What are facts about Chile?

Answer 1

The capital of Chile is Santiago.

It is a Spanish speaking country

Chile borders three different countries; Argentina to the east, Bolivia to the northeast and Peru to the north.

Chile is the world's 38th largest country. It is about twice the size of Japan. The area of Chile is almost twice the size of Montana.

Chile has an unusual ribbon shape. It is 4300 km long and just 175 km wide (on average)

Chile has a broad spectrum of growing climates. These climactic variations favor diversified production of fruits and prolonged harvest seasons. In the past 16 years, fresh fruit exports from Chile to North America have increased over 700 percent. Chile is the primary wintertime source (over 95 percent) of fresh grapes for the US and Canada.

Chile's coastline stretches about 2,700 miles long, running from the Atacama; the world's most arid desert in the north, through forests, valleys, mountains, lakes, glacier fields, the Tierra del Fuego and the Antarctic Circle in the south.

Chile is never more than 110 miles wide east to west.

There are more than 2,000 volcanoes in Chile, of which 50 are actually active. The highest volcano in the world, 'Ojos del Salado', is in Chile. It is also the 2nd highest peak in South America.

Chile is the largest producer of copper in the world, and the second-largest producer of salmon in the world.

The population of Chile is 16,888,760 and is expected to be about 20.2 million by 2050.

About 10% of the Chilean population consider themselves indigenous to the region. However, according to the 2002 census, only about half of these people still speak a native language or practice a native culture.

There are an estimated 840,000 Chileans living abroad. More than half of these live in Argentina. 2% of these live in Australia.

The most popular sport in Chile is football (soccer to Australians and Americans).

The Chilean football team won a bronze medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Tennis is the second most popular sport in Chile, with Fernando González the last Chilean to reach a Grand Slam singles final.

The Chilean fruit-growing season is opposite that of the US, so marketing is complementary rather than competitive. Chile provides North America with almost 15 percent of all its fruit sales during the months of November through April.

Chile had to endure a 17 year military Dictatorship between 1973-1990 that left more than 3000 people either dead or missing.

Michelle Bachelet was the first woman president ever in Chile and was elected for the period 2006 - 2010.

One traditional dish is curanto, a stew that combines seafood, meat and vegetables. Another popular meal is beef steak with chips, onions and eggs, called 'Bistec a lo pobre' (Poor man steak). Pebre, a hot sauce, is eaten with meat dishes, bean and corn chowder (porotos granados) is another traditional dish.

Chile is the home of two Nobel Prize winning poets, Gabriela Mistral (1945), and Pablo Neruda(1971).

David Selkirk, immortalized as Robinson Crusoe, survived a shipwreck and lived for several years on a desert island off the coast of Chile, no doubt thriving on the nutritional benefits of fresh fruit. There are two islands called 'Robinson Crusoe' and 'Alejandro Selkirk Island', respectively, in Chile.

It is believed that Native Americans settled in Chile about 10,000 years ago. They settled along the coast as the most fertile land was found there. They also found the oldest mummy in Chile.

The national game of Chile is soccer.The Atacama Desert is the driest and coldest desert in the world.Chilean wines have won numerous awards and are now ranked #3 in the world .