Background: 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.
March 26th 2008South America » Chile » Magallanes » Punta Arenas Onboard the Via Australis, we went through breathtaking scenic 4 days from Punta Arenas through the Cordillera de Darwin, Parque Nacional Alberto de Agostini, the Beagle Channel, Cape Horn and finally ... 10 photos[full story]
May 14th 2008South America » Chile » Magallanes » Punta Arenas Hola Amigos,
Today in my house in the lost Patagonia, after a trip of nearly four days and 3500 kms I am in my house with temperatures between 7 and 0 º C, but happy to be he ... 8 photos[full story]
February 11th 2008South America » Chile » Patagonia » Punta Arenas We have been very busy hiking at the End of the World, then making our way to Chili to do an 8 day trek at Torres Del Paine, then checking out the glaciers near El Calafate in Argentina. Now we are tr ... 19 photos[full story]
February 15th 2008South America » Chile » Patagonia » Punta Arenas Getting down to Patagonia, I quickly discovered, is not the easiest of things to do. For one thing, there aren't any roads south through Chile. The furthest south you can go by road in Chile is the Ca ... [full story]
February 4th 2008South America » Chile » Patagonia » Punta Arenas As we left Ushuaia to get the bus back across Tierra del Fuego to Punta Arenas in Chile I had the time to think about how much time it had taken us to get to the end of the world. Turns out to be abou ... 5 photos[full story]
February 4th 2008South America » Chile » Patagonia » Punta Arenas My last update left us on our way to Valdivia, a small town by the river. There was a colourful fish market right by the river where a family of sealions get fed with the scraps. We also went to the ... [full story]
February 3rd 2008South America » Chile » Patagonia » Punta Arenas Lost my previous post 'One Week to Departure' but no biggie.
Michiko and I are leaving LV at 200PM today and flying to DFW where we catch an overnight flight to Santiago. Pumped up and ready to go ... [full story]
January 23rd 2008South America » Chile » Patagonia » Punta Arenas We made it to Chile! The only major difference between Patagonia in Argentina and Chile is that the cost of everything in Chile is about twice as much. I´m glad we made the choice to spend a majorit ... 21 photos[full story]
Map of Chile
Chile's Flag
