Chile is a country in South America that is located between the Andes Mountains and the Pacific Ocean.
Interesting things about Chile:
- 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 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 main language spoken in Chile is Spanish, but there are also many indigenous languages that are spoken by a minority of Chileans.
- Tourism is growing very quickly in Chile. In 2005, tourism generated more than $US4.5 billion.
- Catholicism is the main religion is Chile.
No comments:
Post a Comment