A long, narrow country on the Pacific coast of South America, Chile averages only 177 kilometers wide, but stretches 4,270 kilometers from the southern border of Peru to the southern tip of the continent, sandwiched between the towering Andes Mountains and the rugged and complex Pacific coastline.
Chile's geography is divided into five north-to-south natural regions: the desert far north, consisting of dry brown hills and containing the extremely arid Atacama Desert and the Andean plateau; the near north, a semiarid region between Río Copiapó and Santiago; central Chile, the most densely populated region that includes the country's largest metropolitan areas and the fertile Central Valley; the heavily forested south, containing the Lake District and crisscrossed by hundreds of rivers; and the far south, sparsely populated, forested, with many fjords, inlets, twisting peninsulas, and islands.
Given its immense natural beauty, it is ironic that some 85% of Chile's population of 16 million live in urban areas, with 40% in greater Santiago. Most have Spanish ancestry. A small, yet influential number of Irish and English immigrants came to Chile during the colonial period. German immigrants are especially numerous in the southern provinces. About 800,000 Native Americans, mostly of the Mapuche tribe, reside in the south-central area. The Aymara and Diaguita groups can be found mainly in Chile's northern desert valleys.
Chile is one of Latin America's most economically developed countries, with a diversified, market economy that is heavily oriented to international trade. During the early 1990s, Chile's reputation as a role model for free-market oriented economic reform was strengthened when the democratically elected government deepened economic reforms initiated during the military regime. Recent governments have privatized many formerly state-owned enterprises, although the giant state-owned copper corporation remains a mainstay of the economy. Three decades of economic growth have enabled the government to invest heavily in programs for the poor and in water and sanitation systems that have helped lower infant mortality rates and raise life expectancy.
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Prior to the arrival 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 1880s. Chile declared its independence in 1810, though decisive victory over the Spanish was not achieved until 1818. Chile has enjoyed constitutional and democratic government for most of its history as a Republic, particularly after its adoption of the 1833 constitution.
Chile's democratic tradition was interrupted in 1973, however, when the government of Salvador Allende was overthrown in a bloody military coup d'etat led by General Augusto Pinochet, who ruled with an iron fist 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. Michelle Bachelet, Chile's first female president, assumed the office in March 2006.
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