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(opens in new window) Prior to the coming of the Spanish in the 16th century, northern
Chile was under Inca rule while Araucanian Indians inhabited central
and southern Chile; the latter were not completely subjugated until
the early 1880s. Although Chile declared its independence in 1810,
decisive victory over the Spanish was not achieved until 1818. In
the War of the Pacific (1879-84), Chile defeated Peru and Bolivia
and won its present northern lands. A three-year-old Marxist
government of Salvador ALLENDE was overthrown in 1973 by a
dictatorial military regime led by Augusto PINOCHET, who ruled until
a freely elected president was installed in 1990. Sound economic
policies, maintained consistently since the 1980s, have contributed
to steady growth and have helped secure the country's commitment to
democratic and representative government. Chile has increasingly
assumed regional and international leadership roles befitting its
status as a stable, democratic nation. Southern South America, bordering the South Pacific Ocean, between
Argentina and Peru
30 00 S, 71 00 W
total: 756,950 sq km total: 6,171 km 6,435 km territorial sea: 12 nm temperate; desert in north; Mediterranean in central region; cool
and damp in south low coastal mountains; fertile central valley; rugged Andes in east
lowest point: Pacific Ocean 0 m copper, timber, iron ore, nitrates, precious metals, molybdenum,
hydropower arable land: 2.62% 19,000 sq km (2003)
severe earthquakes; active volcanism; tsunamis
widespread deforestation and mining threaten natural resources; air
pollution from industrial and vehicle emissions; water pollution
from raw sewage strategic location relative to sea lanes between Atlantic and
Pacific Oceans (Strait of Magellan, Beagle Channel, Drake Passage);
Atacama Desert is one of world's driest regions
16,134,219 (July 2006 est.)
0-14 years: 24.7% (male 2,035,278/female 1,944,754) total: 30.4 years 0.94% (2006 est.)
15.23 births/1,000 population (2006 est.)
5.81 deaths/1,000 population (2006 est.)
0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2006 est.)
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female total: 8.58 deaths/1,000 live births total population: 76.77 years 2 children born/woman (2006 est.)
0.3% (2003 est.)
26,000 (2003 est.)
1,400 (2003 est.)
noun: Chilean(s) white and white-Amerindian 95%, Amerindian 3%, other 2%
Roman Catholic 89%, Protestant 11%, Jewish NEGL%
Spanish definition: age 15 and over can read and write conventional long form: Republic of Chile republic Santiago 13 regions (regiones, singular - region); Aisen del General Carlos
Ibanez del Campo, Antofagasta, Araucania, Atacama, Bio-Bio,
Coquimbo, Libertador General Bernardo O'Higgins, Los Lagos,
Magallanes y de la Antartica Chilena, Maule, Region Metropolitana
(Santiago), Tarapaca, Valparaiso 18 September 1810 (from Spain)
Independence Day, 18 September (1810)
11 September 1980, effective 11 March 1981; amended 1989, 1991,
1997, 1999, 2000, 2003, and 2005
based on Code of 1857 derived from Spanish law and subsequent codes
influenced by French and Austrian law; judicial review of
legislative acts in the Supreme Court; has not accepted compulsory
ICJ jurisdiction; note - in June 2005, Chile completed overhaul of
its criminal justice system to a new, US-style adversarial system
18 years of age; universal and compulsory
bicameral National Congress or Congreso Nacional consists of the
Senate or Senado (38 seats elected by popular vote; members serve
eight-year terms - one-half elected every four years) and the
Chamber of Deputies or Camara de Diputados (120 seats; members are
elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms) Supreme Court or Corte Suprema (judges are appointed by the
president and ratified by the Senate from lists of candidates
provided by the court itself; the president of the Supreme Court is
elected every three years by the 20-member court); Constitutional
Tribunal Chile has a market-oriented economy characterized by a high level of
foreign trade. During the early 1990s, Chile's reputation as a role
model for economic reform was strengthened when the democratic
government of Patricio AYLWIN - which took over from the military in
1990 - deepened the economic reform initiated by the military
government. Growth in real GDP averaged 8% during 1991-97, but fell
to half that level in 1998 because of tight monetary policies
implemented to keep the current account deficit in check and because
of lower export earnings - the latter a product of the global
financial crisis. A severe drought exacerbated the recession in
1999, reducing crop yields and causing hydroelectric shortfalls and
electricity rationing, and Chile experienced negative economic
growth for the first time in more than 15 years. Despite the effects
of the recession, Chile maintained its reputation for strong
financial institutions and sound policy that have given it the
strongest sovereign bond rating in South America. By the end of
1999, exports and economic activity had begun to recover, and growth
rebounded to 4.2% in 2000. Growth fell back to 3.1% in 2001 and 2.1%
in 2002, largely due to lackluster global growth and the devaluation
of the Argentine peso. Chile's economy began a slow recovery in
2003, growing 3.2%, and accelerated to 6.1% in 2004-05, while Chile
maintained a low rate of inflation. GDP growth benefited from high
copper prices, solid export earnings (particularly forestry,
fishing, and mining), and stepped-up foreign direct investment.
Unemployment, however, remains stubbornly high. Chile deepened its
longstanding commitment to trade liberalization with the signing of
a free trade agreement with the US, which took effect on 1 January
2004. Chile signed a free trade agreement with China in November
2005, and it already has several trade deals signed with other
nations and blocs, including the European Union, Mercosur, South
Korea, and Mexico. Record-high copper prices helped to strengthen
the peso to a 5½-year high, as of December 2005, and will boost GDP
in 2006. $185.1 billion (2005 est.)
$115.6 billion (2005 est.)
6% (2005 est.)
$11,300 (2005 est.)
agriculture: 6.2% 6.3 million (2005 est.)
agriculture: 13.6% 8% (2005 est.)
18.2% (2005)
lowest 10%: 1.2% 57.1 (2000)
3.2% (2005 est.)
23.2% of GDP (2005 est.)
revenues: $29.2 billion 8.1% of GDP (2005 est.)
grapes, apples, pears, onions, wheat, corn, oats, peaches, garlic,
asparagus, beans; beef, poultry, wool; fish; timber copper, other minerals, foodstuffs, fish processing, iron and steel,
wood and wood products, transport equipment, cement, textiles 6% (2005 est.)
45.3 billion kWh (2003)
44.13 billion kWh (2003)
2 billion kWh (2003)
4,000 bbl/day (2005 est.)
228,000 bbl/day (2003 est.)
221,500 bbl/day (2003 est.)
150 million bbl (1 January 2004)
1 billion cu m (2003 est.)
7.06 billion cu m (2003 est.)
5.337 billion cu m (2002 est.)
97.98 billion cu m (1 January 2004)
$309 million (2005 est.)
$38.03 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.)
copper, fruit, fish products, paper and pulp, chemicals, wine
US 14%, Japan 11.4%, China 9.9%, South Korea 5.5%, Netherlands 5.1%,
Brazil 4.3%, Italy 4.1%, Mexico 4% (2004) $30.09 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.)
petroleum and petroleum products, chemicals, electrical and
telecommunications equipment, industrial machinery, vehicles,
natural gas Argentina 16.8%, US 13.7%, Brazil 11.2%, China 7.5% (2004)
$16.03 billion (November 2005 est.)
$44.8 billion (31 October 2005 est.)
$0 (2002) Chilean peso (CLP)
calendar year
3,318,300 (2004)
9,566,600 (2004)
general assessment: modern system based on extensive
microwave radio relay facilities AM 180 (eight inactive), FM 64, shortwave 17 (one inactive) (1998)
63 (plus 121 repeaters) (1997)
.cl 335,445 (2005)
5.6 million (2004)
363 (2005) total: 72 total: 291 gas 2,583 km; gas/lpg 42 km; liquid petroleum gas 539 km; oil 1,003
km; refined products 757 km (2004)
total: 6,585 km total: 79,605 km total: 46 ships (1000 GRT or over) 692,268 GRT/942,585 DWT
Antofagasta, Arica, Huasco, Iquique, Lirquen, San Antonio, San
Vicente, Valparaiso
Army of the Nation, National Navy (includes naval air, Coast Guard,
and Marine Corps), Chilean Air Force, Chilean Carabineros (National
Police) Chile rebuffs Bolivia's reactivated claim to restore the Atacama
corridor, ceded to Chile in 1884, offering instead unrestricted but
not sovereign maritime access through Chile to Bolivian gas and
other commodities; Peru proposes changing its latitudinal maritime
boundary with Chile to an equidistance line with a southwestern
axis; territorial claim in Antarctica (Chilean Antarctic Territory)
partially overlaps Argentine and British claims; action by the joint
boundary commission, established by Chile and Argentina in 2001, for
mapping and demarcating the disputed boundary in the Andean Southern
Ice Field (Campo de Hielo Sur) remains pending important transshipment country for cocaine destined for Europe;
economic prosperity and increasing trade have made Chile more
attractive to traffickers seeking to launder drug profits,
especially through the Iquique Free Trade Zone, but a new
anti-money-laundering law improves controls; imported precursors
passed on to Bolivia; domestic cocaine consumption is rising |
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