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| Country | Chile | | | Flag |  | | | Capital | name: Santiago geographic coordinates: 33 27 S, 70 40 W time difference: UTC-4 (1 hour ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time) daylight saving time: +1hr, begins second Sunday in October; ends second Sunday in March | | | Population | 16,284,741 (July 2007 est.) | | | GMT | -4 | | | Location | Southern South America, bordering the South Pacific Ocean, between Argentina and Peru
see map | | | Area | total: 756,950 sq km land: 748,800 sq km water: 8,150 sq km note: includes Easter Island (Isla de Pascua) and Isla Sala y Gomez | | | Ethnic groups | white and white-Amerindian 95%, Amerindian 3%, other 2% | | | Religions | Roman Catholic 70%, Evangelical 15.1%, Jehovah's Witness 1.1%, other Christian 1%, other 4.6%, none 8.3% (2002 census) | | | Languages | Spanish | | | Government type | republic | | | National holiday | Independence Day, 18 September (1810) | | | Constitution | 11 September 1980, effective 11 March 1981; amended 1989, 1991, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2003, and 2005 | | | Legal system | based on Code of 1857 derived from Spanish law and subsequent codes influenced by French and Austrian law; judicial review of legislative acts in the Supreme Court; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction; note - in June 2005, Chile completed overhaul of its criminal justice system to a new, US-style adversarial system | | | Background | Prior to the coming of the Spanish in the 16th century, northern Chile was under Inca rule while Araucanian Indians (also known as Mapuches) inhabited central and southern Chile. Although Chile declared its independence in 1810, decisive victory over the Spanish was not achieved until 1818. In the War of the Pacific (1879-83), Chile defeated Peru and Bolivia and won its present northern regions. It was not until the 1880s that the Araucanian Indians were completely subjugated. A three-year-old Marxist government of Salvador ALLENDE was overthrown in 1973 by a military coup led by Augusto PINOCHET, who ruled until a freely elected president was installed in 1990. Sound economic policies, maintained consistently since the 1980s, have contributed to steady growth, reduced poverty rates by over half, and have helped secure the country's commitment to democratic and representative government. Chile has increasingly assumed regional and international leadership roles befitting its status as a stable, democratic nation. | | Internet country code | .cl | |
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