Chile

Chile is a long, narrow country on the Pacific coast of South America, wedged between the Andes and the ocean. It borders Peru, Bolivia and Argentina, and stretches over 4,300 km (2,670 mi) from north to south.

Santiago is the capital and largest city, and Spanish is the official and national language. Before the Spanish came, the Incas briefly ruled the north, while the Mapuche held the south-central lands. Ferdinand Magellan sailed the strait that bears his name in 1520, and Pedro de Valdivia founded Santiago on 12 February 1541. A junta formed on 18 September 1810 began self-rule, and after Bernardo O'Higgins and José de San Martín crossed the Andes with their army, Chile was proclaimed an independent republic on 12 February 1818. The War of the Pacific of 1879–1883 gave it its present northern lands, and Easter Island joined in 1888.

An elected president leads the republic, and its Congress has two chambers, a Senate and a Chamber of Deputies. In 2010 it became the first South American member of the OECD. Copper is the backbone of the economy: the Atacama Desert holds copper and nitrates, Escondida is a major copper mine, and the state firm Codelco works alongside private miners. Chile also produces lithium, iodine and molybdenum, and farms and fisheries export salmon and wine. The currency is the Chilean peso.

The Atacama is the driest desert in the world, and in the far south Patagonia holds Torres del Paine National Park and the glaciers of Laguna San Rafael. Rapa Nui National Park on Easter Island and the old port district of Valparaíso are UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Gabriela Mistral became the first Latin American to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1945, and Pablo Neruda won it in 1971. The cueca is the national dance, rodeo the national sport, and empanadas and pastel de choclo are classic dishes. The national football team won the Copa América in 2015 and 2016.