Although technically only Chile ’ s 6th largest city, with an urban area population of 263, 499 ( 275, 982 in municipality ), the Greater Valparaíso metropolitan area, including the neighbouring cities of Viña del Mar, Concón, Quilpué and Villa Alemana, is the second largest in the country ( 803, 683 inhabitants ).

* On February 12, 2011, at the field of Esparraguera, town of Quillón, VIIIth Region, Chile, the first version of the Great Tomato War was held under the auspices of the local municipality and a private firm.

As a municipality, Viña del Mar is a third-level administrative division of Chile governed by a municipal council, headed by an alcalde ( mayor ) who is elected every four years.

There is a municipality in the Araucania Region of Chile named after Ercilla.

Most of the territory of the municipality is located within the central plain or " depresión intermedia " ( Valle Central de Chile ).

Santa Inés Island is an island in southern Chile, part of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago and of Punta Arenas municipality, lying south west of the Brunswick Peninsula, from which is separated by the Strait of Magellan and minor islands.

* Los Lagos, Chile, a town and municipality in Los Rios Region

Barrio Suecia ( Spanish for " Swedish neighborhood ") is a section of Santiago, Chile, centered around Calle Suecia (" Swedish Street "), in the upscale Providencia municipality, which includes many pubs, discos and restaurants.

Lucía Hiriart Rodríguez, in September 2007 at a ceremony in Inés de Suárez Square ( Providencia, Chile | Providencia, a rich municipality in Santiago, Chile | Santiago ) in support of Chilean military personnel accused of human rights offenses.

As a province, Llanquihue is a second-level administrative division of Chile, governed by a municipality for each constituent commune ( Spanish: comuna ).

The image is the combination of the 2. 2-metre MPG / ESO telescope of the La Silla Observatory in Chile and a 0. 4-meter amateur telescope.

* 1557 – Mapuche leader Lautaro is killed by Spanish forces at the Battle of Mataquito in Chile.

Abalone is also farmed in Australia, Hawaii, Canada, Chile, France, Iceland, Ireland, Mexico, Namibia, New Zealand, South Africa, Thailand, and the United States.

The meat of this mollusk is considered a delicacy in certain parts of Latin America ( especially Chile ), France, New Zealand, Southeast Asia, and East Asia ( especially in China, Japan, and Korea ).

For example, the main crossover of the Andes between Argentina and Chile is still accomplished through the Paso Internacional Los Libertadores.

However, there is one railroad that connects Chile with Argentina via the Andes, and there are others that make the same connection via southern Bolivia.

There is a long history of mining in the Andes, from the Spanish silver mines in Potosí in the 16th century to the vast current porphyry copper deposits of Chuquicamata and Escondida in Chile and Toquepala in Peru.

In October 1704, after the ships had parted ways because of a dispute between Stradling and Dampier, the Cinque Ports was brought by Stradling to an island that is today known as Robinson Crusoe Island in the uninhabited archipelago of Juan Fernández off the coast of Chile for a mid-expedition restocking of supplies and fresh water.

Much like on the U. S., alcoholic beverages in Chile are not sold on Sunday mornings, while on election days their sale is prohibited by law during the entire day ( starting the Saturday before ).

Five kinds of Phaseolus beans were domesticated by pre-Columbian peoples: common beans ( Phaseolus vulgaris ) grown from Chile to the northern part of what is now the United States, and lima and sieva beans ( Phaseolus lunatus ), as well as the less widely distributed teparies ( Phaseolus acutifolius ), scarlet runner beans ( Phaseolus coccineus ) and polyanthus beans ( Phaseolus polyanthus ) One especially famous use of beans by pre-Columbian people as far north as the Atlantic seaboard is the " Three Sisters " method of companion plant cultivation:

Chile ( or ), officially the Republic of Chile (,, Mapudungun: Gulumapu ), is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow strip of land between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west.

The relatively small central area dominates in terms of population and agricultural resources, and is the cultural and political center from which Chile expanded in the late 19th century when it incorporated its northern and southern regions.

Southern Chile is rich in forests and grazing lands, and features a string of volcanoes and lakes.

Today, Chile is one of South America's most stable and prosperous nations, a recognized middle power and an emerging economy.

Chile is a founding member of the United Nations, the Union of South American Nations and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States.

About 4, 000 years ago, migrating Native Americans settled in the fertile valleys and coastal areas of what is present day Chile.

The Inca Empire briefly extended their empire into what is now northern Chile, where they collected tribute from small groups of fishermen and oasis farmers but were not able to establish a strong cultural presence in the area.

However, the title of discoverer of Chile is usually assigned to Diego de Almagro.

The beginning of the Independence movement is traditionally dated as September 18, 1810 when a national junta was established to govern Chile in the name of the deposed king Ferdinand VII.

After 20 years, Chile is now heading in a new direction.

The politics of Chile takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Chile is both head of state and head of government, and of a formal multi-party system that in practice behaves like a two-party one, due to binomialism.

The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature of Chile.

For example, Augusto Pinochet of Chile initially came to power as the chairperson of a military junta, which briefly made him de facto leader of Chile, but he later amended the nation's constitution and made himself president for life, making him the formal and legal ruler of Chile.

The cultivation, sale, and possession of unprocessed coca leaf ( but not of any processed form of cocaine ) is generally legal in the countries – such as Bolivia, Peru, Chile and Argentina – where traditional use is established, although cultivation is often restricted in an attempt to prevent the production of cocaine.

Pinochet was placed under house arrest in Britain while appealing the legal authority of the Spanish and British courts to try him, but Straw eventually ordered his release on medical grounds before a trial could begin, and Pinochet returned to Chile.

In 1977 the plant was given legal protection in Chile.

The growers of coca are named Cocaleros and part of the coca production for traditional use is legal in Peru, Bolivia and Chile.

Article V of the Boundary treaty of 1881 between Chile and Argentina established a legal regime for the Strait of Magellan, and in a diplomatic letter to major shipping nations in 1873 Chile promised freedom of navigation through and neutrality within the strait.

He also abolished slavery, rescinded the clergy ’ s right to legal immunity, and founded the first state-sponsored school in Chile, the Instituto Nacional.

Apart from ending slavery in Chile, Carrera abolished the titled nobility and ended their legal prerogatives and privileges.

Mitre later lived in Bolivia, Peru, and Chile, and in the latter country, he collaborated with legal scholar and fellow Argentine exile Juan Bautista Alberdi in the latter's periodical, El Comercio of Valparaíso.

By the end of the 1930s legal anarcho-syndicalist trade unions existed only in Chile, Bolivia, Sweden and Uruguay.

The process ended successfully on May 25, 2008, when the Electoral Service ( Servicio Electoral ) of Chile re-registered it as a legal political party.

She has taught courses in feminist legal theory at Harvard, Oxford, Cambridge, Berlin, Frankfurt, the University of Tokyo, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and at other universities in the United States, Chile, France, Italy, Japan, and Israel.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender ( LGBT ) persons in Chile may face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents.

Both male and female same-sex sexual activity is legal in Chile, but same-sex couples and households headed by same-sex couples are not eligible for the same legal protections available to opposite-sex married couples.

Same-sex sexual activity is legal in Chile since 1998.

Campaign demanding legal recognition of same-sex couples in Chile.

There is currently no legal recognition of same-sex couples in Chile.