Interesting Facts about Chile

By: Want To Know It

Chile (officially the Republic of Chile) is a country in South America that is located between the Andes Mountains and the Pacific Ocean. Here are some interesting facts about Chile.

  • Chile borders three different countries; Argentina to the east, Bolivia to the northeast and Peru to the north
  • Chile has an unusual ribbon shape. It is 4300 km long and just 175 km wide (on average)
  • Forests, grazing land, volcanoes and lakes are all features of southern Chile.
  • Chile had to endure a 17 year military dictatorship between 1973-1990 that left more than 3000 people either dead or missing
  • It is believed that Native Americans settled in Chile about 10,000 years ago. They settled along the coast as the most fertile land was found there
  • Michelle Bachelet Jeria was the first woman president ever in Chile and was elected in January 2006.
  • Chile is the world’s 38th largest country. It is about twice the size of Japan
  • The population of Chile is expected to be about 20.2 million by 2050
  • About 10% of the Chilean population consider themselves indigenous to the region. However, according to the 2002 census, only about half of these people still speak a native language or practice a native culture
  • There are an estimated 840,000 Chileans living abroad. More than half of these live in Argentina. 2% of these live in my home country, Australia.
  • The most popular sport in Chile is football (soccer to Australians and Americans). The Chilean football team won a bronze medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Tennis is the second most popular sport in Chile, with Fernando González the last Chilean to reach a Grand Slam singles final.
  • The two gold medals won by Chile in the Olympic Games come from tennis. They have also won six silver medals (in athletics, equestrian, boxing and shooting) and four bronze medals (in tennis, boxing and football).
  • Tourism is growing very quickly in Chile. In 2005, tourism generated more than $US4.5 billion.
  • The main language spoken in Chile is Spanish, but there are also many indigenous languages that are spoken by a minority of Chileans.
  • Catholicism is the main religion is Chile.

Hope you enjoyed these interesting facts about Chile!

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51 Comments for Interesting Facts about Chile

  • 1. agelexdander  |  November 20th, 2008 at 1:40 am

    thanks this relay helped me with some humanities homework i had

  • 2. Lunar Lady  |  December 4th, 2008 at 4:10 am

    Gracias! This is a big help! My paper is just about ready.
    Thanks!

  • 3. Krystal Guillory  |  December 8th, 2008 at 5:58 pm

    i enjoyed receiving help from this site. It really helped me on my Spanish paper on Chile…. thanks for all the help

  • 4. Boo  |  December 11th, 2008 at 3:20 pm

    w00t! This helped with my report!

  • 5. Amy  |  January 28th, 2009 at 7:45 pm

    thanks 4 helping me with my international report.

  • 6. erin  |  February 2nd, 2009 at 3:48 pm

    this also helped my report

  • 7. kjkhgjh  |  February 16th, 2009 at 8:20 pm

    This website wasn’t helpful at all. There weren’t any interesting facts except for the thing about Chile being in an unusual ribbon shape.

  • 8. Want to know it  |  February 16th, 2009 at 10:54 pm

    What’s interesting for some people isn’t interesting to others. Why waste your time commenting only to say you didn’t like the info?

  • 9. Drummerejk  |  March 19th, 2009 at 12:36 pm

    thnx! my paper is done!

  • 10. xxUnknownxx  |  March 19th, 2009 at 9:34 pm

    i think i will use some of these for my project, thx! :]

  • 11. erinngobrach  |  April 14th, 2009 at 6:53 pm

    thxz! awesome info helped w/ my chile report.

  • 12. cc  |  May 7th, 2009 at 11:30 pm

    hey this helped me out alott with my Spanish project i had 2 pick a country that was Spanish speeking and i picked Chile and i got a b plus so thnx

  • 13. cc  |  May 7th, 2009 at 11:34 pm

    It was awesome I’ve never got this good of a grade at least in Spanish. LOL! I’m going 2 show my parents and maybe get ungrounded. YAY I’M SO HAPPY!

  • 14. jam  |  May 12th, 2009 at 3:22 pm

    i love this site i got a great grade on my project

  • 15. Lil_Traveler  |  May 26th, 2009 at 11:45 pm

    Thanks so much! This really helped me with some things! Chile sounds fascinating now! thanks again! : )

  • 16. cj  |  June 3rd, 2009 at 1:27 pm

    this helps class alot

  • 17. .:esa naka joker:.  |  October 6th, 2009 at 5:33 pm

    wow thnkx soo much diz site helped me alot gracias:) k-kool

  • 18. Cherry  |  October 8th, 2009 at 7:36 pm

    Thnx so munch… i couldnt have done my project without u ! :)

  • 19. rain  |  October 14th, 2009 at 11:41 pm

    it helped my report @ palm beach lakes

  • 20. sweet as  |  October 29th, 2009 at 9:34 am

    this helped so much with my homework

  • 21. maddi  |  October 29th, 2009 at 8:27 pm

    these are great facts it made my latin american report much easier!

  • 22. squirrel  |  November 18th, 2009 at 12:44 am

    this really helped with my spanish report thanks = )

  • 23. JoJo  |  November 19th, 2009 at 12:38 am

    wow those really helped me and i can do very well on my project now so thanks!

  • 24. emaan  |  December 28th, 2009 at 10:32 am

    this website helped me a lot in my homework so thank you!

  • 25. aaa  |  January 15th, 2010 at 2:42 pm

    thx this helped me alot

  • 26. jessi  |  January 19th, 2010 at 9:42 pm

    thanks so much!! this helped a lot with my Spanish project

  • 27. Karina  |  January 21st, 2010 at 4:13 pm

    Thanks, just helping my son with some homework. He is 11 born in Canada. I was born in Chile.

  • 28. Heather  |  February 9th, 2010 at 3:51 am

    Thank you so much! This really helped! I have to do this culture fair thing for school and so I need as much info about Chile as possible so if you know anything like

    -the most popular crop grown
    -most popular sport
    and some more “popular” stuff about Chile it would be if so much help!

    Thanks!(:

  • 29. Want to know it  |  February 9th, 2010 at 6:47 am

    Most popular sport- football (soccer)
    Most popular crops grown- corn, canola, soy bean, potato, melon

  • 30. Jaime Schuyler  |  February 17th, 2010 at 6:43 am

    Thanks it helped me a lot with my report.

  • 31. jezzi  |  February 21st, 2010 at 5:02 am

    this helped heaps i had 2 do a project on a spanish speaking country chile sounds cool!

  • 32. ariel  |  February 24th, 2010 at 1:15 am

    thanks now i can finish my paper

  • 33. Leahra and Kylie  |  March 11th, 2010 at 9:02 pm

    Chile reminds me of the food!!!

  • 34. ruby  |  March 12th, 2010 at 3:27 pm

    this information helped me alot

  • 35. sally&Harny  |  March 15th, 2010 at 6:12 am

    thanks this really helped me with my school project,
    atwell college

    thanks(:

    sally+Harny
    x

  • 36. casey  |  March 16th, 2010 at 3:37 pm

    thanks

  • 37. KYANNA  |  March 18th, 2010 at 2:40 am

    thanks this really helped me with my school project and you guys are the best cause you guys really helped me with my school project and my friend also said thanks cause you helped her with her school project to and you guys are the best cause we both got an a on the project. and then you guys where the ones that got us an a you guys are the best we just need tow more pages but we got an a on the first half of the project so we told our teacher that you guys helped us with it and she also thanks for helping us with the project and so we wanted to know if you can finish us with the rest of the project thanks

  • 38. arina  |  April 29th, 2010 at 4:35 pm

    this helps with my project for spanish class

  • 39. Carlos  |  May 2nd, 2010 at 4:03 am

    Great facts, my friend.
    Just one update: The actual president from my home country is Sebastian Piñera Echeñique. he’s been president for about 1 or 2 months by now.
    Greetings from Chile.

    PS: i didn’t know some of the facts you mentioned about my own country xD

  • 40. Carlos  |  May 2nd, 2010 at 4:07 am

    Another fact: The largest earthquake in the world was in Chile. Date: May 22th 1960; Magnitude: 9.5 Richter.

  • 41. LASpirit  |  May 2nd, 2010 at 11:23 pm

    THANKS! I really needed it for my school paper.

    P.S. I’m in 4th grade!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • 42. SHS Devils  |  May 4th, 2010 at 6:37 pm

    omg this really helps with my spanish project on chile.. i have to do a minimum of 20 slides wish me luck and i have to cook

  • 43. kk123  |  May 8th, 2010 at 8:23 pm

    thanks so much this helped with my project and i didnt even know half the stuff that was on there!thanks again you are the best!;)

  • 44. baboon  |  May 11th, 2010 at 11:46 pm

    this helped a plethora on my powerpoint for spanish!!! i gave this website to everyone in my class n told them they will probably find stuff bout there country on here to.!!!

  • 45. Iris :3  |  May 12th, 2010 at 2:54 am

    hey thanks!!! im doin this report thats due FRIDAY!!!! AAAAH im such a procrastinator!!!! thanks a buuunch haha!!!

  • 46. MusicLSpirit  |  May 12th, 2010 at 8:44 pm

    thanks!! it was helpful for my project. :)

  • 47. samantha hannah  |  May 26th, 2010 at 5:48 pm

    thnxs this was very helpful 4 my project!!!!!!! :)

  • 48. eskape  |  June 4th, 2010 at 1:55 pm

    this website helped me do my project and i got an a plus

  • 49. soccer11  |  August 3rd, 2010 at 3:00 pm

    this really helped on my homework
    thanks

  • 50. Packie  |  August 18th, 2010 at 3:41 am

    These were interesting facts and helped me on my Spanish paper. I hope these facts keep on adding up and updated! :D
    BIG Thanks

  • 51. johnbigcock  |  August 31st, 2010 at 10:47 pm

    great info for my spanish home work i got an “A+” because of all of this info thanks…

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