60 Fun Facts About Chile

Roughly how long is Chile from north to south?

At its widest it is only 350 km across, and the average width is about 175 km, so most Chileans live within sight of either the Andes or the sea.

Which Chilean desert is the driest in the world?

Some weather stations there have never recorded rain, and it also has the highest solar irradiation on Earth, which is why the big observatories and solar farms are there.

What is Chile's highest peak, at about 6,891 metres?

It is also the highest active volcano in the world; Aconcagua, the continent's highest mountain, is just across the border in Argentina.

How much of Antarctica does Chile claim as its own territory?

The claim overlaps with those of Argentina and Britain; all are frozen by the Antarctic Treaty, and Chile calls itself the closest country to Antarctica.

The Juan Fernández Islands, which inspired Robinson Crusoe, lie how far from the mainland?

Sailor Alexander Selkirk was marooned there for four years from 1704, and the main island is now officially named Robinson Crusoe Island.

What is Chile's national flower?

It is a red, bell-shaped climbing flower of the southern forests, and it appears in Mapuche legend as the tears of a princess.

The pudu, found in Chile's southern forests, is a small kind of what animal?

At around 40 cm at the shoulder it is one of the smallest deer in the world, and shares the forest with several species of marsupial.

Which ocean current makes Chile's coastal waters so rich in fish?

Its cold, nutrient-rich upwelling also keeps the coast foggy and cool, and it feeds Chile's giant fishing industries.

According to the 2024 census, roughly what is Chile's population?

Around 40% of them live in the capital's metropolitan area, packed into the small Central Valley.

One theory derives the name 'Chile' from the Mapuche word chilli, meaning what?

Rival theories point to the Quechua chiri, 'cold', a Picunche chief named Tili, and even the call of a local bird; the survivors of Almagro's 1535 expedition called themselves the 'men of Chilli'.

Pedro de Valdivia, who founded Chile's capital, had served as a lieutenant to which conquistador?

He founded the city on 12 February 1541 and was later killed by the Mapuche, whose resistance kept them autonomous for another three centuries.

In what year was Chile's capital founded?

Valdivia named it Santiago del Nuevo Extremo; the Mapuche burned it to the ground within months and it had to be rebuilt.

By what name did the Spaniards know the Mapuche people?

They resisted the Inca and then the Spanish for centuries; the epic poem La Araucana was written by a Spanish soldier who fought them.

Chile's Fiestas Patrias on 18 September commemorate what event of 1810?

The junta still swore loyalty to the deposed Spanish king; full independence took another eight years, but the Fiestas Patrias are celebrated on this date.

Which patriot led the early independence movement alongside his brothers Juan José and Luis?

He ended up imprisoned across the Andes while his rival O'Higgins finished the war, and was executed there in 1821.

Which Argentine general crossed the Andes with O'Higgins to defeat the royalists in Chile?

The Army of the Andes made the crossing in early 1817 and won at Chacabuco; independence was proclaimed the following February.

In what year was Chile proclaimed an independent republic?

The proclamation came on 12 February, the anniversary of both the founding of the capital and the Battle of Chacabuco.

Which minister shaped the conservative Constitution of 1833 that stabilised the young republic?

He never became president but ran the government from behind the scenes until his assassination in 1837.

Which country lost its entire Pacific coastline to Chile in the War of the Pacific (1879–83)?

Chile grew by almost a third and gained the nitrate fields that bankrolled the next fifty years; the loss is still a live grievance in La Paz.

The 1881 boundary treaty with which country confirmed Chile's sovereignty over the Strait of Magellan?

Chile had planted a settlement on the strait back in 1843 to make sure of it; the border along the Andes has been argued over ever since.

The late-19th-century campaign that ended Mapuche autonomy is known as what?

Chile pushed south of the Biobío River in the 1860s to 1880s while Argentina did the same on its side of the Andes.

Which Pacific territory did Chile take possession of in September 1888?

Naval officer Policarpo Toro signed the agreement with the Rapa Nui king Atamu Tekena; the island is more than 3,500 km from the mainland.

The nearly 1,000 moai of Rapa Nui were carved from tuff quarried at which volcanic crater?

Hundreds of unfinished statues still lie in the quarry, and many finished ones once wore red-scoria topknots called pukao.

Jacob Roggeveen reached Rapa Nui in 1722 on which holiday, giving it its English name?

He arrived on 5 April 1722; the nearest inhabited neighbour is Pitcairn, over 2,000 km away.

Chile and the United States nearly went to war in 1891 over an incident named after which US Navy ship?

Two American sailors were killed in a Valparaíso bar brawl; Washington demanded an apology and Chile eventually paid an indemnity.

The 1960 Valdivia earthquake, the most powerful ever recorded, measured roughly what magnitude?

Its tsunami crossed the Pacific to hit Hawaii and Japan, and 38 hours later the Cordón Caulle volcano erupted.

What was the magnitude of the earthquake that struck Chile on 27 February 2010?

It was the fifth-largest ever recorded at the time; most of the 500-plus deaths came from the tsunami that followed.

How many miners were trapped at the San José mine near Copiapó in August 2010?

They were found alive 17 days after the collapse and all were brought to the surface on 13 October, watched by a global TV audience.

How many days after the San José mine collapsed were the trapped men located alive?

A drill probe came back with a note taped to it reading 'We are well in the shelter, the 33 of us'.

In 1970, which senator became president after winning a plurality in a three-way race?

He was a Socialist and a doctor; Congress confirmed him, and his government moved to nationalise the copper mines.

On what date was Allende overthrown in a military coup?

He died in the presidential palace as it was being bombed; a junta led by General Augusto Pinochet took power that day.

Chile initiated which US-backed campaign by South American dictatorships to hunt down leftists?

Its intelligence services cooperated across borders; the murder of former minister Orlando Letelier in Washington in 1976 was one result.

Chile's truth commissions say at least how many people were killed under Pinochet?

Later recognition of torture and imprisonment brought the total number of officially recognised victims to 40,018.

In the plebiscite of 5 October 1988, Chileans denied Pinochet another term by what margin?

The 'No' campaign's rainbow logo and upbeat TV spots were the subject of the Oscar-nominated film No; free elections followed in 1989.

Who became president in 1990 as the candidate of the 17-party Concertación coalition?

The Christian Democrat won 55% and served a four-year transition term; Pinochet stayed on as army chief until 1998.

Who was elected in January 2006 as Chile's first female president?

A paediatrician whose father died in Pinochet's custody, she served two non-consecutive terms and later became UN human rights chief.

The nationwide protests that began in 2019 were sparked by a rise in the price of what?

A 30-peso rise triggered mass fare-dodging under the slogan 'It's not 30 pesos, it's 30 years', and led to a vote on a new constitution.

In October 2020, what share of Chileans voted in favour of writing a new constitution?

The enthusiasm did not last: voters rejected the first draft in September 2022 and a second, more conservative draft in December 2023.

How old was Gabriel Boric when he won the presidential election in December 2021?

The former student protest leader was sworn in on 11 March 2022, succeeding Sebastián Piñera, as the youngest president in the country's history.

What happened to the draft constitutions put to Chilean voters in 2022 and 2023?

The 1980 Pinochet-era constitution, heavily amended, therefore remains in force.

Roughly what share of Chile's exports does copper account for?

Chile mines about a third of the world's copper; the metal alone is around a fifth of GDP, and the state firm Codelco is the biggest producer.

Which Chilean mine is the largest copper mine in the world, producing over 5% of global supply?

It sits in the desert at 3,100 metres and is majority-owned by BHP; Chuquicamata, further north, is the largest open pit.

Besides copper, Chile was the world's largest producer in 2019 of iodine and which rare metal?

Rhenium comes out as a by-product of copper-molybdenum ores and goes into jet-engine alloys; Chile is also a lithium giant, but not the biggest.

Chile is the world's second-largest producer of which farmed fish?

Only Norway produces more; the pens are concentrated in the fjords and channels around Chiloé and Aysén.

In 2010 Chile became the first South American country to join which organisation?

Membership of the rich-country club capped two decades of steady growth built on copper, wine, fruit and a web of free-trade agreements.

What is Chile's national dance?

Couples circle each other waving handkerchiefs in a courtship mime said to imitate a rooster and hen; it is everywhere during the September Fiestas Patrias.

Who was the first Latin American to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, in 1945?

She was a rural schoolteacher from the Elqui Valley whose pen name honoured two poets she admired; her face is on the 5,000-peso note.

Which Chilean poet won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1971?

He was also a diplomat and senator, and died twelve days after the 1973 coup; his houses in Santiago, Valparaíso and Isla Negra are now museums.

Which Chilean author is the country's best-selling novelist, with well over 50m books sold?

The House of the Spirits launched her in 1982; she is a relative of the late president and now lives in California.

The UNESCO-listed Humberstone and Santa Laura sites in northern Chile processed what?

They processed nitrate for fertiliser and explosives until synthetic ammonia killed the trade, and were abandoned as ghost towns in 1960.

Chile hosted the FIFA World Cup in which year?

The team finished third, still its best result, and the tournament is remembered for the brutal 'Battle of Santiago' against Italy.

Chile's two Copa América titles came in which years?

Both finals were won on penalties against Argentina, with Alexis Sánchez chipping the decisive Panenka in the first.

Which club is Chile's most successful, with the most national and international titles?

Named after a Mapuche chief, it is the only Chilean club to have won the Copa Libertadores, in 1991.

Which Chilean became the first Latin American man to reach world No. 1 in tennis, in 1998?

He is still the only man to reach No. 1 without ever winning a Grand Slam singles title.

Which Chilean won two tennis gold medals at the 2004 Athens Olympics?

He took the singles and, with González, the doubles; those were the country's first Olympic golds in any sport.

Which Chilean woman won the 1937 US Open, the first Latin American to win a Grand Slam?

She won it without dropping a set and was ranked world No. 1 that year, then largely vanished from the record books.

What is officially Chile's national sport?

Two riders on horseback pin a steer against a padded wall in a crescent-shaped arena called a medialuna; football is far more popular, but the law says otherwise.

The Mapuche played a hockey-like sport, recorded at the time of the Spanish conquest, called what?

Also known as palín, it was played with curved sticks and a wooden ball and is still practised in Mapuche communities today.

Which English privateer raided Valparaíso, the colony's principal port, in 1578?

Threats from buccaneers and the Mapuche left colonial Chile with one of the largest standing armies in the Americas.

Alongside the condor, which animal appears on Chile's coat of arms?

The huemul is an endangered Andean deer; the two creatures flank the shield as the country's national animals.