Area Total | 756,102 sqkm |
Climate | temperate; desert in north; Mediterranean in central region; cool and damp in south |
Natural Resources | copper, timber, iron ore, nitrates, precious metals, molybdenum, hydropower |
Imports | $61.31 billion (2017 est.)partners: China 23.9%, US 18.1%, Brazil 8.6%, Argentina 4.5%, Germany 4% (2017) |
Exports | $69.23 billion (2017 est.)partners: China 27.5%, US 14.5%, Japan 9.3%, South Korea.6.2%, Brazil 5% (2017) |
Government | presidential republic |
Capital | Santiago |
Population | 17.9 million (July 2018 est.) |
Ethnicity | white and non-indigenous 88.9%, Mapuche9.1%, Aymara0.7%, other indigenous groups 1%, unspecified 0.3% (2012 est.) |
Language | Spanish 99.5% (official), English 10.2%, indigenous 1%, other 2.3%, unspecified 0.2%1 (2012 est.) |
News about Chile
- She was told her babies were dead. Instead they were sold abroad. What happened when she met them 40 years on?by Naomi Larsson Piñeda. Portraits: Sofía Yanjarí on April 27, 2024
Four families torn apart by Chile’s illegal adoption scandal finally found each other decades later. They describe the emotional moment they met – and how they pieced together the lives they had spent apartFor Sara Melgarejo, the wait at Santiago airport was agonising. The 65-year-old had travelled about 30km north from San Bernardo, a working-class […]
- Dragons, sea toads and the longest creature ever seen found on undersea peaks off South Americaby Sofia Quaglia on April 15, 2024
Underwater mountains are biodiversity hotspots and researchers exploring the Salas y Gómez ridge off Chile have found 50 species probably new to science. How much more has yet to be discovered?Photographs by ROV SuBastian/Schmidt Ocean InstituteSquat lobsters, bright red sea toads and deep-sea dragon fish were among more than 160 species never previously […]
- Crabs, kelp and mussels: Argentina’s waters teem with life – could a fish farm ban do the same for Chile?by Mark Hillsdon in Ushuaia, Argentina on April 9, 2024
While the ecosystem is thriving off the coast of Argentina, the proliferation of salmon farms in Chile’s waters is threatening marine life, say criticsA rocky path, strewn with thick tree roots, leads from a dirt road down to a small green hut overlooking the choppy waters of the Beagle Channel, a strait between Chile and Argentina. The shack is home to […]
- ‘Felt like an earthquake’: passengers recall moment of terror on Latam flight as investigation launchedby Elias Visontay and Eva Corlett on March 12, 2024
Latam Airlines flight LA800 was headed to Auckland from Sydney when plane’s ‘gauges just blanked out’ due to technical problem, pilot reportedly told passengers Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastCockpit voice and flight data recorders are being gathered as an […]
- British Museum’s Instagram flooded with calls to return Easter Island statueby Charis McGowan Rapa Nui on February 18, 2024
Chilean social media users target institution, forcing it at one point to close comments on postsThe British Museum is tackling an influx of social media trolls from Chile, who have flooded the museum’s Instagram posts calling for the return of a moai statue, one of the stone monuments from Easter Island.The museum has two moai, which were taken from Rapa […]
- Storyville: The Eternal Memory review – a beautiful, heart-rending portrait of Alzheimer’s diseaseby Lucy Mangan on February 13, 2024
Family videos and self-shot footage provide an intimate, moving chronicle of the lives of former Chilean government minister Paulina Urrutia and her ex-journalist husbandIn the opening scene of Oscar-nominated Chilean director Maite Alberdi’s 90-minute documentary, Eternal Memory, we watch as a woman wakes up a sleeping man to begin a new day. She […]
- ‘We are in an era of megafires’: new tactics demanded as wildfires intensify across South Americaby Sam Meadows in Buenos Aires, Argentina on February 13, 2024
Recent blazes in Chile and Argentina have highlighted the need for better environmental laws as the climate crisis deepensAs South America endures unprecedented high temperatures, after the hottest January on record globally, it is still coming to terms with the devastating wildfires that have torn across the continent.Chile has been the most notably […]
- ‘It was total panic – with black smoke, falling fireballs and tongues of flame’: the terror of Chile’s wildfiresby Dan Collyns in Viña del Mar, Chile on February 10, 2024
A long drought followed by exceptional heat and wind brought deadly blazes that ripped with devastating speed through the coastal town of Viña del MarOn the afternoon of Friday 2 February, Danitza Hurtado was resting at home after work, unconcerned about the seasonal summer wildfires that had started in a nearby farm close to a nature reserve. By 6pm, she […]
- Society of the Snow: Andes plane crash film reveals a human tragedy – and points to an environmental oneby Sylvia Colombo in Buenos Aires, Argentina on February 7, 2024
Reflecting on the story of the Uruguayan rugby players whose plane crashed in in 1972 emphasises the stark changes to the mountain range as it is seen todayIgnacio Valenzuela Moraga was a child when his father first told him the terrible story of a group of Uruguayan rugby players whose plane crashed into the Andes between Argentina and Chile. The story […]
- The Settlers review – ultra-violent study of Chile’s butchery of its indigenous peopleby Peter Bradshaw on February 7, 2024
Europe’s early 20th-century exploitation of Tierra del Fuego is told in an unsparingly bloody drama-thriller by first-time director Felipe Gálvez HaberleThis almost unbearably brutal and violent western drama-thriller from first-time feature director Felipe Gálvez Haberle was a prize winner at Cannes and Chile’s official entry for best international […]
- Former Chilean president Sebastián Piñera dies in helicopter crashby John Bartlett in Valdivia, Chile on February 6, 2024
Minister says Piñera’s body recovered from scene of crash in lake near southern town of Lago RancoChile’s two-time former president Sebastián Piñera has died in a helicopter crash at the age of 74.According to preliminary reports, Piñera was piloting a helicopter with three passengers onboard over Lago Ranco, a lake in southern Chile where he had a […]
- Chile wildfires death toll rises to 131by Associated Press in Viña del Mar on February 6, 2024
Fires in Valparaíso said to be country’s deadliest disaster since 2010 earthquakeThe death toll from wildfires that ravaged central Chile for several days has risen to 131, and more than 300 people remain missing as the blazes appear to be burning themselves out.The fires in the Valparaíso region are said to be Chile’s deadliest disaster since an […]
- ‘Like a war zone’: Chile wildfire death toll reaches 123 amid race to clear rubbleby Reuters in Viña del Mar on February 6, 2024
Death count for Chile’s worst natural disaster in years expected to climb as official two-day mourning period beginsHelicopters dumped tonnes of water on wildfires raging across central Chile, as emergency crews said they were still finding bodies three days after the blazes took hold.The official death count from Chile’s worst natural disaster in years […]
- Chilean forest fires destroy homes in Valparaíso region – in picturesby Arnel Hecimovic on February 5, 2024
Chile’s civil protection agency has declared a red alert due to the threat to critical infrastructure. The emergency affects a state-protected forest reserve and homes in the Valparaíso area. A large column of smoke can be seen from different parts of the South American country. The fire has destroyed more than 1,000 homes and left at least 112 people […]
- State-of-the-art telescope in Chile to offer best view yet of universeby Charis McGowan in Cerro Pachón on February 5, 2024
The futuristic $1.9bn Vera C Rubin Observatory took nine years to build and will survey the night sky in unprecedented detailAfter nine years of construction, a state-of-the-art telescope connected to the world’s largest camera is set to change our understanding of astronomy.Perched on top of a barren mountaintop in the arid Chilean desert region of […]