Official Name: República de Chile (Republic of Chile)

Area: South America

Size: 756,950 km²

Coastline: 6,435 km

Independence: from Spain February 12, 1818 

Form of Govt.: Multiparty republic

Head of Govt.: President

Capital: Santiago

Largest City: Santiago

Demographics (2005): 16,432,674.    21/km²

Whites and Mestizo, in various degrees of admixture marked by a sociogenetic gradient over 90%; unmixed may be 3.7%.

GDP per Capita (2005): $12,600

Languages: Spanish (universal among the population). There are thousands of speakers of European languages in immigrant communities (esp. at Santiago) and native languages by the Mapuche.

Geography: The country can be divided into six latitudinal regions. (1.) the Great North, (2.) the Andean Fringe, a transitional zone of short transverse valleys, (3.) Central Chile north of the Bio-Bio River, (4.) South Central Chile between the Bio-Bio River and the Gulf of Reloncari, (5.) the Archipelagic Chile in the far south which is dominated by fjords and (6.) the Patagonian Chile which is an undulating plain at the tip of the continent.

Climate: Chile can be divided into three climatic zones, (1.) the north which includes the Atacama Desert which is characterized by arid and dry conditions. (2.) The central region of Chile which has a Mediterranean climate with mild wet winters and long dry summers and (3.) 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 5,080 mm in the south. Average annual temperature ranges in Santiago are from 3 to 14 degrees in July to 12 to 29 degrees in January