| 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
- Chile’s president-elect names progressive, majority-women cabinetby John Bartlett in Santiago on January 21, 2022
Gabriel Boric, 35, picks youthful team including at defence the granddaughter of Salvador Allende, who was deposed in a coupChile’s millennial president-elect, Gabriel Boric, has named a progressive cabinet, with a ministerial team which for the first time anywhere in the Americas is dominated by women.Boric, a 35-year-old former student leader, will […]
- How the Tonga volcano has been felt around the world – videoon January 17, 2022
A large underwater volcano in Tonga has sent huge swells around the world affecting countries bordering the Pacific Ocean. The tsunami waves caused damage to boats as far away as New Zealand and large swells were seen in California and Japan but did not appear to cause any widespread damage. Two people have drowned off a beach in northern Peru, local […]
- Nobel winner Pablo Neruda was almost denied prize because of odes to Stalinby Alison Flood on January 5, 2022
As well as revealing the full shortlist, newly opened archives show that the 1971 judging panel were concerned the Chilean winner’s politics were ‘incompatible with the purpose of the prize’Pablo Neruda may have won the Nobel prize for literature in 1971, but newly opened archives in Stockholm reveal the judging panel’s concerns about the Chilean […]
- From the archive: Latin America’s Schindler: a forgotten hero of the 20th century – podcastby Written by Ewen MacAskill & Jonathan Franklin, read by Alice Arnold and produced by Simon Barnard with additions by Esther Opoku-Gyeni on December 29, 2021
We are raiding the Audio Long Read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors.This week, from 2016:Under General Pinochet’s rule of terror in Chile, one man saved thousands of people from the dictator’s brutal secret police. How did Roberto Kozak do it – and escape death? By Ewen MacAskill and […]
- Could Chile show the United States how to rebuild its democracy? | Tony Karonby Tony Karon on December 23, 2021
The US once helped destroy Chilean democracy. Now, a constitutional reform movement in Chile could teach the US how to fix its ownChile always gave the lie to the cold war claim that the United States stood for democracy. When its voters in 1970 showed the temerity (“irresponsibility”, Henry Kissinger called it) to elect socialist Salvador Allende as […]
- Chilean president-elect Gabriel Boric urges citizens to back constitution rewriteby John Bartlett in Santiago on December 21, 2021
Boric envisions a greener, fairer and more inclusive country, reflecting the generational shift underway in ChileChile’s future as a greener, fairer country, depends on the success of efforts to rewrite the country’s dictatorship-era constitution, president-elect Gabriel Boric said on Tuesday.After a meeting with the delegates elected last year to […]
- The Guardian view on Chile’s new president: Boric brings a fresh start | Editorialby Editorial on December 21, 2021
The leftist triumphed over his far-right rival with promises of a fairer deal for ordinary people. Can he achieve it?The relief is immense. But so is the challenge that lies ahead. Gabriel Boric’s sweeping victory over his far-right opponent José Antonio Kast in Chile’s presidential election on Sunday was welcome to all those alarmed at the prospect of […]
- Did the the Duchess of Argyll help Labour win in 1964? | Brief lettersby Guardian Staff on December 21, 2021
Duchess of Argyll | Polly Toynbee | Retired teachers | Gabriel Boric | Grandfather clockMargaret, Duchess of Argyll may well have been “a vibrant, sexually liberated woman ahead of her time” (Duchess of Argyll sex scandal retold in new BBC drama series, 18 December), but at the time most members of the working class, including my parents, saw her as a […]
- Gabriel Boric beat the far right in Chile. Now he has to unite a divided country | Kirsten Sehnbruchby Kirsten Sehnbruch on December 21, 2021
The former student firebrand will need all his powers of persuasion and pragmatism if he is to deliverVictory is sweet. The hundreds of thousands of Chileans who took to the streets to celebrate the victory of the leftwing former student leader, Gabriel Boric, in Chile’s presidential runoff elections certainly thought so. Boric won with a 12-point margin […]
- Gabriel Boric’s triumph puts wind in the sails of Latin America’s resurgent leftby Laurence Blair in Santiago on December 20, 2021
The decisive victory reflects Chileans’ revolt against a threadbare welfare system and a society systematically stacked in the favour of the richAt the age of 14, Gabriel Boric – the great-grandson of a Croatian migrant and an avid reader of Marx and Hegel – formed a city-wide student union in the Chilean city of Punta Arenas.At 21, and by then a law […]
- The Croatian roots of Chile’s leftist president Gabriel Boricby Sam Jones and John Bartlett in Santiago on December 20, 2021
His ancestors were among the tens of thousands who left Croatia for Patagonia in the 19th centuryLike many in his home city of Punta Arenas, Gabriel Boric is of Croatian descent. His father’s ancestors were among the tens of thousands of Croatians who left their homeland at the end of the 19th century to travel to Chilean Patagonia in search of new […]
- Leftwing millennial to be Chile's new president – videoon December 20, 2021
Gabriel Boric, a leftwing former student leader, will become Chile’s youngest president after storming to a resounding victory in a run-off vote against his ultra-conservative far-right opponent, José Antonio Kast.With nearly 97% of the vote counted, the 35-year-old claimed 55.8% to take a 12 percentage point lead over Kast, who quickly accepted his […]
- Gabriel Boric vows to ‘fight privileges of the few’ as Chile’s presidentby John Bartlett in Santiago and Sam Jones on December 20, 2021
Leftwing former student leader pledges to unite country and tackle poverty and inequalityGabriel Boric has vowed to unite Chile, fight “the privileges of the few” and tackle poverty and inequality after winning a decisive victory over his far-right opponent to become the South American country’s youngest president.The 35-year-old leftwing former […]
- Leftwinger to become Chile’s youngest president after beating far-right rivalby John Bartlett in Santiago on December 20, 2021
Former student leader Gabriel Boric claims 55.8% of votes counted to defeat far-right opponent José Antonio Kast Gabriel Boric, a leftist former student leader, will become Chile’s youngest president after storming to a resounding victory in a run-off vote against his ultra-conservative far-right opponent, José Antonio Kast.With nearly 97% of the vote […]
- Who is Gabriel Boric? The radical student leader who will be Chile’s next presidentby John Bartlett in Santiago on December 20, 2021
Boric comes from a cohort that is grimly determined to bury dictator Augusto Pinochet’s bitter legacy once and for allFour months ago, 35-year-old Gabriel Boric confounded the polls to claim victory in a presidential primary he had barely been old enough to compete in. But on 11 March next year, he will now be sworn in as Chile’s youngest ever president […]
