It is Chile's oldest and most prestigious school.

Within Chile's diversified network of trade relationships, its most important partner remained the United States.

Trade with Korea and Japan grew significantly, but China remained Chile's most important trading partner in Asia.

* May 22 – The Great Chilean Earthquake: Chile's subduction fault ruptures from Talcahuano to Taitao Peninsula, causing the most powerful earthquake on record ( with a magnitude of 9. 5 ) and a tsunami.

Copper is Chile's single most important export ( more than half of Chile's export receipts were from this sole commodity ).

Chile's territorial shape is among the world's most unusual.

With the country's third highest population of 1, 539, 852 million in 2002 and third smallest area of, the region is Chile's second most densely populated after the Santiago Metropolitan Region to the southeast.

With an area of and population over 6 million, it is Chile's smallest by area, most populated and most densely populated region.

Chile's Gini index ( measure of income distribution ) of 52. 0 in 2006, compared to 24. 7 of Denmark ( most equally distributed ) and 74. 3 of Namibia ( most unequally distributed ).

Based on the number of people killed per capita, Ríos Montt was probably the most violent dictator in Latin America's recent history, more so than even other notorious dictators such as Chile's Augusto Pinochet, Argentina's Jorge Rafael Videla, and Bolivia's Hugo Banzer.

The Churches of Chiloé in Chile's Chiloé Archipelago are a unique architectural phenomenon in the Americas and one of the most prominent buildings of Chilota architecture.

He, along with Elías Figueroa and Iván Zamorano, has been one of Chile's most prestigious footballers.

Despite being politically linked to Spain, Chile's wine history has been most profoundly influenced by French, particularly Bordeaux, winemaking.

Chile's topography with the location of most of Chile's wine regions highlighted.

This is Chile's most productive and internationally known wine region, due in large part to its proximity to the country's capital Santiago.

Chile's wine laws are more similar to the US appellation system than to France's Appellation d ' origine contrôlée that most of Europe has based their wine laws on.

For most of Chile's history, Pais was the most widely planted grape only recently getting passed by Cabernet Sauvignon.

In the same year, Telmex bought from MCI Brazil's largest and most important long distance operator, Embratel, acquired Chile's Chilesat, took control of Argentina's Techtel ( operating in Argentina and Uruguay ), of which it already owned 60 %, by purchasing the remaining 40 % from the Techint group, and purchased Argentina's Metrored.

In spite of the complete restructuring of the University of Chile, it still remains as Chile's most prestigious university in terms of research, applicant preferences and social impact.

A third generation member of Chile's Parra family, known for its many musicians, she is the granddaughter of famous Chilean folklorist Violeta Parra.

According to the CIA World Factbook, Chile's " sound economic policies ," maintained consistently since the 1980s, " have contributed to steady economic growth in Chile and have more than halved poverty rates.

Australian broadcast stations officially have — but do not use — the VL prefix, and Canada uses Chile's CB for its own Canadian Broadcasting Corporation stations.

Many of Chile's distinctive animal species have been decimated as they have been pushed farther and farther into the remaining wilderness areas by human occupation of the land.

Many of the parties in Chile have come to accept the free market that has helped to revitalize Chile's economy.

While sparkling wines have been made since 1879, they have not yet established a significant place in Chile's wine portfolio.

And as New World viticulturists have better understood the soils and climates of their vineyards, terroir has come to the New World, with the ' terra rossa ' of Coonawarra known for its Cabernet Sauvignons, and the Eden Valley and Clare Valley and Chile's Bío-Bío Valley for Riesling.

In 1936, the Law Decree 5, 798 changed its name to Pisco Elqui to reinforce Chile's claim to have rights over the alcoholic drink, pisco.

The small but significant support of the PCCh is believed to have aided in the electoral victories of former socialist president Ricardo Lagos in the 2000 elections, and in the more recent victory of Chile's first female president, the socialist Michelle Bachelet in January 2006, both of whom won in competitive second round runoffs.

Activists believe that conservative attitudes are changing, finding greater public tolerance as Chile's Congress debates striking " offenses to morals and good customs " clauses " that police have used to harass gays, even for behavior such as holding hands in public ".

The club was able to establish itself in Chile's top flight very quickly, earning promotion after its first season, where they have stayed ever since.

After Augusto Pinochet left Chile's Presidency, a plan was put on the run by the new government to make new airport terminals and freeways across the country, so that Chile's smaller cities could have better connections with Santiago.

Even so, his plan was doomed, for in order to blockade Chile's of coastline, Pareja would have needed a fleet several times larger than what he had at his disposal.

* Chile's Matrimony and Civil Registry laws come into effect.

For the next forty years, Chile's armed forces would be distracted from meddling in politics by skirmishes and defensive operations on the southern frontier, although some units got embroiled in domestic conflicts in 1851 and 1859.

* Workers ' United Center of Chile trade unionists from Chile's five largest labor confederations.

According to the CIA World Factbook, during the early 1990s, Chile's " reputation as a role model for economic reform " was strengthened when the democratic government of Patricio Aylwin, who took over from the military in 1990, deepened the economic reform initiated by the military government.

Material based on reports from the Mitrokhin Archive, the KGB said of Allende that " he was made to understand the necessity of reorganising Chile's army and intelligence services, and of setting up a relationship between Chile's and the USSR's intelligence services ".

At the time Bolivia was under threat from Chile's fleet but had no navy.

Juan Gabriel Valdés, Chile's foreign minister in the 1990s, described the Chile Project as " a striking example of an organized transfer of ideology from the United States to a country within its direct sphere of influence ... the education of these Chileans derived from a specific project designed in the 1950s to influence the development of Chilean economic thinking.

A panoply of provincial and municipal banks were sold to financial giants abroad ( sometimes over the opposition of their respective governors and mayors ) and, taking a page from Chile's successful experiment, the mandatory state pensions system was opened to choice through the authorization of for private pension schemes.

Chile's annual GDP growth was 3. 2 % in 2008 and had averaged 4. 8 % from 2004 to 2008.

On March 14, Alejandro Fierro, Chile's minister of foreign affairs, sent a telegram to the Chilean representative in Lima, Joaquin Godoy, requesting immediate neutrality from the Peruvian government.

The Peruvian dictator Nicolás de Piérola retreated from the capital to try governing from the rear, and defied Chile's demand for territory and indemnity.

He was the force behind Chile's Independence from Spain, being elected Supreme Director and declaring independence after the Battle of Chacabuco against the Spanish in 1817.

Amongst the invited players were his friends from the 1993 – 1996 Universidad de Chile squads, River Plate, Juventus, plus members of Chile's France ' 98 World Cup squad.

Four other roads travel west to Chile's Aysén region, including Balmaceda and Coihaique Alto, and two to Chile's Los Lagos region from Corcovado to Palena and from Esquel via Trevelin to Futaleufu.

Chile's vineyards are found along an 800-mile stretch of land from Atacama Region to the Bio-Bio Region in the south.

Most of Chile's premium wine regions are dependent on irrigation to sustain vineyards, getting the necessary water from melting snow caps in the Andes.