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Chile
Republic of Chile
Rebública de Chile
Things to Know
Chile, a Spanish-speaking country in South America.
Capital: Santiago
Due to its geographic location, Santiago is one
of the few capital cities in the world which has easy access both to
ski slopes and beaches.
Map
of Chile
Don Pedro
de Valdivia, the founder of Santiago and conqueror of Chile.
Currency: pesos
Language: Spanish
Visit Living Language to learn some Spanish words.
Religions: Roman Catholic 89%, Protestant 11%
Animals For centuries, Chileans have used llamas to carry their goods.
The llama is believed to have originated from the guanaco and the alpaca from the vicuña.
One of Chile's native animals, called the rhea,
is a huge flightless bird like the ostrich. It is one of the largest
birds of South America.
In Central and Southern Chile there are flamingos, pelicans, penguins, otters and sea
lions.
Explorers
Ferdinand
Magellan Portuguese explorer who led the first expedition that
sailed around the Earth (1519-1522). Magellan also named the Pacific Ocean and discovered the Magellanic Islands
including Tierra Del Fuego in 1520.
An old copy of Ferdinand
Magellan's charts.
Dagoberto Godoy a Chilean army lieutenant He was the first person to
fly across the Andes Mountains in 1918.
Climate
Desert in north; cool and damp in the south.
Land
Chile lies between the Pacific Ocean and the
giant Andes Mountains on the South American continent. Chile stretches over 4,300 km
(2,700 mi) along the southwestern coast of South America. At the same
time, its width never exceeds 240 km (150 mi), making the country
more than eighteen times longer than its widest point. Chile
is the longest and narrowest country on the planet.
Chile has one of the world's most dangerous coastlines and the
Chilean navy operates one of the world's most active lighthouse
services. Chile is among the top fishing countries in the world.
Chile is bordered on the east by the Andes
Mountains and on the west by the Pacific Ocean. To the north the land
becomes more arid, until one reaches the forbidding Atacama
Desert, one of the most inhospitable regions
on earth.
In the center of the country is a long river
valley, a five hundred mile corridor occupied in the north by
vineyards and great farms and in the south by primeval forests and
lakes. Santiago, the capital, is located in this central valley.
To the south is the Chilean
Patagonia a land of islands, glaciers, icebergs and mountains.
Cape Horn,
the southernmost point in the Americas, where the Pacific and
Atlantic oceans turbulently meet, is Chilean territory. Before the
opening of the Panama Canal, ships sailed from the east coast to the
west coast of North or South America via Cape Horn.
Chile also lays claim to the offshore territories of Easter
Island, Juan Fernández, and half of the southern island
of Tierra
del Fuego (which it shares with Argentina). Chile's Easter
Island is in the Pacific, far away from the Chilean coast. The
island's strange ancient statues stand 30 feet (9 m) tall, but why
they were built is a mystery.
Plants
The "Copihue",
the National Flower
Includes the "Legend of the origin of the Copihue” and
other National Chilean Symbols.
Chilean plant life includes stands of araucaria (the monkey-puzzle tree), cypress and rare alerce
trees (similar to the giant redwoods of California).
Games
Move
The Moai Game
You're the boss of Easter Island. Can you move
the statue?
Stories
Myths
and Legends from Chile
Each myth or legend contains a picture of the work of Chilean artist
Marcela Donoso.
Sites to See
Chiloe Stories
A small archipelago off the coast of Chile. Including history, mythology, stories, songs, and pictures.
Ancient Americas
Odyssey Online, an exploration of the cultures of the ancient Central and South Americans.
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