Chile: From the Andes to the Atacama Desert

Santiago, city (1992 pop. 4,233,060), central Chile, capital of Chile and of Santiago prov., on the Mapocho R. Chile’s largest city, housing a third of the country’s population, it is the commercial and political heart of the republic and a manufacturing center with iron and steel foundries. The city is modern in appearance, but its ground plan is colonial. Since its founding in 1541, Santiago has survived floods, earthquakes, and an attack by the Mapuche people. In the early 1970s it was the scene of mass political demonstrations.