Chile – Travel Guide At Wikivoyage

Understand

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Capital	Santiago
Currency	Chilean peso (CLP)
Population	19.4 million (2021)
Electricity	220 volt / 50 hertz (Europlug, Type L)
Country code	+56
Time zone	UTC−06:00 to UTC−03:00
Emergencies	131 (emergency medical services), 132 (fire department), 133 (Carabineros de Chile), +238-130 (wildfire), 134 (Investigations Police of Chile)
Driving side	right
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Chile borders Peru to the north and Argentina and Bolivia to the east. Chile has over 5,000km (3,100miles) of coast on the South Pacific Ocean.

History

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Before the Spanish arrived in the 16th century, northern Chile was under Inca rule while the indigenous Araucanians (Mapuche) inhabited central and southern Chile. The Mapuche were also one of the last independent American indigenous groups, that were not fully absorbed into Spanish-speaking rule until after Chile's independence. Although Chile declared independence in 1810 (amid the Napoleonic wars that left Spain without a functioning central government for a couple of years), decisive victory over the Spanish was not achieved until 1818. In the War of the Pacific (1879–1883), Chile invaded parts of Peru and Bolivia and kept its present northern regions. It was not until the 1880s that the Araucanians were completely subjugated.

Although relatively free of the coups and arbitrary governments that blighted South America until the 1970s, things took a turn for the worse in that decade. When popular communist/democratic socialist Salvador Allende won a bare plurality in the free and fair 1970 elections, he ran on a platform of social justice and bridging the (already then) huge divide between a wealthy few and the rest of the population. However, although some centre-right (most notably the Chilean Christian Democrats) parties supported or at least didn't outright attack his government, he had to deal not only with domestic opposition from some sectors of society and the military, but also a difficult international situation with the U.S. not tolerating any kind of "communist" in their "backyard". In a coup that was led by the head of the army (that Allende had picked himself, believing him to be loyal if not to himself than at least to the constitution) Augusto Pinochet on September 11th 1973, the Allende government was overthrown and Allende died of a gunshot wound, now believed to be suicide. As a result of that coup, Chile endured a brutal 17-year military dictatorship under Pinochet (1973–1990) that left around 3,000 people, mostly leftists and socialist sympathizers, dead or missing. While it is not entirely clear the extent to which the U.S. was involved in the coup that brought Pinochet to power, it is now widely believed that the coup at least had the blessing of the CIA and the American leadership. Some conservative leaders in Europe were among the biggest supporters of Pinochet's regime throughout the 1970s and 1980s.

Pinochet was widely reviled worldwide for his methods, however, a centre-left Chilean administration came into power after he stepped down when he lost a national referendum. Although Pinochet's neo-liberal (deregulation and privatization) policies encouraged economic growth, they immensely hurt the poorer parts of the population and hugely increased the gap between rich and poor. The economic disparity was, much like Pinochet's tweaks to the constitution, designed to ensure him getting away unpunished (which he more or less did) and conservatives always having a de facto veto on some issues; and such problems still plague the country today. The new government of Patricio Aylwin thought it sensible to maintain free market policies, which present-day Chile still harbours.

Despite having a comparatively higher GDP and more robust economy compared to most other countries of Latin America, Chile has one of the most uneven distributions of wealth in the world, ahead only of Brazil in the Latin American region and even lagging behind most developing sub-Saharan African nations. The extreme divisions have caused a lot of uproar, and in the early 2010s, there was a youth and student protest movement to draw attention to these issues. Though some policies to mitigate the most extreme disparities have been proposed or passed, their effects seem to be minuscule as of early 2015.

Chile is a founding member of both United Nations and the Union of South American Nations (Unasur) and is also now in the OECD, the group of the "most developed" countries by current international standards, becoming the first country in South America with that honour.

Chile claims to be a tricontinental country, with islands in Oceania, and a claim to a 1.25 million km2 portion of Antarctica, overlapping with Argentina's claims. Given the terms of the Antarctic Treaty, no country's territorial claims to Antarctica are ever recognized or permitted to be exercised at any time. However, much like Argentina, some Chileans take their claims in Antarctica and surrounding islands seriously.

Climate

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Chile's unusual, ribbon-like shape – 4,300 km long and on average 175 km wide – has given it a varied climate, ranging from the world's driest desert – the Atacama – in the north, through a Mediterranean climate in the centre, to a rainy temperate climate in the south, while the Andes have cold weather. The northern desert contains great mineral wealth, principally copper.

Culture

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Due to the dissimilar geographic features of Chile, cultural expressions vary markedly in different parts of the country. The northern area is characterized by various cultural events that combine the influence of Andean indigenous peoples with the Spanish conquerors, giving great importance to festivals and religious traditions as diabladas and Fiesta de La Tirana. The central area is mostly determined by the rural traditions of the Chilean countryside. As in this geographic region most of the Chilean population is concentrated, is traditionally considered the home country's cultural identity. Its highest expression is performed during the festivities of Independence Day, in mid-September. The Mapuche culture and traditions dominate La Araucanía, while German influence is predominant near Valdivia, Osorno and Lake Llanquihue. In the archipelago of Chiloé culture with its own mythology was generated, while in the regions of the southern area have also created an identity influenced mainly by immigrants from other regions from Chile and foreigners. The cultural identity of Easter Island, meanwhile, is only due to the development of Polynesian culture since time immemorial completely isolated for centuries.

National holidays

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The festivities in Chile correspond to religious celebrations and commemorations civilians. Because of its position in the southern hemisphere-the rental period high season of tourism locally starts in December and runs through the first week of March. The beginning of this period is marked by two major celebrations: Christmas, mainly family-owned and maintains an aspect of religiosity, and New Year, which is usually much more lively, with large parties and fireworks festivals in major cities. Celebrating Good Friday remains a religious and reflective tone, although Easter has become an eminently children's holiday. The arrival of spring marks the main civil festival of the year: Independence Day, which is an opportunity to meet Chileans to celebrate with food and drink, traditions, dances and music.

• 1 January — New Year's Day
• March and April — Good Friday - Holy Saturday - Easter
• 1 May — International Workers' Day
• 21 May — Day of the Naval Glories (Día de las Glorias Navales)
• 29 June — Feast of Saints Peter and Paul
• 16 July — Day of the Virgin of Carmen (Día de la Virgen del Carmen)
• 15 August — Assumption of Mary
• 18 September — Fiestas Patrias
• 19 September — Day of the Glories of the Army of Chile (Día de las Glorias del Ejército de Chile)
• 12 October — Columbus Day
• 31 October — National Day of the Evangelical and Protestant Churches (Día Nacional de las Iglesias Evangélicas y Protestantes)
• 1 November— All Saints' Day
• 8 December — Immaculate Conception
• 25 December — Christmas

Religion

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In Chile there is no restriction on religion. Since the start of the 21st century, the proportion of Chileans who identify as Roman Catholic has gone from over 70% down to 42%, with 37% of Chileans reporting they are not religious as of 2021.

Visitor information

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• Official tourism website (in English)

Read

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Travels in a Thin Country by Sara Wheeler. Despite this book being over 20 years old, Wheeler's witty retelling of her 6-month, 4,000km journey from the very top to the very bottom of Chile is still a very worthwhile read.