Chile has a lavish celebration of Independence Day on September 18 each year to mark the start of the country’s journey towards independence from the Spanish Crown. Often referred to as “the eighteenth” (referring to the date), the main celebrations occur between the 18th and 19th, although the events can extend for a week. The great majority of Chileans spend this holiday with “fondas” and barbecues, indulging in customary fare and beverages like chicha and empanadas. Fondas are large-scale gatherings that typically take place in parks. The biggest fondas, like the one in Santiago’s Parque O’Higgins, draw hundreds of people because of their festive decor, festive ambiance, and the sound of the cueca, the country’s national dance.

Chile is a nation located in western South America. Its official name is the Republic of Chile. Stretching along a small strip of territory between the Andes Mountains and the Pacific Ocean, it is the world’s southernmost country and the closest to Antarctica. According to the most recent census, Chile has 17.5 million people living there. Its total area is 756,102 square kilometres, or 291,933 square miles. Chile shares borders with Argentina to the east, Bolivia to the northeast, Peru to the north, and the Drake Passage to the south. Along with controlling a number of Pacific islands like Juan Fernández, Isla Salas Gómez, Desventuradas, and Easter Island, the nation also claims the Chilean Antarctic Territory, which encompasses over 1,250,000 square kilometres (480,000 sq mi) of Antarctica.

The military and political Chilean War of Independence ended the colonial era and marked the beginning of the country’s transition into an independent republic. The South Pacific of America, the Neuquén Basin, the governorates of Valdivia, Osorno, and Chiloé, Araucanía, and the captaincy general of Chile all contributed to the triumph of the patriots. Chile conquered and colonized the region in the middle of the 16th century, taking the place of the Incas, but they were unable to subjugate the autonomous Mapuche people who lived in what is now south-central Chile. In the 1830s, Chile became a relatively stable authoritarian republic following its independence from Spain in 1818. Throughout the 1800s, Chile underwent substantial economic and geographical expansion, ending Mapuche resistance in the 1880s and winning its present-day northern region from Peru and Bolivia in the War of the Pacific (1879–83).

Even though the colony was isolated, events abroad had an impact on its residents during the beginning of the 19th century. The French Revolution, the independence victories of Haiti and the 13 Anglo-American colonies, and Spain’s incapacity to maintain its rule in America—as evidenced by the British invasion of the La Plata region and the rise in the illegal trade between Americans and British nationals—were the most important of these developments. The last and most significant event was Napoleon’s involvement in Spain, which in 1808 forced Chile and the other colonies to rely solely on their own resources and prompted them to begin a process towards greater autonomy and self-government. Chile took its first steps towards independence on September 18, 1810.

As one of the most economically and socially stable countries in South America, Chile is a developing nation with a high-income economy. It leads Latin America in terms of competitiveness, per capita income, globalisation, peace, and economic freedom. Chile has the second lowest homicide rate in the Americas, only behind Canada, and performs well in the region in terms of democratic growth and state sustainability. In addition to joining the OECD in 2010, Chile is a founding member of the Pacific Alliance, the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), and the United Nations.

SOME FUN FACTS

The origin of the term “Chile” is the subject of several theories. Diego de Rosales, a Spanish chronicler from the 17th century, claims that the Incas dubbed the Aconcagua valley Chilli because they mispronounced the name of a Picunche tribal chief (cacique) named Tili, who was in charge of the region when the Incan conquest occurred in the 15th century. According to another theory, the Aconcagua Valley and the Casma Valley in Peru, where there formerly was a town and valley called Chilli, are comparable.

According to some ideas, Chile’s name may have come from a Native American phrase that meant “sea gulls” or “ends of the earth. it was derived from the Mapuche word chilli, which might have meant “where the land ends.”Possibly from the Quechua words chiri, which means “cold,” or tchili, which means “the deepest point of the Earth” or “snow.”The onomatopoeic cheele-cheele, a Mapuche mimicry of the warble of a bird known locally as trile, is another source of the chilli word.

God made the world’s wonders at the beginning of time. But after he was done, he realised he had a lot of leftover parts. He possessed fragments of mountains and forests, meadows and hills, glaciers and deserts, rivers and valleys, lakes and oceans. God gathered them all and sent them to the farthest reaches of the planet rather than letting such beauty go to waste. Chile came to be in this manner.” – Legend from Chile.

The history of Chile is as complex as the nation is old. Similar to how pre-Hispanic societies differed by biological niche throughout Chile, so too do the post-Conquest historical events, customs, economies, and demography of each region. Numerous historical occurrences in Chile defy popular belief. Due to its isolation from the rest of the continent and its only access by sea, Chile was heavily influenced by European immigrants who came to exploit the abundant natural resources found there, including wheat, fruit, coal, wood, whale oil, seal skins, petroleum, silver, gold, and copper, saltpetre, guano, fish meal, lithium, borax, and wheat.

Chile’s rich central valley was hidden until the middle of the fourteenth century when the Incas moved southward in their drive to conquer the entire continent. The fertile valley was surrounded on three sides by nearly impenetrable obstacles. In northern Chile, an Inca army managed to traverse the Atacama Desert, but they quickly ran against opposition in the central valley. The Incas maintained a presence in the region they had already acquired but did not advance farther into Aruacanian territory after being defeated by the ferocious Aruacanian Indians.