South America Undiscovered
Tours to the Most Exotic Places all over South America
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Chile
This Country offers a great diversity of natural landscapes, from the Moon-like landscape of the Atacama Desert to the glacier-fed fjords of the Chilean Patagonia, from the vineyards with the Andes in the background in the Central Valley and the ancient forests of the Lake District.
Many of the most visited attractions in Chile are protected areas. The extensive Chilean protected areas system includes 32 national parks, 48 natural reserves and 15 natural monuments.
Chile is a country in South America occupying a long and narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Its borders are: Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east and the Drake Pass in the far south. With Ecuador, it is one of the only two countries in South America which do not share a border with Brazil.
The Pacific coastline of Chile is 6,435 kilometers long. The Chilean territory includes the Pacific islands of Juan Fernandez, Salas y Gomez, Desventuradas and the Easter Island. Chile also claims approximately 1.250.000 square kilometers of Antartica, although all claims are on hold under the Antarctic Treaty.
The Shape of Chile is distinctive, a ribbon of land 4.300 kilometers long and on average 175 kilometers wide. Its climate varies, ranging from the world's driest desert - the Atacama - in the north, through a Mediterranean climate in the center, to a rainy temperate climate in the south. The northern desert contains great mineral wealth
Prior to the arrival of the Spaniards in the 16th century, northern Chile was under Inca rule while the indigenous Mapuche tribes inhabited the center and south of the country. Chile declared its independence from Spain on September 18th, 1810. In the War of the Pacific (1879-89), Chile defeated Peru and Bolivia and won its current northern territory. It was not until the 1880s that the Mapuche were completely subjugated. Although relatively free of the coups and arbitrary governments that blighted South America, Chile endured a 17 year military dictatorship (1973 - 1990) that left more than 3,000 people dead or missing.
