Chile

Where the name comes from

Chile continues a regional name used before Spanish rule; suggested Quechua, Aymara and Mapuche roots are disputed.

First people

People lived at Monte Verde, in the south, about 14,500 years ago, and Mapuche and other Indigenous societies followed.^1,2

Known for

Chile is known for the Atacama, the driest non-polar desert on Earth, and for the giant moai statues of Easter Island.³

Outside contact

Spain settled at Santiago in 1541, but the Biobío River marked the frontier with Mapuche territory, whose people kept their autonomy for centuries.^4,5

The modern country

Independence was proclaimed in 1818, and the republic’s borders later grew; it occupied Araucanía in campaigns ending in 1883, taking Mapuche land and displacing communities.²