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The warm and sunny side of Chile
By Mark on July 14, 2008
Chile is a narrow long country on the west side of South America, which runs from the pacific coast all the way to the high Andes it is between Peru in the north and Cape Horn in the south with Argentina and Bolivia, being her neighbours. The country stretches for about 4,300+km or 2650+ miles in length, but in width it is about 160km or 100 miles. And an estimated population of over 16 million+. In the north of the country lies the arid Atacama Desert, while in the central part of the country it is more milder and more acceptable to most forms of argriculture, and this is where the majority of the population live. In the far south of the country is Tierra del Fuego, which is extremely wet and cold and very poor area for growing crops and food. Along the whole length of the country stretches of mountains can be found.
This is a picture taken from Google Earth of Chile in South America, running up the left coast.
The world bank classifies Chile as a lower-middle-income developing country, mining is very important to the Chilieans and with copper being the highest mineral export from the the country it is important for the country to keep up it’s mining community. As mineral is the dominate export. Manufacturing is also very important and valued, Chile produces, Textiles, iron, metals, steel, transport equipment and processed food. The main crop from the country is wheat, but other crops such as maize, fruits, wild beans and livestock. Finally the fishing industry is one of the worlds largest and exporting fishmeal is a valued export.
This is a picture taken from panoramio of the city of Chile.
Chile firstly came in to contact with the spanish in 1536, the dominate indian group named Araucanians, they supposely came from the Inca Empire, but were more independant, they were unhappy with the Spanish just coming in to take over their country, but due to Spanish force, the Araucanians were forced southwards and kept under Spanish control. The Spanish finally took over the country and made Santiago as their new colony. The colony grew, but quite slowly due to the rich country of Peru. It took up to two centuries before Chile started to become a more stronger colony. Chile then became part of the Spanish vice-royalty of Peru. But in 1810 Chile became indepandant. It was achieved by the South American liberator Jose de San Martin, who took 3,200 men to cross the Andes to defeat the Spanish troops at Cabuco and Maipo. The discovery of copper in the north of the country helped to develop the country and a new railway system was developed causing a dramatic change in the lives of the Chileans and after the war with Bolivia and Peru, the country went in to an automatic boom with the natural nitrates deposits being annexed from the northern desert. It lasted for over fifty years. Chile went on to have a mixture of success and disappointments. In 1970 the first ever Marxist democrat was elected by popular vote, even though the USA were not happy with this. The Man was named Salvador Allende, he was the head of Uindad Popular, ( a coalition of Communists and socialists). But he struggled to help get Chile moving as the opposition party and USA kept stopping him. Then in 1973 a military coup took place and Allende and 15,000 Chileans lost their lives. And over 1 one tenth of the population emigrated. The military group that took over and was lead by commander-in-chief Pinochet, made the economy into a free market after suppressing the unions and opposition groups. The economy continued on a downwards spirral. But as time went by in 1988 Pinochet accepted an offer for a economy to start being re-established and a workable democracy, he then stepped down. A new president was elected and after some years in 1994 Chile applied to the USA to join the North american Free Trade, to which they were accepted.
This is a picture taken from one of Chile’s beaches on panoramio.
This is a picture of the Actamama Desert in the north of Chile taken from panoramio.
This is a picture taken of a glacier in southern chile from panoramio.
- Learn about Chile on wikipedia:
- Find Chile on Google Maps:
- Learn about Santiago on wikipedia:
- Find Santiago on Google Maps:
- Learn about the Atcama Desert on wikipedia:
- Learn about the Andes on wikipedia:
Posted in South America | 3 Comments
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3 Responses to “The warm and sunny side of Chile”
Comments
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Nick Ramsay, exploring the world from a zabuton in Japan.
6:31 pm on July 14th, 2008
Very informative, Mark. I love the scenery, but I don’t know if I want to visit Chile.
10:05 am on July 15th, 2008
Why not I think it would be a cool(ha ha ha) place to visit. Glad you liked it, thanks.
6:06 pm on July 8th, 2009
chile is beautiful to visit this year is a very safe … besides that its people are very friendly and has great natural beauty, I recommend …