Everything about Santiago Chile totally explained
Santiago, is the
capital of
Chile, and the center of its largest
conurbation (
Greater Santiago). It is located in the country's central valley, at an elevation of 520 m (1,700 ft)
AMSL. Although Santiago is the capital,
legislative bodies meet in nearby
Valparaíso.
Approximately two decades of uninterrupted economic growth have transformed Santiago into one of
Latin America's most modern metropolitan areas, with extensive suburban development, dozens of shopping malls, and impressive high-rise architecture. The city has some of Latin America's most modern transportation infrastructure, such as the growing
Santiago Metro (the metropolitan underground train system) and the new
Costanera Norte, a toll-based highway system that passes below downtown and connects the Eastern and Western extremes of the city in a 25-minute drive. Santiago is headquarters to many important companies and is a regional financial center.
Usage note
Throughout this article the term
Santiago will normally refer to the Greater Santiago area; however, there are several other entities which bear the name of Santiago and need to be explained: The
commune (
comuna) of Santiago (sometimes referred to as
Santiago Centro), is a subdivision of the
Santiago Province, which is itself a subdivision of the
Santiago Metropolitan Region. The commune is administered by the Santiago municipality (
Municipalidad de Santiago), a separate legal entity with an elected mayor and council. It encompasses the oldest part of Greater Santiago —that enclosed by old rail lines— including downtown, and houses all major government infrastructure, including the government palace
La Moneda. It has an area of and a population of 200,792 (2002 census).
History
Santiago was founded by Spanish
Conquistador Pedro de Valdivia on
February 12,
1541 with the name
Santiago de Nueva Extremadura. The founding ceremony was held on Huelén Hill (later renamed
Cerro Santa Lucía). Valdivia chose the location of Santiago because of its moderate climate and the ease with which it could be defended—the
Mapocho River then split into two branches and rejoined further downstream, forming an island.
The city was destroyed on
September 11,
1541 by native forces under the chief
Michimalonco, which led to the
Arauco War.
The first buildings were erected with the help of the native
Picunche. The south bank of the Mapocho River was later drained and converted into a public promenade, known as the
Alameda (now
Avenida Alameda Libertador Bernardo O'Higgins). The city was slightly damaged during the
War of Independence (
1810–18), in the
Battle of Maipú, which was fought south-west of the city. Santiago was named capital in 1818.
During the early 19th century, Santiago remained a small town with few buildings excepting Palacio de La Moneda, the building used as the Chilean mint during the Spanish period, and a few churches and other civic buildings. The Iglesia de la
Compañía de Jesús caught fire during an 1863 church service, and 2000 people died, one of the worst modern fires.
In the 1880s extraction of
nitrate fertilizer in Northern Chile brought prosperity to the country, and promoted the capital city's development. Important landmarks were built in 1910 during the Centennial celebrations of independence from Spain, such as the
National Library, the Museum of Fine Arts and the Mapocho Train Station (
Estación Mapocho, now an events center).
Santiago began its transformation into a modern city in the 1930s, with the building of the
Barrio Cívico, surrounding
Palacio de La Moneda. The city also grew in population, due to migration from the north and south of Chile. In 1985 an earthquake destroyed some historically significant buildings in the downtown area.
Nowadays, Santiago is among the largest and most important financial centers in Latin America.
Geography
The city lies in the center of the
Santiago Basin, a large bowl-shaped valley consisting of a broad and fertile plain surrounded by mountains. It is flanked by the main chain of the
Andes on the east and the
Chilean Coastal Range on the west. On the north, it's bound by the
Cordón de Chacabuco, a transverse mountain range of the Andes, whereas at the southern border lies
Angostura de Paine, where an elongated spur of the Andes almost reaches the Coastal Range. Santiago Basin is part of the
Intermediate Depression and is remarkably flat, interrupted only by a few hills. Among those are
Cerro Renca,
Cerro Blanco and
Cerro Santa Lucía.
The Andes mountains around Santiago are quite tall, culminating in
Tupungato volcano at . Other volcanoes include
Tupungatito,
San José and
Maipo.
Cerro El Plomo is the highest mountain visible from Santiago's urban area.
Climate
Santiago has a mild
Mediterranean climate: relatively hot dry summers (November to March) with temperatures reaching up to 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) on the hottest days; winters (June to August) are more humid with cold mornings, typical maximum daily temperatures of 15 degrees Celsius (59 degrees Fahrenheit), and minimums of a few degrees above freezing. Occasional snowfall occurs in suburbs at higher altitudes, and may extend throughout the city, though this happens infrequently (the last snowfall reaching down to the city center was in August 2007). Mean rainfall is 358 mm per year.
Environmental issues
Thermal inversion (a meteorological phenomenon whereby a stable layer of warm air holds down colder air close to the ground) causes high levels of
smog and
air pollution to be trapped and concentrate within the Central Valley during winter months. In the 1990s air pollution fell by about one-third, but there has been little progress since 2000.
As of March 2007, only 61% of the wastewater in Santiago was treated, which increased up to 71% by the end of the same year, however, the
Mapocho river, which crosses the city from the north-east to the south-west of the
Central Valley, remains contaminated by household, agricultural and industrial sewage, and by upstream copper-mining waste (there are a number of copper mines in the Andes east of Santiago), being dumped unfiltered into the river. Laws force industry and local governments to process all their wastewater, but are loosely enforced. There are now a number of large wastewater processing and recycling plants under construction. There are ongoing plans to decontaminate the river and make it navigable.
Noise levels on the main streets are high, mostly because of noisy diesel buses. Diesel trucks and buses are also major contributors to winter smog. A lengthy replacement process of the bus system began in 2005 and will last until 2010 (see
Transportation section below).
Demographics
2002 census, it contains a population of about 5.47 million, equivalent to nearly 37% of the total population of the country and 43% of the total urban population, making it one of the largest cities in
Latin America. Santiago's Metropolitan Area, according to an official estimate from
2006, has a population of 6.293 million people.
The city is increasingly receiving immigration from other countries in Latin America due to comparatively strong economic growth. Many Peruvians live in Santiago, as well as Bolivians, Argentines, and Ecuadorians.
Economy
Santiago is the industrial and financial center of Chile, and generates 45 percent of the country's
GDP. The city, along with
Buenos Aires and
São Paulo, is one of the main financial centres of
South America. Some international institutions, such as
ECLAC (Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean), have their offices in Santiago.
In recent years, due to the strong growth and stability of the Chilean economy, many multinational companies have chosen Santiago as the place for their headquarters in the region, like
HP,
Reuters,
JP Morgan,
Intel,
Coca-Cola,
Unilever,
Nestlé,
Kodak,
BHP Billiton,
IBM,
Motorola,
Microsoft,
Ford,
Yahoo!, and many more.
Construction
The construction sector is booming in Santiago. Several large apartment complexes are being built throughout the city and construction cranes are a common sight. Currently under construction is the
Costanera Center, a mega project in Santiago's Financial District. This includes a mall, a tower, two office towers of each, and a hotel tall. When completed in 2010 it'll be the tallest building in South America. Near Costanera Center another skyscraper is being built,
Titanium La Portada, and this will be tall. Although these are the two biggest projects, there are many other office buildings under construction in Santiago, as well as hundreds of high rise residential buildings.
Transport
Air
Comodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport is Santiago's national and international airport.
Rail
Trains operated by Chile's national railway,
Empresa de los Ferrocarriles del Estado, connect Santiago to
Temuco, in the central-southern part of the country. All such trains arrive and depart from the
Estación Central ("Central Station").
Buses
Bus companies provide passenger transportation from Santiago to most areas of the country, while some also provide parcel-shipping and delivery services.
Highways
Toll road, inter-urban
free flow highways connect the city's extremes, including the Vespucio Highway (which surrounds the city describing a semi-circle), Autopista Central (which crosses the city in a North-South direction), and the Costanera Norte (which runs from the eastern edge, in Las Condes to the international airport and the highways to Valparaíso on the western side of the city).
Metro
Transantiago
Transantiago is the name for the city's public transport system. It works by combining local (feeder) bus lines, main bus lines and the Metro network. It includes an integrated fare system, which allows passengers to make bus-to-bus or bus-to-metro transfers for the price of one ticket, using a single
contactless smartcard.
Introduced on
February 10 2007, it attempted to rationalize bus routes by eliminating redundancy, patent in the previous chaotic system run by thousands of independent bus operators. The plan backfired, however, as the decreased bus fleet and the newer routes proved insufficient to properly serve a population inadequately prepared for the changes. The major complaints are the lack of buses and their inconsistent frequencies, missing or poor infrastructure (such as segregated corridors, pre-paid areas and bus stops), the network's coverage, and the number of transfers needed for longer trips. As a result, users have overcrowded the Metro, which they see as fast and predictable.
Taxi
Taxicabs can usually be found on the streets and are painted black with yellow roofs; unmarked taxis may be called up by telephone (
Radiotaxis).
Colectivos are shared taxicabs that carry passengers along a specific route, for a fixed fee.
Political divisions
Greater Santiago extends throughout 37 municipalities and covered 64,140 ha in 2002. The majority of Santiago lies within the
same named province, with some peripheral areas contained in the provinces of
Talagante,
Maipo and
Cordillera. Specifically, Santiago joins the cities of San Bernardo (Maipo province) and Puente Alto (Cordillera province) to form the Greater Santiago conurbation.
The province of Santiago is divided into 32
municipalities (
comunas in Spanish). Each municipality in Chile is headed by a mayor
(alcalde) elected by voters every four years. The members of the municipal council
(concejales) are elected in the same election on a separate ballot.
Cultural life
Music
There are two symphonic orchestras:
- Orquesta Filarmónica de Santiago, which performs in the Teatro Municipal
- Orquesta Sinfónica de Chile, dependent of the Universidad de Chile, performs in its theater.
There are also various jazz establishments, the most notable being the
Club de Jazz
in Ñuñoa. The city has a very vibrant underground music scene. Some of its most popular venues are La Batuta in Ñuñoa and Blondie's disco in downtown Santiago.
Museums
Museums include:
Centro Cultural Palacio de La Moneda, newest and biggest cultural space, beneath the Citizenry Square, in the south front of the government palace La Moneda
Museo Arqueológico de Santiago
Museo de Santiago Casa Colorada
Museo Catedral Metropolitana
Museo Colonial San Francisco
Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino
Museo Histórico Nacional
Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes
Museo de Arte Contemporáneo
Museo Interactivo Mirador
Museo Artequín
Museo de Ciencia y Tecnología
Museo Ferroviario
Museo de la Solidaridad "Salvador Allende"
Palacio Cousiño
La Chascona, Pablo Neruda's house, now a museum
Recreation
The city's main parks are:
San Cristóbal Hill (Cerro San Cristóbal), which includes the Santiago Metropolitan Park Zoo
O'Higgins Park (Parque O'Higgins)
Forestal Park (Parque Forestal), park located at the city centre alongside Mapocho river
Cerro Santa Lucía
Modern ski resorts within an hour's drive east from the city include:
Farellones
Valle Nevado
La Parva
Portillo (External Link) is about three hours away.
Some of the country's most important winegrowing areas lie in the nearby Maipo and Aconcagua Valleys. Several vineyards are located in this area:
Concha y Toro
Santa Rita
Santa Carolina
Cousiño Macul
Cultural places to visit include:
Museo de Bellas Artes
Barrio Bellavista, cultural and bohemian neighborhood
Central Station, railway station designed by Gustave Eiffel
Víctor Jara Stadium
Ex National Congress
Plaza de Armas, downtown square
Palacio de La Moneda, government palace
Main Sport Venues:
Estadio Nacional (site of the 1962 World Cup final) 65.000 all-seated
Estadio Monumental David Arellano 62.000 all-seated
Estadio Santa Laura 28.500 all-seated
Estadio San Carlos de Apoquindo 20.000 all-seated
Image:Mall Parque Arauco Boulevard del Parque.JPG|Mall Parque Arauco
Image:PaseoAhumada.jpg|Center Of Santiago
Image:Bicentenario Thckr.jpg|
Image:Plazastgoanterior.jpg|Plaza De Armas DE Santiago
Image:PICT0780.JPG|First Fire Department of Santiago
Image:Casa Colorada 5mrz08 002.jpg|Museo de Santiago Casa Colorada
Image:Estadio Nacional de Chile.jpg|Estadio Nacional (site of the 1962 World Cup final)
Religion
Catholic and Santiago is no exception. According to the National Census, carried out in 2002 by the National Statistics Bureau (INE), in the Santiago Metropolitan Region, 3,129,249 people 15 and older identified themselves as Catholics, equivalent to 68.7% of the total population, while 595,173 (13.1%) described themselves as Evangelical Protestants. Around 1.2% of the population declared themselves as being Jehovah's Witnesses, while 0.9% identified themselves as Latter-day Saints (Mormons), 0.25% as Jewish, 0.11% as Orthodox and 0.03% as Muslim. Approximately 10.4% of the population of the Metropolitan Region stated that they were atheist or agnostic, while 5.4% declared to follow other religions.
Universities
Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (Puc)
Universidad de Chile (U, UCh)
Universidad de Santiago de Chile (Usach)
Universidad Metropolitana de Ciencias de la Educación (Umce)
Universidad Tecnológica Metropolitana (Utem)
Non-Traditional
Universidad Academia de Humanismo Cristiano
Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez (UAI)
Universidad Alberto Hurtado (UAH)
Universidad Bernardo O'Higgins
Universidad Bolivariana
Universidad Católica Raúl Silva Henríquez
Universidad Central de Chile
Universidad de Artes y Ciencias Sociales (Arcis)
Universidad de Artes, Ciencias y Comunicación (UNIACC)
Universidad de Ciencias de la Informática
Universidad de las Américas
Universidad de Los Andes
Universidad del Desarrollo
Universidad del Pacífico
Universidad Diego Portales
Universidad Europea de Negocios
Universidad Finis Terrae
Universidad Gabriela Mistral (UGM)
Universidad Iberoamericana de Ciencias y Tecnología
Universidad Internacional SEK
Universidad La República
Universidad Mariano Egaña
Universidad Mayor
Universidad Miguel de Cervantes
Universidad Nacional Andrés Bello (Unab)
Universidad Pedro de Valdivia (Upv)
Universidad Santo Tomás
Universidad San Sebastián
Universidad Tecnológica Vicente Pérez Rosales
Other
Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg's Postgraduierten- und Weiterbildungszentrum der Universität Heidelberg in Santiago (External Link)
David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies (DRCLAS) Regional Office in Santiago (External Link)Further Information
Get more info on 'Santiago Chile'.
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