| Oficial
name : Republic of Chile
Location : Chile is
located on the extreme southwestern coast of South America. It is
bound by the Pacific Ocean to the west, Argentina to the east, Bolivia
to the northeast and Peru to the northwest.
Area
: Chile is a long and narrow country 4,200 km long (2620
miles) and 250 km wide in average. Its surface area represents 756.945
square kilometers (291,930 sq miles).
Territory : Politically,
Chile is divided in 12 regions, including the Antarctic territory,
plus the metropolitan region headed by the capital, Santiago. The
country exercises sovereignty over a number of islands off the coast,
including the Juan Fernández Islands and Easter Island.
Climate : Chile has
a variety of climatic conditions ranging from subtropical to temperate
and near polar due to its extension from north to south. Chile can
be divided into three climatic zones, the north which includes the
Atacama Desert which is characterized by arid and dry conditions.
The central region of Chile which has a Mediterranean climate with
mild wet winters and long dry summers and the south which is cold
and wet with prevailing winds of gale intensity. Rainfall increases
from almost nothing in the Atacama Desert in the north to 2.820
mm in the south. See
the weather in Chile, other.
Government : Democratic
republic, with an executive power represented by the president,
a legal power based in Valparaíso and an independent judicial
power. The current President is Ricardo Lagos Escobar since 2000.
Population: Chile has 15,050 million inhabitants,
6 million of them concentrated in the capital of the country, Santiago.
86.7 % of the population is urban-based. Link
to the Chilean government
People : The principal
ethnic majority are the Mestizos who account for 90% of the population
and are of mixed European and AmerIndian roots. Whites account for
2% of the population while AmerIndians account for 8% (mostly Mapuche
or Araucanians, but also 0.5 % Aymara and 0,2% Rapa nui).
See the results of the census 2002
Language : The official
language is Spanish. The Mapuche speak the Araucan language which
has seven dialects.
Literacy : 95 % (1992)
Religion: A majority
of the Chileans are Roman Catholic (nearly 80%) |
