughout her life, working as a seamstress from an early age. When the War of the Pacific began she was only 13 years old, and had been orphaned and twice widowed. Her second husband was executed by the Bolivian military for killing a soldier.

She fought alongside the troops of her unit in the battles of the Tarapacá Campaign in late 1879, at Pisagua and San Francisco. Her valor in these battles and her care for wounded comrades drew the attention of Chilean commander-in-chief Manuel Baquedano, who provided her with official recognition and the rank of a sergeant. She continued to serve in the army for the duration of the war and was famously courageous at the Battle of Tacna in 1880. After the war, she returned to civilian life and died in obscurity, aged only 25. Now considered one of Chile's greatest heroes of the war, her service only became widely known after her death. (Full article...)

Selected article -

Joven Daniel was a brigantine of the Chilean Navy that entered service in 1838 serving as transport in Manuel Bulnes' expedition to Peru during the War of the Confederation. The ship became later known for its wreck off the coast of Araucanía in 1849. As it wrecked in territory outside Chilean government control, Chilean authorities struggled to elucidate the fate of possible survivors amidst inter-indigenous accusations of looting, murder and other atrocitities among local Mapuche. The events spinning off the wreckage fueled strong anti-Mapuche sentiments in Chilean society, contributing years later to the Chilean resolution to invade their hithereto independent territories. (Full article...)

General images

Did you know (auto generated)

  • ... that 72,000 forms for the 2017 Chilean census from the Atacama Region, enough for 60% of its population, were damaged by heavy rains?
  • ... that a park in Chile features a 7-metre-tall (23 ft) statue of Pope John Paul II covered in plants?
  • ... that, while in exile in Paris, the Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis worked with the Chilean ambassador and poet Pablo Neruda on Canto General?
  • ... that Rincón Chileno was nicknamed the "second Chilean consulate" by the Chilean immigrant community in Los Angeles?
  • ... that the 2024 Chilean census was delayed twice by a total of nearly two years?
  • ... that Manuel García de Sena's 1811 translation of U.S. founding documents into Spanish influenced the first constitutions of Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Uruguay and Venezuela?

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