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{{History of Chile}}
The territory of [[Chile]] has been populated since at least 3000 BC. By the 16th century, Spanish invaders began to raid the region of present-day Chile, and the territory was a colony from 1540 to 1818, when it gained [[Chilean War of Independence|independence from Spain]]. The country's economic development was successively marked by the export of first agricultural produce, then [[sodium nitrate|saltpeter]] and later copper. The wealth of raw materials led to an economic upturn, but also led to dependency, and even wars with neighboring states. Chile was governed during most of its first 150 years of independence by different forms of restricted government, where the electorate was carefully vetted and controlled by an elite.

Failure to address the economic and social increases and increasing political awareness of the less-affluent population, as well as indirect intervention and economic funding to the main political groups by the [[CIA]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://foia.state.gov/Reports/ChurchReport.asp|title=Covert Action in Chile 1963-1973|publisher=US Department of State|access-date=25 February 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090911173014/http://foia.state.gov/Reports/ChurchReport.asp |archive-date=11 September 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref> as part of the [[Cold War]], led to a political polarization under [[Socialist Party (Chile)|Socialist]] [[President of Chile|president]] [[Salvador Allende]]. This in turn resulted in the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup d'état]] and the [[Military dictatorship of Chile|military dictatorship]] of General [[Augusto Pinochet]], whose seventeen-year regime was responsible for many [[Human rights abuses in Chile under Augusto Pinochet|human rights violations]] and [[Chicago Boys|deep market-oriented economic reforms]]. In 1990, Chile made a peaceful [[Chilean transition to democracy|transition to democracy]] and initiate a succession of democratic governments.

==Early history (pre-1540)==
{{Main|Prehispanic history of Chile}}
{{see also|Origin of the Mapuche|Incas in Central Chile}}
About 10,000 years ago, migrating [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native Americans]] settled in the fertile valleys and coastal areas of what is present-day Chile. Pre-Hispanic Chile was home to over a dozen different Amerindian societies. The current prevalent theories are that the initial arrival of humans to the continent took place either along the Pacific coast southwards in a rather rapid expansion long preceding the [[Clovis culture]], or even trans-Pacific migration. These theories are backed by findings in the [[Monte Verde]] archaeological site, which predates the Clovis site by thousands of years. Specific early human settlement sites from the very early human habitation in Chile include the [[Cueva del Milodon]] and the [[Pali Aike Crater]]'s [[lava tube]].<ref name=Hogan>{{cite web |title=Pali Aike |last=Hogan |first=C. Michael |year=2008 |website=Megalithic Portal |url=http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=18657 |access-date=2008-11-25 |archive-date=2011-06-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110610101646/http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=18657 |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[Image:Tulor Settlement Chile.jpg|thumb|left|"Tulor" settlement near [[San Pedro de Atacama]], a Pre-Columbian [[Atacameño]] culture]]
Despite such diversity, it is possible to classify the indigenous people into three major cultural groups: the northern people, who developed rich handicrafts and were influenced by [[Cultural periods of Peru|pre-Incan cultures]]; the Araucanian culture, who inhabited the area between the river [[Choapa River|Choapa]] and the island of [[Chiloé Island|Chiloé]], and lived primarily off agriculture; and the [[Patagonia|Patagonian culture]]  composed of various nomadic tribes, who supported themselves through fishing and hunting (and who in Pacific/Pacific Coast immigration scenario would be descended partly from the most ancient settlers).
No elaborate, centralized, sedentary civilization reigned supreme.<ref name=Mapuches>{{cite book |title=Historia del pueblo mapuche: (siglo XIX y XX) |last=Bengoa |first=Jose |year=2000 |publisher=Lom Ediciones |language=es |isbn=978-9562822329 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k_E3aAiunm8C&q=Mapuche+y+su+forma+de+gobierno&pg=PA190 |access-date=2020-11-01 |archive-date=2023-01-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230123232900/https://books.google.com/books?id=k_E3aAiunm8C&q=Mapuche+y+su+forma+de+gobierno&pg=PA190 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The Araucanians, a fragmented society of hunters, gatherers, and farmers, constituted the largest Native American group in Chile. Mobile people who engaged in trade and warfare with other indigenous groups lived in scattered family clusters and small villages. Although the Araucanians had no written language, they did use a common tongue. Those in what became central Chile were more settled and more likely to use irrigation. Those in the south combined [[Slash-and-burn|slash-and-burn agriculture]] with hunting. Of the three Araucanian groups, the one that mounted the fiercest resistance to the attempts at seizure of their territory were the [[Mapuche]], meaning "people of the land."<ref name="Mapuches" />

[[File:Atlas pittoresque pl 037 (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright|The [[Mapuche]] were the original inhabitants of central and southern 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.<ref name=Chile>{{cite book |title=Chile |last=Minnis |first=Natalie |year=2002 |publisher=Langenscheidt Publishing Group |page=381 |isbn=978-9812348906 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Nf8SnJ_ZJbkC&q=inca+did+not+conquer+araucanians&pg=PA27 |access-date=2013-09-18 |archive-date=2023-01-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230123232900/https://books.google.com/books?id=Nf8SnJ_ZJbkC&q=inca+did+not+conquer+araucanians&pg=PA27 |url-status=live }}</ref> As the Spaniards would after them, the Incas encountered fierce resistance and so were unable to exert control in the south. During their attempts at conquest in 1460 and again in 1491, the Incas established forts in the Central Valley of Chile, but they could not colonize the region. The [[Mapuche]] fought against the Sapa [[Tupac Inca Yupanqui]] (c. 1471–1493)<ref name=Garcilaso>{{cite book |title=Comentarios reales |last=De la Vega |first=Garcilaso |author-link=Inca Garcilaso de la Vega |year=1616 |language=es |chapter=Segunda Parte: Libro VII Cap. 18, 19 & 20 |url=http://es.wikisource.org/wiki/Comentarios_reales |access-date=2009-04-11 |archive-date=2019-11-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191116161911/http://es.wikisource.org/wiki/Comentarios_reales |url-status=live }}</ref> and his army. The result of the bloody three-day confrontation known as the [[Battle of the Maule]] was that the Inca conquest of the territories of Chile ended at the [[Maule river]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/1981.htm|title=Chile|work=U.S. Department of State|access-date=25 February 2015|archive-date=21 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170121153101/https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/1981.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> which subsequently became the boundary between the Incan empire and the Mapuche lands until the arrival of the Spaniards.

Scholars speculate that the total Araucanian population may have numbered 1.5 million at most when the Spaniards arrived in the 1530s; a century of European conquest and disease reduced that number by at least half. During the conquest, the Araucanians quickly added horses and European weaponry to their arsenal of clubs and bows and arrows. They became adept at raiding Spanish settlements and, albeit in declining numbers, managed to hold off the Spaniards and their descendants until the late 19th century. The Araucanians' valor inspired the Chileans to mythologize them as the nation's first national heroes, a status that did nothing, however, to elevate the wretched living standard of their descendants.<ref name="Mapuches" /><ref name="PC"/>

The Chilean [[Patagonia]] located south of the [[Calle-Calle River]] in [[Valdivia]] was composed of many tribes, mainly [[Tehuelches]], who were considered giants by Spaniards during Magellan's voyage of 1520.

The name Patagonia comes from the word ''[[patagon|patagón]]''<ref name="Pigafetta">[[Antonio Pigafetta]], ''[[:wikisource:it:Relazione del primo viaggio intorno al mondo|Relazione del primo viaggio intorno al mondo]]'', 1524: "Il capitano generale nominò questi popoli Patagoni." The original word would probably be in [[Ferdinand Magellan|Magellan]]'s native Portuguese (''patagão'') or the Spanish of his men (''patagón''). It has been interpreted later as "big foot" but the etymologyrefers to a literary character in a Spanish novel of the early 16th century (see text).</ref> used by [[Ferdinand Magellan|Magellan]] to describe the native people whom his expedition thought to be giants. It is now believed the Patagons were actually [[Tehuelche people|Tehuelches]]  with an average height of 1.80 m (~5′11″) compared to the 1.55 m (~5′1″) average for Spaniards of the time.<ref>{{cite book |last= Fondebrider|first= Jorge|title= Versiones de la Patagonia|edition= 1st|year= 2003|publisher= Emecé Editores S.A.|location= Buenos Aires|language= es|isbn= 9500424983|page= 29|chapter= chapter 1 (Ámbitos y voces)}}</ref>

The Argentine portion of Patagonia includes the provinces of [[Neuquen Province|Neuquén]], [[Rio Negro Province|Río Negro]], [[Chubut Province|Chubut]] and [[Santa Cruz Province, Argentina|Santa Cruz]], as well as the eastern portion of [[Tierra del Fuego Province, Argentina|Tierra del Fuego]] archipelago.  The Argentine politico-economic Patagonic Region includes the [[La Pampa Province|Province of La Pampa]].<ref>{{Cite web|website=Argentina.gob.ar |url=https://www.argentina.gob.ar/produccion/segemar |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100414115219/http://www.segemar.gov.ar/P_Oferta_Regiones/Regiones/Patagonia/Poblaci%C3%B3n%20y%20Econom%C3%ADa/POBLACION%20Y%20ECONOMIA.htm |title=Servicio Geológico Minero Argentino (SEGEMAR)|date=March 23, 2021 |archivedate=April 14, 2010}}</ref>

The Chilean part of Patagonia embraces the southern part of [[Valdivia]], [[Los Lagos Region|Los Lagos]] in Lake Llanquihue, [[Chiloe Island|Chiloé]], [[Puerto Montt]] and the Archaeological site of [[Monte Verde]], also the fiords and islands south to the regions of [[Aisén Region|Aisén]] and [[Magallanes Region|Magallanes]], including the west side of [[Tierra del Fuego]] and [[Cape Horn]].<ref name="PC">{{cite book |last1=Jarpa |first1=Francisco Fantini |title=Patagonia chilena: historia |date=2007 |publisher=Patagonia Media |isbn=978-956-310-774-6 }}{{pn|date=October 2023}}</ref>

==Spanish conquest and colonization (1540–1810)==
{{Further|Discovery of Chile|Conquest of Chile|Captaincy General of Chile|Arauco War}}
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[[Image:Pedro de Valdivia.jpg|thumb|upright|left|[[Pedro de Valdivia]]]]
The first European to sight Chilean territory was [[Ferdinand Magellan]], who crossed the [[Strait of Magellan]] on November 1, 1520. However, the title of discoverer of Chile is usually assigned to [[Diego de Almagro]]. Almagro was [[Francisco Pizarro]]'s partner, and he received the Southern area (''Nueva Toledo''). He organized an expedition that brought him to central Chile in 1537, but he found little of value to compare with the gold and silver of the Incas in Peru. Left with the impression that the inhabitants of the area were poor, he returned to Peru, later to be garotted following defeat by Hernando Pizarro in a Civil War.<ref>Prescott</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://countrystudies.us/chile/5.htm|title=Chile – Conquest and Colonization, 1535–1810|access-date=25 February 2015|archive-date=5 August 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110805063531/http://countrystudies.us/chile/5.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

After this initial excursion there was little interest from colonial authorities in further exploring modern-day Chile. However, [[Pedro de Valdivia]], captain of the army, realizing the potential for expanding the Spanish empire southward, asked Pizarro's permission to invade and conquer the southern lands. With a couple of hundred men, he subdued the local inhabitants and founded the city of Santiago de Nueva Extremadura, now [[Santiago de Chile]], on February 12, 1541.<ref>{{cite book |title=Carta a sus apoderados en la corte |last=Valdivia |first=Pedro de |author-link=Pedro de Valdivia |date=October 15, 1550 |language=es |quote=...y llegado al valle de Copiapó, lo que trabajé en hacer la guerra a los naturales e fuertes que les rompí y la guerra que hice por todos los valles adelante, hasta que llegué al valle de Mapocho, que es cien leguas de Copiapó, e fundé la cibdad de Sanctiago del Nuevo Extremo, a los veinte e cuatro de hebrero del año de mill quinientos e cuarenta e uno, formando Cabildo, Justicia e Regimiento. |url=http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/servlet/SirveObras/12593842001258285209068/index.htm |access-date=April 11, 2009 |archive-date=September 24, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924072519/http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/servlet/SirveObras/12593842001258285209068/index.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:El joven Lautaro - P. Subercaseaux.PNG|thumb|upright=1.4|Picture "The young [[Lautaro]]" of [[Pedro Subercaseaux]] that show to genius military and hero of the Arauco war after the arrival of the Spanish to Chilean territory]]
Although Valdivia found little gold in Chile he could see the agricultural richness of the land. He continued his explorations of the region west of the Andes and founded over a dozen towns and established the first ''[[encomienda]]s''. The greatest resistance to Spanish rule came from the [[Mapuche]] people, who opposed European conquest and colonization until the 1880s; this resistance is known as the [[Arauco War]]. Valdivia died at the [[Battle of Tucapel]], defeated by [[Lautaro (toqui)|Lautaro]], a young Mapuche ''[[toqui]]'' (war chief), but the European conquest was well underway.

The Spaniards never subjugated the Mapuche territories; various attempts at conquest, both by military and peaceful means, failed. The Great Uprising of 1598 swept all Spanish presence south of the [[Bío-Bío River]] except Chiloé (and Valdivia which was decades later reestablished as a fort), and the great river became the frontier line between Mapuche lands and the Spanish realm.
North of that line cities grew up slowly, and Chilean lands eventually became an important source of food for the [[Viceroyalty of Peru]].

Valdivia became the first governor of the [[Captaincy General of Chile]]. In that post, he obeyed the viceroy of Peru and, through him, the King of Spain and his bureaucracy. Responsible to the governor, town councils known as ''[[Cabildo (council)|Cabildo]]'' administered local municipalities, the most important of which was Santiago, which was the seat of a Royal Appeals Court (''Real Audiencia'') from 1609 until the end of colonial rule.

Chile was the least wealthy realm of the Spanish Crown for most of its colonial history. Only in the 18th century did a steady economic and demographic growth begin, an effect of the reforms by Spain's [[Enlightenment in Spain|Bourbon]] dynasty and a more stable situation along the frontier.

==Independence (1810–1818)==
{{Main|Chilean War of Independence}}

[[Image:ohiggins.jpg|thumb|upright|left|[[Bernardo O'Higgins]]]]
The drive for independence from Spain was precipitated by the usurpation of the Spanish throne by [[Napoleon I of France|Napoleon]]'s brother [[Joseph Bonaparte]]. The Chilean War of Independence was part of the larger [[Spanish American wars of independence|Spanish American independence movement]], and it was far from having unanimous support among Chileans, who became divided between independentists and royalists. What started as an elitist political movement against their colonial master, finally ended as a full-fledged civil war between pro-Independence [[Criollo people|Criollos]] who sought political and economic independence from Spain and [[royalist (Spanish American Revolution)|royalist]] Criollos, who supported the continued allegiance to and permanence within the [[Spanish Empire]] of the [[Captaincy General of Chile]]. The struggle for independence was a war within the upper class, although the majority of troops on both sides consisted of conscripted mestizos and Native Americans.

The beginning of the Independence movement is traditionally dated as of September 18, 1810, when a national junta was established to govern Chile in the name of the deposed king [[Ferdinand VII of Spain|Ferdinand VII]]. Depending on what terms one uses to define the end, the movement extended until 1821 (when the Spanish were expelled from mainland Chile) or 1826 (when the last Spanish troops surrendered and [[Chiloé]] was incorporated into the Chilean republic). The independence process is normally divided into three stages: ''[[Patria Vieja]]'', ''[[Reconquista (Chile)|Reconquista]]'', and ''[[Patria Nueva (Chile)|Patria Nueva]]''.

Chile's first experiment with self-government, the "Patria Vieja" (''old fatherland'', 1810–1814), was led by [[José Miguel Carrera]], an aristocrat then in his mid-twenties. The military-educated Carrera was a heavy-handed ruler who aroused widespread opposition. Another of the earliest advocates of full independence, [[Bernardo O'Higgins]], captained a rival faction that plunged the Criollos into civil war. For him and certain other members of the Chilean elite, the initiative for temporary self-rule quickly escalated into a campaign for permanent independence, although other Criollos remained loyal to Spain.

Among those favouring independence, conservatives fought with liberals over the degree to which French revolutionary ideas would be incorporated into the movement. After several efforts, Spanish troops from Peru took advantage of the internecine strife to reconquer Chile in 1814, when they reasserted control by the [[Battle of Rancagua]] on October 12. O'Higgins, Carrera and many of the Chilean rebels escaped to Argentina.

The second period was characterized by the Spanish attempts to reimpose arbitrary rule during the period known as the ''[[Reconquista (Spanish America)|Reconquista]]'' of 1814–1817 ("Reconquest": the term echoes the ''[[Reconquista]]'' in which the Christian kingdoms retook Iberia from the Muslims). During this period, the harsh rule of the Spanish loyalists, who punished suspected rebels, drove more and more Chileans into the insurrectionary camp. More members of the Chilean elite were becoming convinced of the necessity of full independence, regardless of who sat on the throne of Spain. As the leader of guerrilla raids against the Spaniards, [[Manuel Rodríguez Erdoíza|Manuel Rodríguez]] became a national symbol of resistance.

[[Image:Battle of Chacabuco.jpg|thumb|Chilean and Argentinean troops going to the [[Battle of Chacabuco]] (February 12, 1817) led by [[José de San Martín]]]]
In exile in Argentina, O'Higgins joined forces with [[José de San Martín]]. Their combined army freed Chile with a daring assault over the Andes in 1817, defeating the Spaniards at the [[Battle of Chacabuco]] on February 12 and marking the beginning of the ''Patria Nueva''. San Martín considered the liberation of Chile a strategic stepping-stone to the emancipation of Peru, which he saw as the key to hemispheric victory over the Spanish.

Chile won its formal independence when San Martín defeated the last large Spanish force on Chilean soil at the [[Battle of Maipú]] on April 5, 1818. San Martín then led his Argentine and Chilean followers north to liberate Peru; and fighting continued in Chile's southern provinces, the bastion of the royalists, until 1826.

A [[Chilean Declaration of Independence|declaration of independence]] was officially issued by Chile on February 12, 1818, and formally recognized by Spain in 1840, when full diplomatic relations were established.

==Republican era (1818–1891)==

===Constitutional organization (1818–1833)===
{{see also|Chilean Civil War of 1829|Chilean Constitution of 1833}}

[[File:Escena Patriótica-Rugendas.jpg|thumb|Chilean patriots, by [[Johann Moritz Rugendas]]]]
[[File:Johann Moritz Rugendas-el rapto.jpg|thumb|The [[Arauco War]]. The painting depicts a woman being kidnapped during a [[malón]]]]
From 1817 to 1823, Bernardo O'Higgins ruled Chile as [[President of Chile#Supreme Directors (1814)|supreme director]]. He won plaudits for defeating royalists and founding schools, but civil strife continued. O'Higgins alienated liberals and provincials with his authoritarianism, conservatives and the church with his anticlericalism, and landowners with his proposed reforms of the land tenure system. His attempt to devise a constitution in 1818 that would legitimize his government failed, as did his effort to generate stable funding for the new administration. O'Higgins's dictatorial behavior aroused resistance in the provinces. This growing discontent was reflected in the continuing opposition of partisans of [[José Miguel Carrera|Carrera]], who was executed by the Argentine regime in Mendoza in 1821, as were his two brothers three years earlier.

Although opposed by many liberals, O'Higgins angered the Roman Catholic Church with his liberal beliefs. He maintained Catholicism's status as the official state religion but tried to curb the church's political powers and to encourage religious tolerance as a means of attracting Protestant immigrants and traders. Like the church, the landed aristocracy felt threatened by O'Higgins, resenting his attempts to eliminate noble titles and, more important, to eliminate entailed estates.

O'Higgins's opponents also disapproved of his diversion of Chilean resources to aid San Martín's liberation of Peru. O'Higgins insisted on supporting that campaign because he realized that Chilean independence would not be secure until the Spaniards were routed from the Andean core of the empire. However, amid mounting discontent, troops from the northern and southern provinces forced O'Higgins to resign. Embittered, O'Higgins departed for Peru, where he died in 1842.

After O'Higgins went into exile in 1823, civil conflict continued, focusing mainly on the issues of anticlericalism and regionalism. Presidents and constitutions rose and fell quickly in the 1820s. The civil struggle's harmful effects on the economy, and particularly on exports, prompted conservatives to seize national control in 1830.

In the minds of most members of the Chilean elite, the bloodshed and chaos of the late 1820s were attributable to the shortcomings of liberalism and federalism, which had been dominant over conservatism for most of the period. The political camp became divided by supporters of [[Bernardo O'Higgins|O'Higgins]], [[José Miguel Carrera|Carrera]], liberal [[Pipiolos]] and conservative [[Pelucones]], the two last being the main movements that prevailed and absorbed the rest. The abolition of slavery in 1823—long before most other countries in the Americas—was considered one of the Pipiolos' few lasting achievements. One Pipiolo leader from the south, [[Ramón Freire]], rode in and out of the presidency several times (1823–1827, 1828, 1829, 1830) but could not sustain his authority. From May 1827 to September 1831, with the exception of brief interventions by Freire, the presidency was occupied by [[Francisco Antonio Pinto]], Freire's former vice president.

In August 1828, Pinto's first year in office, Chile abandoned its short-lived federalist system for a [[unitary state|unitary]] form of government, with separate legislative, executive, and judicial branches. By adopting a moderately liberal constitution in 1828, Pinto alienated both the federalists and the liberal factions. He also angered the old aristocracy by abolishing estates inherited by primogeniture (mayorazgo) and caused a public uproar with his [[anticlericalism]]. After the defeat of his liberal army at the Battle of Lircay on April 17, 1830, Freire, like O'Higgins, went into exile in Peru.

===Conservative Era (1830–1861)===
{{Main|Conservative Republic}}
[[File:DPortales.JPG|thumb|upright|[[Diego Portales]]]]
Although never president, [[Diego Portales]] dominated Chilean politics from the cabinet and behind the scenes from 1830 to 1837. He installed the "autocratic republic", which centralized authority in the national government. His political program enjoyed support from merchants, large landowners, foreign capitalists, the church, and the military. Political and economic stability reinforced each other, as Portales encouraged economic growth through free trade and put government finances in order. Portales was an agnostic who said that he believed in the clergy but not in God. He realized the importance of the Roman Catholic Church as a bastion of loyalty, legitimacy, social control and stability, as had been the case in the colonial period. He repealed Liberal reforms that had threatened church privileges and properties.

The "Portalian State" was institutionalized by the [[Chilean Constitution of 1833]]. One of the most durable charters ever devised in Latin America, the Portalian constitution lasted until 1925. The constitution concentrated authority in the national government, more precisely, in the hands of the president, who was elected by a tiny minority. The chief executive could serve two consecutive five-year terms and then pick a successor. Although the Congress had significant budgetary powers, it was overshadowed by the president, who appointed provincial officials. The constitution also created an independent judiciary, guaranteed inheritance of estates by primogeniture, and installed Catholicism as the state religion. In short, it established an autocratic system under a republican veneer.

Portales also achieved his objectives by wielding dictatorial powers, censoring the press, and [[electoral fraud|manipulating elections]]. For the next forty years, Chile's armed forces would be distracted from meddling in politics by skirmishes and defensive operations on the [[La Frontera, Chile|southern frontier]], although some units got embroiled in domestic conflicts in [[Revolution of 1851|1851]] and 1859.

The Portalian president was General [[Joaquín Prieto]], who served two terms (1831–1836, 1836–1841). President Prieto had four main accomplishments: implementation of the 1833 constitution, stabilization of government finances, defeat of provincial challenges to central authority, and victory over the Peru-Bolivia Confederation. During the presidencies of Prieto and his two successors, Chile modernized through the construction of ports, railroads, and telegraph lines, some built by United States entrepreneur William Wheelwright. These innovations facilitated the export-import trade as well as domestic commerce.

[[File:Una chingana - Chile.jpg|thumb|[[Fiestas Patrias (Chile)|Fiestas Patrias of Chile]], 1854]]
Prieto and his adviser, Portales, feared the efforts of Bolivian general [[Andrés de Santa Cruz]] to unite with Peru against Chile. These qualms exacerbated animosities toward Peru dating from the colonial period, now intensified by disputes over customs duties and loans. Chile also wanted to become the dominant South American military and commercial power along the Pacific. Santa Cruz united Peru and Bolivia in the [[Peru–Bolivian Confederation]] in 1836 with a desire to expand control over Argentina and Chile. Portales got Congress to declare war on the Confederation. Portales was killed by traitors in 1837. The general [[Manuel Bulnes]] defeated the Confederation in the [[Battle of Yungay]] in 1839.

After his success Bulnes was elected president in 1841. He served two terms (1841–1846, 1846–1851). His administration concentrated on the occupation of the territory, especially [[Chilean colonization of the Strait of Magellan|the Strait of Magellan]] and the [[Araucanía (historic region)|Araucanía]]. The Venezuelan [[Andrés Bello|Andres Bello]] made important intellectual advances in this period, most notably the creation of the [[University of Santiago, Chile|University of Santiago]]. But political tensions, including a liberal rebellion, led to the [[1851 Chilean Revolution|Chilean Civil War of 1851]]. In the end the conservatives defeated the liberals.

The last conservative president was [[Manuel Montt]], who also served two terms (1851–1856, 1856–1861), but his poor administration led to the liberal rebellion in 1859. Liberals triumphed in 1861 with the election of [[José Joaquín Perez|Jose Joaquin Perez]] as president.

[[File:Borders Chile 1879 and 2006.png|thumb|upright|Map showing changes of territory due to the [[War of the Pacific]]]]

===Liberal era (1861–1891)===
{{Main|Liberal Republic}}
The political revolt brought little social change, however, and 19th century Chilean society preserved the essence of the stratified colonial social structure, which was greatly influenced by family politics and the [[Roman Catholic Church]]. A strong presidency eventually emerged, but wealthy landowners remained powerful.<ref name="USDoS">{{Cite web
| url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/1981.htm
| title=Background Note: Chile
| work=[[United States Department of State]], Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, January 2008
| access-date=2019-05-23
| archive-date=2017-01-21
| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170121153101/https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/1981.htm
| url-status=live
}}</ref>

[[File:Territorial losses of the Republic of Chile de jure.svg|300px|thumb|Territorial losses of the Republic of Chile de jure (by law) according to Chilean historiography.]]
Toward the end of the 19th century, the government in Santiago consolidated its position in the south by persistently suppressing the [[Mapuche]] during the [[Occupation of the Araucanía]]. In 1881, it signed the [[Boundary Treaty of 1881 between Chile and Argentina]] confirming Chilean sovereignty over the [[Strait of Magellan]], but conceding all of oriental [[Patagonia]], and a considerable fraction of the territory it had during colonial times, ending the [[East Patagonia, Tierra del Fuego and Strait of Magellan dispute]]. As a result of the [[War of the Pacific]] with [[Peru]] and [[Bolivia]] (1879–1883), Chile expanded its territory northward by almost one-third and acquired valuable [[nitrate]] deposits, the exploitation of which led to an era of national affluence.

In the 1870s, the church influence started to diminish slightly with the passing of several laws that took some old roles of the church into the State's hands such as the registry of births and marriages.

[[File:JoseManuelBalmaceda.JPG|thumb|upright|left|[[José Manuel Balmaceda]]]]
In 1886, [[José Manuel Balmaceda]] was elected president. His economic policies visibly changed the existing liberal policies. He began to violate the [[constitution]] and slowly began to establish a dictatorship. Congress decided to depose Balmaceda, who refused to step down. [[Jorge Montt]], among others, directed an armed conflict against Balmaceda, which soon extended into the [[1891 Chilean Civil War]]. Defeated, Balmaceda fled to Argentina's embassy, where he committed suicide. Jorge Montt became the new president.

==Parliamentary era (1891–1925)==
{{Main|History of Chile during the Parliamentary Era (1891–1925)}}
{{see also|Argentine–Chilean naval arms race|South American dreadnought race}}
The so-called Parliamentary Republic was not a true parliamentary system, in which the chief executive is elected by the legislature. It was, however, an unusual regime in presidentialist Latin America, for Congress really did overshadow the rather ceremonial office of the president and exerted authority over the chief executive's cabinet appointees. In turn, Congress was dominated by the landed elites. This was the heyday of classic political and economic liberalism.

[[File:Chile. Elección Presidencial de 1915.png|thumb|right|Picture of the 1915 presidential election in Chile]]
For many decades thereafter, historians derided the Parliamentary Republic as a quarrel-prone system that merely distributed spoils and clung to its laissez-faire policy while national problems mounted.<ref name="country-data.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-2410.html|title=Chile – PARLIAMENTARY REPUBLIC, 1891–1925|access-date=25 February 2015|archive-date=23 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923222549/http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-2410.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The characterization is epitomized by an observation made by President [[Ramón Barros Luco]] (1910–1915), reputedly made in reference to labor unrest: "There are only two kinds of problems: those that solve themselves and those that can't be solved."

At the mercy of Congress, cabinets came and went frequently, although there was more stability and continuity in public administration than some historians have suggested. Chile also temporarily resolved its border disputes with Argentina with the [[Puna de Atacama Lawsuit]] of 1899, the [[Boundary treaty of 1881 between Chile and Argentina]] and the [[1902 Arbitral award of the Andes between Argentina and Chile|1902 General Treaty of Arbitration]], though not without engaging in [[Argentine–Chilean naval arms race|an expensive naval arms race]] beforehand.

Political authority ran from local electoral bosses in the provinces through the congressional and executive branches, which reciprocated with payoffs from taxes on nitrate sales. Congressmen often won election by bribing voters in this clientelistic and corrupt system. Many politicians relied on intimidated or loyal peasant voters in the countryside, even though the population was becoming increasingly urban. The lackluster presidents and ineffectual administrations of the period did little to respond to the country's dependence on volatile nitrate exports, spiraling inflation, and massive urbanization.<ref name="country-data.com"/>

However, particularly when the authoritarian regime of Augusto Pinochet is taken into consideration, some scholars have in recent years reevaluated the Parliamentary Republic of 1891–1925.<ref name="country-data.com"/> Without denying its shortcomings, they have lauded its democratic stability. They have also hailed its control of the armed forces, its respect for civil liberties, its expansion of suffrage and participation, and its gradual admission of new contenders, especially reformers, to the political arena. In particular, two young parties grew in importance – the Democrat Party, with roots among artisans and urban workers, and the [[Radical Party (Chile)|Radical Party]], representing urban middle sectors and provincial elites.

By the early 20th century, both parties were winning increasing numbers of seats in Congress. The more leftist members of the Democrat Party became involved in the leadership of labor unions and broke off to launch the [[Communist Party of Chile|Socialist Workers' Party]] ({{langx|es|Partido Obrero Socialista}} – POS) in 1912. The founder of the POS and its best-known leader, [[Luis Emilio Recabarren]], also founded the [[Communist Party of Chile]] ({{langx|es|Partido Comunista de Chile}} – PCCh) in 1922.

==Presidential era (1925–1973)==
{{Main|Presidential Republic (1925–1973)}}
[[File:Alessandri Ulk (1932).jpg|thumb|upright|[[Arturo Alessandri Palma]]]]
By the 1920s, the emerging middle and working classes were powerful enough to elect a reformist president, [[Arturo Alessandri Palma]]. Alessandri appealed to those who believed the social question should be addressed, to those worried by the decline in nitrate exports during World War I, and to those weary of presidents dominated by Congress. Promising "evolution to avoid revolution", he pioneered a new campaign style of appealing directly to the masses with florid oratory and charisma. After winning a seat in the Senate representing the mining north in 1915, he earned the sobriquet "Lion of Tarapacá."<ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite web|url=http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-2412.html|title=Chile – Arturo Alessandri's Reformist Presidency, 1920–25|access-date=25 February 2015|archive-date=23 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923222550/http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-2412.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

As a dissident Liberal running for the presidency, Alessandri attracted support from the more reformist Radicals and Democrats and formed the so-called Liberal Alliance. He received strong backing from the middle and working classes as well as from the provincial elites. Students and intellectuals also rallied to his banner. At the same time, he reassured the landowners that social reforms would be limited to the cities.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

Alessandri soon discovered that his efforts to lead would be blocked by the conservative Congress. Like Balmaceda, he infuriated the legislators by going over their heads to appeal to the voters in the congressional elections of 1924. His reform legislation was finally rammed through Congress under pressure from younger military officers, who were sick of the neglect of the armed forces, political infighting, social unrest, and galloping inflation, whose program was frustrated by a conservative congress.

A double military coup set off a period of great political instability that lasted until 1932. First military right-wingers opposing Alessandri seized power in September 1924, and then reformers in favor of the ousted president took charge in January 1925. The ''[[Saber noise]]'' (ruido de sables) incident of September 1924, provoked by discontent of young officers, mostly lieutenants from middle and working classes, lead to the establishment of the [[September Junta]] led by General [[Luis Altamirano]] and the exile of Alessandri.

However, fears of a conservative restoration in progressive sectors of the army led to [[1925 Chilean coup d'état|another coup in January]], which ended with the establishment of the [[January Junta]] as interim government while waiting for Alessandri's return. The latter group was led by two colonels, [[Carlos Ibáñez del Campo]] and [[Marmaduke Grove]]. They returned Alessandri to the presidency that March and enacted his promised reforms by decree. The latter re-assumed power in March, and a [[Chilean Constitution of 1925|new Constitution]] encapsulating his proposed reforms was ratified in a plebiscite in September 1925.

The new constitution gave increased powers to the presidency. Alessandri broke with the [[classical liberalism]]'s policies of ''[[laissez-faire]]'' by creating a [[Chilean Central Bank|Central Bank]] and imposing a [[revenue tax]]. However, social discontents were also crushed, leading to the [[Marusia massacre]] in March 1925 followed by the [[La Coruña massacre]].

The longest lasting of the ten governments between 1924 and 1932 was that of General Carlos Ibáñez, who briefly held power in 1925 and then again between 1927 and 1931 in what was a ''de facto'' dictatorship. When constitutional rule was restored in 1932, a strong middle-class party, the Radicals, emerged. It became the key force in coalition governments for the next 20 years.

The [[Seguro Obrero Massacre]] took place on September 5, 1938, in the midst of a heated three-way election campaign between the ultraconservative [[Gustavo Ross Santa María]], the radical [[Popular Front (Chile)|Popular Front]]'s [[Pedro Aguirre Cerda]], and the newly formed Popular Alliance candidate, [[Carlos Ibáñez del Campo]]. The [[National Socialist Movement of Chile]] supported Ibáñez's candidacy, which had been announced on September 4. In order to preempt Ross's victory, the National Socialists mounted a [[coup d'état]] that was intended to take down the rightwing government of [[Arturo Alessandri Palma]] and place Ibáñez in power.

During the period of [[Radical Party (Chile)|Radical Party]] dominance (1932–1952), the state increased its role in the economy. In 1952, voters returned Ibáñez to office for another 6 years. [[Jorge Alessandri]] succeeded Ibáñez in 1958.

The [[Chilean presidential election, 1964|1964 presidential election]] of [[Christian Democratic Party (Chile)|Christian Democrat]] [[Eduardo Frei Montalva]] by an [[Majority|absolute majority]] initiated a period of major reform. Under the slogan "Revolution in Liberty", the Frei administration embarked on far-reaching social and economic programs, particularly in education, housing, and [[Chilean land reform|agrarian reform]], including rural unionization of agricultural workers. By 1967, however, Frei encountered increasing opposition from leftists, who charged that his reforms were inadequate, and from conservatives, who found them excessive. At the end of his term, Frei had accomplished many noteworthy objectives, but he had not fully achieved his party's ambitious goals.

===Popular Unity years===
{{Further|Chile under Allende|Chilean nationalization of copper|United States intervention in Chile}}

[[File:Allende supporters.jpg|thumb|Marchers for [[Salvador Allende]]]]
In the [[Chilean presidential election, 1970|1970 presidential election]], Senator [[Salvador Allende Gossens]] won a [[Plurality (voting)|plurality]] of votes in a three-way contest. He was a [[Marxism|Marxist]] physician and member of Chile's [[Socialist Party of Chile|Socialist Party]], who headed the "[[Popular Unity (Chile)|Popular Unity]]" (UP or "Unidad Popular") coalition of the Socialist, Communist, Radical, and Social-Democratic Parties, along with dissident Christian Democrats, the [[Popular Unitary Action Movement]] (MAPU), and the Independent Popular Action.

Allende had two main competitors in the election — [[Radomiro Tomic]], representing the incumbent Christian Democratic party, who ran a left-wing campaign with much the same theme as Allende's, and the right-wing former president [[Jorge Alessandri]]. In the end, Allende received a plurality of the votes cast, getting 36% of the vote against Alessandri's 35% and Tomic's 28%.

Despite pressure from the government of the United States,<ref name=CIA>{{cite web|url=http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/news/20001113/|title=Chile: 16,000 Secret Documents Declassified|year=2000|publisher=Chile Documentation Project, The National Security Archive|location=Washington, D.C.|access-date=2005-03-21|archive-date=2015-03-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150302100750/http://www2.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/news/20001113/|url-status=live}}</ref> the [[National Congress of Chile|Chilean Congress]], keeping with tradition, conducted a runoff vote between the leading candidates, Allende and former president [[Jorge Alessandri]]. This procedure had previously been a near-formality, yet became quite fraught in 1970. After assurances of legality on Allende's part, the murder of the Army Commander-in-Chief, General [[René Schneider]] and Frei's refusal to form an alliance with Alessandri to oppose Allende – on the grounds that the Christian Democrats were a workers' party and could not make common cause with the oligarchs – Allende was chosen by a vote of 153 to 35.

The Popular Unity platform included the nationalization of U.S. interests in Chile's major [[copper]] mines, the advancement of workers' rights, deepening of the [[Chilean land reform]], reorganization of the national economy into socialized, mixed, and private sectors, a foreign policy of "international solidarity" and national independence and a new institutional order (the "people's state" or "poder popular"), including the institution of a unicameral congress. Immediately after the election, the United States expressed its disapproval and raised a number of economic sanctions against Chile.<ref name="CIA"/>

In addition, the [[CIA]]'s website reports that the agency aided three different Chilean opposition groups during that time period and "sought to instigate a coup to prevent Allende from taking office".<ref name="CIA"/> The action plans to prevent Allende from coming to power were known as Track I and [[Project FUBELT|Track II]].

In the first year of Allende's term, the short-term economic results of Economics Minister [[Pedro Vuskovic]]'s [[Vuskovic plan|expansive monetary policy]] were unambiguously favorable: 12% industrial growth and an 8.6% increase in [[Gross domestic product|GDP]], accompanied by major declines in inflation (down from 34.9% to 22.1%) and unemployment (down to 3.8%). Allende adopted measures including price freezes, wage increases, and tax reforms, which had the effect of increasing consumer spending and redistributing income downward. Joint public-private [[public works]] projects helped reduce unemployment. Much of the banking sector was [[Nationalization|nationalized]]. Many enterprises within the copper, [[coal]], [[iron]], [[nitrate]], and [[steel]] industries were [[Nationalization|expropriated]], nationalized, or subjected to state intervention. Industrial output increased sharply and [[unemployment]] fell during the administration's first year. However, these results were not sustainable and in 1972 the Chilean ''escudo'' had runaway [[inflation]] of 140%. An [[economic depression]] that had begun in 1967 peaked in 1972, exacerbated by [[capital flight]], plummeting private investment, and withdrawal of bank deposits in response to Allende's socialist program. Production fell and unemployment rose. The combination of inflation and government-mandated price-fixing led to the rise of [[black market]]s in rice, beans, sugar, and flour, and a "disappearance" of such basic commodities from supermarket shelves.<ref>http://www.glamorama.cl/medio/articulo/0,0,38035857_178048856_151840537,00.html {{Dead link|date=January 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

Recognizing that U.S. intelligence forces were trying to destabilize his presidency through a variety of methods, the KGB offered financial assistance to the first democratically elected Marxist president.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Siegel|first1=Robert|title=The KGB in the Third World|website=NPR.org|date=6 October 2005 |publisher=NPR|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4948068|access-date=October 6, 2005|archive-date=December 9, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171209044144/https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4948068|url-status=live}}</ref> However, the reason behind the U.S. covert actions against Allende concerned not the spread of Marxism but fear over losing control of its investments. "By 1968, 20 percent of total U.S. foreign investment was tied up in Latin America...Mining companies had invested $1 billion over the previous fifty years in Chile's copper mining industry – the largest in the world – but they had sent $7.2 billion home."<ref>{{cite news|title=A Draconian Cure for Chile's Economic Ills?|date=January 12, 1976 |agency=BusinessWeek}}</ref> Part of the CIA's program involved a propaganda campaign that portrayed Allende as a would-be Soviet dictator. In fact, however, "the U.S.'s own intelligence reports showed that Allende posed no threat to democracy."<ref>{{cite web|last1=Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Activities|title=Covert Action in Chile|url=https://www.archives.gov/declassification/iscap/pdf/2010-009-doc17.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.archives.gov/declassification/iscap/pdf/2010-009-doc17.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |website=archives.gov|access-date=17 February 2015}}</ref> Nevertheless, the [[Richard Nixon]] administration [[United States intervention in Chile|organized and inserted secret operatives]] in Chile, in order to quickly destabilize Allende's government.<ref>{{cite web|last=Kornbluh|first=Peter|url=http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB8/nsaebb8.htm|title=Chile and the United States: Declassified Documents Relating to the Military Coup, September 11, 1973|access-date=25 February 2015|archive-date=7 June 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060607195322/http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB8/nsaebb8.htm|url-status=live}}
*{{Cite web |url=https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB8/docs/doc01.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB8/docs/doc01.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |title=CIA, Report of CIA Chilean Task Force Activities, 15 September to 3 November 1970 |date=November 18, 1970 |access-date=2022-09-05 }}
*{{Cite web |url=https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB8/docs/doc27.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB8/docs/doc27.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |title=CIA, Cable Transmissions on Coup Plotting |date=October 18, 1970 |access-date=2022-09-05 }}
*{{Cite web |url=https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB8/docs/doc05.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB8/docs/doc05.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |title=CIA, Operating Guidance Cable on Coup Plotting |date=October 16, 1970 |access-date=2022-09-05 }}</ref>

In addition, Nixon gave instructions to make the Chilean economy scream,<ref name=Times>{{cite news |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article568154.ece |title=How 'weak' Allende was left out in the cold by the KGB |date=September 19, 2005 |newspaper=[[The Times]] |location=London, UK |access-date=April 10, 2009 |archive-date=January 23, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230123232904/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> and international financial pressure restricted economic credit to Chile. Simultaneously, the [[CIA]] funded opposition media, politicians, and organizations, helping to accelerate a campaign of domestic destabilization.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.derechos.org/nizkor/chile/doc/hinchey.html|title=Equipo Nizkor – CIA Activities in Chile – September 18, 2000.|access-date=25 February 2015|archive-date=13 May 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080513083911/http://www.derechos.org/nizkor/chile/doc/hinchey.html|url-status=live}}</ref> By 1972, the economic progress of Allende's first year had been reversed, and the economy was in crisis. Political polarization increased, and large mobilizations of both pro- and anti-government groups became frequent, often leading to clashes.

By 1973, Chilean society had grown highly polarized, between strong opponents and equally strong supporters of Salvador Allende and his government. Military actions and movements, separate from the civilian authority, began to manifest in the countryside. The [[Tanquetazo]] was a failed military coup d'état attempted against Allende in June 1973.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://foia.state.gov/Reports/HincheyReport.asp|title=CIA Activities in Chile|date=September 18, 2000|publisher=Hinchey Report|location=Washington, D.C.|access-date=April 12, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091020110606/http://foia.state.gov/Reports/HincheyReport.asp|archive-date=October 20, 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In its "[[Wikisource:Agreement of the Chamber of Deputies of Chile|Agreement]]", on August 22, 1973, the [[Chamber of Deputies of Chile]] asserted that Chilean democracy had broken down and called for "redirecting government activity", to restore constitutional rule. Less than a month later, on September 11, 1973, the Chilean military deposed Allende, who [[Death of Salvador Allende|shot himself in the head]] to avoid capture<ref name=Allende>{{cite news|url=http://www2.eluniversal.com.mx/pls/impreso/noticia.html?id_nota=164983&tabla=notas |title=Admite hija de Allende suicidio de su padre |date=August 17, 2003 |newspaper=[[El Universal (Mexico City)|El Universal]] |location=Mexico City, Mexico |language=es |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121014043246/http://www2.eluniversal.com.mx/pls/impreso/noticia.html?id_nota=164983&tabla=notas |archive-date=October 14, 2012 }}</ref> as the [[Palacio de La Moneda|Presidential Palace]] was surrounded and bombed. Subsequently, rather than restore governmental authority to the civilian legislature, [[Augusto Pinochet]] exploited his role as Commander of the Army to [[Chilean coup of 1973|seize total power]] and to establish himself at the head of a [[Military dictatorship|junta]].

[[CIA]] involvement in the coup is documented.<ref name="NSA-2000-9-19">Peter Kornbluh, [http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/news/20000919/ CIA Acknowledges Ties to Pinochet’s Repression Report to Congress Reveals U.S. Accountability in Chile] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061128142216/http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/news/20000919/ |date=2006-11-28 }}, Chile Documentation Project, National Security Archive, September 19, 2000. Accessed online November 26, 2006.</ref> As early as the [[Church Committee]] Report (1975), publicly available documents have indicated that the CIA attempted to prevent Allende from taking office after he was elected in 1970; the CIA itself released documents in 2000 acknowledging this and that Pinochet was one of their favored alternatives to take power.<ref>[http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB123/chile.htm The Kissinger Telcons: Kissinger Telcons on Chile] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070912025948/http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB123/chile.htm |date=2007-09-12 }}, National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 123, edited by Peter Kornbluh, posted May 26, 2004. This particular dialogue can be found at [http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB123/Box%2022,%20File%203,%20Telcon,%209-16-73%2011,50%20Mr.%20Kissinger-The%20Pres%202.pdf TELCON: September 16, 1973, 11:50 a.m. Kissinger Talking to Nixon] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061128094653/http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB123/Box%2022,%20File%203,%20Telcon,%209-16-73%2011,50%20Mr.%20Kissinger-The%20Pres%202.pdf |date=November 28, 2006 }}. Accessed online November 26, 2006.</ref>

According to the [[Vasili Mitrokhin]] and [[Christopher Andrew (historian)|Christopher Andrew]], the [[KGB]] and the Cuban [[Intelligence Directorate]] launched a campaign known as [[Operation TOUCAN (KGB)|Operation TOUCAN]].<ref name=Andrew>{{cite book |title=The World Was Going Our Way: The KGB and the Battle for the Third World|last=Andrew |first=Christopher|author-link=Christopher Andrew (historian)|author2=[[Vasili Mitrokhin]] |year=2005 |publisher=Basic Books |location=UK |isbn=0465003117 |pages=69–85 }}</ref><ref name="notworking"/> For instance, in 1976, the New York Times published 66 articles on human rights abuses in Chile and only 4 on Cambodia, where the communist [[Khmer Rouge]] killed some 1.5 million people of 7.5 million people in the country.<ref name="notworking">{{cite book|title=Not working|author=Alejandra Marchevsky, Jeanne Theoharis|date=10 April 2006|page=87|publisher=NYU Press |isbn=0-8147-5710-3}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=The Soviet struggle for Third World domination|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|date=January 15, 2006}}</ref>

==Military dictatorship (1973–1990)==
{{Further|1973 Chilean coup d'état|Chile under Pinochet}}

[[Image:Augusto Pinochet foto oficial.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Augusto Pinochet]]]]
By early 1973, [[inflation]] had risen 600% under Allende's presidency.''<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3uFAr6lhPxgC&q=chile+inflation+1973+800%25&pg=PA142|title=Latin America's Economy|isbn=9780262531252|access-date=25 February 2015|last1=Cardoso|first1=Eliana A.|last2=Helwege|first2=Ann|year=1995|publisher=MIT Press |archive-date=23 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230123232901/https://books.google.com/books?id=3uFAr6lhPxgC&q=chile+inflation+1973+800%25&pg=PA142|url-status=live}}</ref>'' The crippled economy was further battered by prolonged and sometimes simultaneous [[strike action|strikes]] by physicians, teachers, students, truck owners, copper workers, and the small business class. A [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|military coup]] overthrew Allende on September 11, 1973. As the armed forces bombarded the presidential palace ([[Palacio de La Moneda]]), Allende committed suicide.<ref>{{Cite book| first=Óscar|last=Soto|title=El Último dia de Salvador Allende}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|first=Eugenio|last=Ahumada|title=Chile: La memoria prohibida}}</ref> A military government, led by General [[Augusto Pinochet Ugarte]], took over control of the country.

The first years of the regime were marked by [[human rights violation]]s. The junta jailed, tortured, and executed thousands of Chileans. In October 1973, at least 72 people were murdered by the [[Caravan of Death]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/850932.stm|work=[[BBC News]]|title=Flashback: Caravan of Death|access-date=2008-05-02|date=July 25, 2000|archive-date=2008-02-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080226211503/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/850932.stm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2006/07/chile-high-court-allows-pinochet.php | title=JURIST &#124; School of Law &#124; University of Pittsburgh | access-date=2009-05-04 | archive-date=2009-05-08 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090508215435/http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2006/07/chile-high-court-allows-pinochet.php | url-status=live }}</ref><ref>[https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/63821.stm bbc.co.uk]  Pinochet's rule: Repression and economic success</ref> At least a thousand people were executed during the first six months of Pinochet in office, and at least two thousand more were killed during the next sixteen years, as reported by the [[Rettig Report]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.usip.org/library/tc/doc/reports/chile/chile_1993_toc.html |title=Chile: Reports: Truth Commissions: Library & Links: U.S. Institute of Peace |access-date=2009-05-04 |archive-date=2009-05-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090506012049/http://www.usip.org/library/tc/doc/reports/chile/chile_1993_toc.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1109861.stm |title=Finding Chile's disappeared |date=10 January 2001 |work=[[BBC News]] |location=London, UK |access-date=January 5, 2010 |archive-date=9 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181209171048/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1109861.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> At least 29,000 were imprisoned and tortured.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.elpais.com/solotexto/articulo.html?xref=20081203elpepudep_19&type=Tes|title=El campo de concentración de Pinochet cumple 70 años|date=12 April 2009|newspaper=[[El País]]|location=Madrid, Spain|access-date=10 April 2009|archive-date=29 July 2012|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120729172019/http://www.elpais.com/solotexto/articulo.html?xref=20081203elpepudep_19&type=Tes|url-status=live}}</ref> According to the Latin American Institute on Mental Health and Human Rights (ILAS), "situations of extreme trauma" affected about 200,000 persons.;<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.chipsites.com/derechos/dictadura_victimas_eng.html|title=chipsites.com|access-date=25 February 2015|archive-date=23 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923202904/http://www.chipsites.com/derechos/dictadura_victimas_eng.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/42a/132.html|title=Under the Dictatorship|access-date=25 February 2015|archive-date=25 February 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150225230611/http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/42a/132.html|url-status=live}}</ref> this figure includes individuals killed, tortured or exiled, and their immediate families. About 30,000 left the country.<ref>{{cite news |title=Chile torture victims win payout |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4050655.stm |work=BBC News |date=29 November 2004 }}</ref>

The four-man junta headed by General Augusto Pinochet abolished [[civil liberties]], dissolved the national congress, banned union activities, prohibited strikes and collective bargaining, and erased the Allende administration's agrarian and economic reforms.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Valdivia Ortiz de Zarate |first1=Veronica |title=Terrorism and Political Violence during the Pinochet Years: Chile, 1973-1989 |journal=Radical History Review |date=2003 |volume=85 |issue=1 |pages=182–190 |id={{Project MUSE|37744}} }}</ref>

The junta embarked on a radical program of [[liberalization]], [[deregulation]] and [[privatization]], slashing [[tariff]]s as well as government welfare programs and [[Government budget deficit|deficit]]s.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Petras |first1=James |last2=Vieux |first2=Steve |title=The Chilean 'Economic Miracle': An Empirical Critique |journal=Critical Sociology |date=July 1990 |volume=17 |issue=2 |pages=57–72 |id={{ProQuest|1308074192}} |doi=10.1177/089692059001700203 |s2cid=143590493 }}</ref> Economic reforms were drafted by a group of technocrats who became known as the [[Chicago Boys]] because many of them had been trained or influenced by [[University of Chicago]] professors. Under these new policies, the rate of inflation dropped:<ref>Robert G. Wesson: ''Politics, policies, and economic development in Latin America''. Hoover Press, 1984, {{ISBN|0-8179-8062-8}}, p. 5.</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
|- class="hintergrundfarbe5"
! style="width:10.5em;" style="text-align:left;" | Year
! style="width:4.5em;" | 1973
! style="width:4.5em;" | 1974
! style="width:4.5em;" | 1975
! style="width:4.5em;" | 1976
! style="width:4.5em;" | 1977
! style="width:4.5em;" | 1978
! style="width:4.5em;" | 1979
! style="width:4.5em;" | 1980
! style="width:4.5em;" | 1981
! style="width:4.5em;" | 1982
|-
| style="text-align: center;" style="text-align:left;" | Inflation (%)
| style="text-align: center;" | 508.1
| style="text-align: center;" | 376.0
| style="text-align: center;" | 340.0
| style="text-align: center;" | 174.0
| style="text-align: center;" | 63.5
| style="text-align: center;" | 30.3
| style="text-align: center;" | 38.9
| style="text-align: center;" | 31.2
| style="text-align: center;" | 9.5
| style="text-align: center;" | 20.7
|}
[[Image:Economic growth of Chile.PNG|thumb|upright=1.35|Chilean (orange) and average Latin American (blue) rates of growth of [[GDP]] (1971–2007)]]

A new [[Chilean Constitution of 1980|constitution]] was approved by [[plebiscite]] characterized by the absence of registration lists, on September 11, 1980, and General Pinochet became president of the republic for an 8-year term.<ref name="US Library of Congress">{{cite web|url=http://countrystudies.us/chile/88.htm|title=Country Study of Chile: Authoritarianism Defeated by Its Own Rules|date=March 31, 1994|publisher=US Library of Congress|location=Washington, D.C.|access-date=December 11, 2006|archive-date=August 5, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110805012310/http://countrystudies.us/chile/88.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1982–1983 Chile witnessed a [[Crisis of 1982|severe economic crisis]] with a surge in unemployment and a meltdown of the financial sector.<ref>Sebastián Edwards, Alejandra Cox Edwards: ''Monetarism and Liberalization: the Chilean Experiment.'' University of Chicago Press, 1991, S. xvii.</ref> 16 out of 50 financial institutions faced bankruptcy.<ref name="Fischer 329">{{cite book |doi=10.4159/9780674054264-010 |chapter=The Influence of Neoliberals in Chile before, during, and after Pinochet |title=The Road from Mont Pèlerin |date=2009 |last1=Fischer |first1=Karin |pages=305–346 [329] |isbn=978-0-674-05426-4 }}</ref> In 1982 the two biggest banks were [[Nationalization|nationalized]] to prevent an even worse [[credit crunch]]. In 1983 another five banks were nationalized and two banks had to be put under government supervision.<ref name="Fischer 329"/> The central bank took over foreign debts. Critics ridiculed the economic policy of the Chicago Boys as "Chicago way to socialism“.<ref>Robert G. Wesson: ''Politics, policies, and economic development in Latin America''. Hoover Press, 1984, {{ISBN|0-8179-8062-8}}, S. 8.</ref>

After the economic crisis, [[Hernán Büchi]] became Minister of Finance from 1985 to 1989, introducing a more pragmatic economic policy. He allowed the peso to float and reinstated restrictions on the movement of capital in and out of the country. He introduced [[Bank regulation]]s, simplified and reduced the corporate tax. Chile went ahead with privatizations, including public utilities plus the re-privatization of companies that had returned to the government during the 1982–1983 crisis. From 1984 to 1990, Chile's gross domestic product grew by an annual average of 5.9%, the fastest on the continent. Chile developed a good export economy, including the export of fruits and vegetables to the northern hemisphere when they were out of season, and commanded high prices.

The military junta began to change during the late 1970s. Due to problems with Pinochet, Leigh was expelled from the junta in 1978 and replaced by General [[Fernando Matthei]]. In the late 1980s, the government gradually permitted greater freedom of assembly, [[Freedom of speech|speech]], and association, to include trade union and political activity. Due to the [[Caso Degollados]] ("slit throats case"), in which three [[Chilean Communist Party|Communist party]] members were assassinated, [[César Mendoza]], member of the junta since 1973 and representants of the [[Carabineros de Chile|carabineros]], resigned in 1985 and was replaced by [[Rodolfo Stange]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Archives |first=L. A. Times |date=1985-08-04 |title=Chile Replaces Top Police Officer, Bolsters Security |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-08-04-mn-4340-story.html#:~:text=Gen.%20Rodolfo%20Stange,%2059,%20replaced%20Gen.%20Cesar%20Mendoza,%2066,%20as%20junta%20member%20and%20director%20of%20the%2030,000-man%20police%20force,%20considered%20a%20key%20element%20of%20Pinochet%E2%80%99s%20support. |access-date=2025-01-08 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref> The next year, [[Carmen Gloria Quintana]] was burnt alive in what became known as the [[Burnt Alive case|Caso Quemado]] ("Burnt Alive case").<ref>{{in lang|es}} http://www.cidh.oas.org/annualrep/87.88sp/Chile9755.htm {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100707163023/http://www.cidh.oas.org/annualrep/87.88sp/Chile9755.htm |date=2010-07-07 }}</ref>

Chile's [[Chilean Constitution of 1980|constitution]] established that in 1988 there would be another plebiscite in which the voters would accept or reject a single candidate proposed by the Military Junta. Pinochet was, as expected, the candidate proposed, but was denied a second 8-year term by 54.5% of the vote.<ref name="US Library of Congress"/>

==Transition to democracy (1990–)==
{{Main|Chilean transition to democracy}}
[[File:Celebración tras victoria del No en plebiscito de 1988 2.jpg|thumb|"No" supporters celebrate their victory in the [[1988 Chilean presidential referendum|1988 referendum]]]]
=== Aylwin, Frei, and Lagos ===
Chileans elected a new president and the majority of members of a two-chamber congress on December 14, 1989. Christian Democrat [[Patricio Aylwin]], the candidate of a coalition of 17 political parties called the ''[[Coalition of Parties for Democracy|Concertación]]'', received an absolute majority of votes (55%).<ref>{{cite news |last1=Christian |first1=Shirley |title=Man in the News: Patricio Aylwin; A Moderate Leads Chile |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/12/16/world/man-in-the-news-patricio-aylwin-a-moderate-leads-chile.html |work=The New York Times |date=16 December 1989 }}</ref> President Aylwin served from 1990 to 1994, in what was considered a transition period. In February 1991 Aylwin created the [[National Commission for Truth and Reconciliation]], which released in February 1991 the [[Rettig Report]] on human rights violations committed during the military rule.

This report counted 2,279 cases of "[[forced disappearance|disappearances]]" which could be proved and registered. Of course, the very nature of "disappearances" made such investigations very difficult. The same problem arose, several years later, with the [[Valech Report]], released in 2004 and which counted almost 30,000 victims of [[torture]], among testimonies from 35,000 persons.

In December 1993, Christian Democrat [[Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle]], the son of previous president [[Eduardo Frei Montalva]], led the Concertación coalition to victory with an absolute majority of votes (58%).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1P2-8257609.html|title=Chile elects new leader Late president's son wins big|access-date=2008-05-02|archive-date=2008-05-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080526090105/http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1P2-8257609.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Frei Ruiz-Tagle was succeeded in 2000 by Socialist [[Ricardo Lagos]], who won the presidency in an unprecedented [[runoff election]] against [[Joaquín Lavín]] of the rightist [[Alliance for Chile]],<ref>{{cite news|url=http://archives.cnn.com/2000/WORLD/americas/01/17/chile.elex.01/ |title=Moderate socialist Lagos wins Chilean presidential election |publisher=[[CNN]] |date=January 16, 2000 |access-date=2008-05-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080506162601/http://archives.cnn.com/2000/WORLD/americas/01/17/chile.elex.01/ |archive-date=May 6, 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref> by a very tight score of fewer than 200,000 votes (51,32%).

In 1998, Pinochet travelled to London for back surgery. But under orders of Spanish judge [[Baltasar Garzón]], he was [[Augusto Pinochet's arrest and trial|arrested there]], attracting worldwide attention, not only because of the history of Chile and South America, but also because this was one of the first arrests of a former president based on the [[universal jurisdiction]] principle. Pinochet tried to defend himself by referring to the [[State Immunity Act of 1978]], an argument rejected by the British justice. However, [[UK Home Secretary]] [[Jack Straw]] took the responsibility to release him on medical grounds, and refused to extradite him to Spain. Thereafter, Pinochet returned to Chile in March 2000. Upon descending the plane on his wheelchair, he stood up and saluted the cheering crowd of supporters, including an army band playing his favorite military march tunes, which was awaiting him at the airport in Santiago. President [[Ricardo Lagos]] later commented that the retired general's televised arrival had damaged the image of Chile, while thousands demonstrated against him.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/665342.stm|title=Thousands march against Pinochet|date=March 4, 2000|work=[[BBC News]]|location=London, UK|access-date=2008-05-02|archive-date=2004-05-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040526083212/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/665342.stm|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Bachelet and Piñera ===
[[File:Five Chilean presidents between 1990 and 2022.jpg|thumb|Five presidents of Chile since [[Chilean transition to democracy|Transition to democracy]] (1990–2022), celebrating the [[Bicentennial of Chile]]]]
The ''Concertación'' coalition has continued to dominate Chilean politics for last two decades. In January 2006 Chileans elected [[List of female Chilean presidential candidates|their first female president]], [[Michelle Bachelet]], of the Socialist Party.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna10819903|title=Chile elects first woman president|date=12 January 2006 |publisher=[[NBC News]]|access-date=2008-05-02|archive-date=2013-11-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131109023348/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/10819903/|url-status=live}}</ref> She was sworn in on March 11, 2006, extending the ''Concertación'' coalition governance for another four years.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/11/AR2006031101381.html|title=Bachelet Sworn In As Chile's President|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|access-date=2008-05-02|first=Monte|last=Reel|date=March 12, 2006|archive-date=2017-07-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170701225835/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/11/AR2006031101381.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2002 Chile signed an association agreement with the [[European Union]] (comprising a free trade agreement and political and cultural agreements), in 2003, an extensive free trade agreement with the United States, and in 2004 with [[South Korea]], expecting a boom in import and export of local produce and becoming a regional trade-hub. Continuing the coalition's free trade strategy, in August 2006 President Bachelet promulgated a [[free trade agreement]] with [[China]] (signed under the previous administration of Ricardo Lagos), the first Chinese free trade agreement with a Latin American nation; similar deals with Japan and India were promulgated in August 2007. In October 2006, Bachelet promulgated a multilateral trade deal with New Zealand, [[Singapore]] and [[Brunei]], the [[Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership]] (P4), also signed under Lagos' presidency. Regionally, she has signed bilateral free trade agreements with [[Panama]], [[Peru]] and [[Colombia]].

After 20 years, Chile went in a new direction with the win of center-right [[Sebastián Piñera]],<ref name="servel">{{Cite web |url=http://www.servel.cl/servel/Controls/Neochannels/Neo_CH397/Deploy/cronograma_2009.pdf |title=Cronograma Electoral |access-date=2013-03-14 |archive-date=2011-06-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110617112708/http://www.servel.cl/servel/Controls/Neochannels/Neo_CH397/Deploy/cronograma_2009.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=New Chilean President Sworn In, Faces Reconstruction Challenges |url=https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/mi/country-industry-forecasting.html?id=106594482 |work=www.spglobal.com |access-date=2022-11-29 |archive-date=2022-11-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221129124839/https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/mi/country-industry-forecasting.html?id=106594482 |url-status=live }}</ref> in the [[2009–10 Chilean presidential election|Chilean presidential election of 2009–2010]], defeating former President [[Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle|Eduardo Frei]] in the runoff.<ref>{{cite news |title=Billionaire wins Chile election |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8464136.stm |date=17 January 2010 |access-date=29 November 2022 |archive-date=29 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221129124840/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8464136.stm |url-status=live }}</ref>

On 27 February 2010, Chile was struck by an 8.8 M<sub>W</sub> [[2010 Chile earthquake|earthquake]], the fifth largest ever recorded at the time. More than 500 people died (most from the ensuing [[tsunami]]) and over a million people lost their homes. The earthquake was also followed by multiple aftershocks.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.australia-times.com.au/world/article.php?id=501|title=US ready to help Chile: Obama|publisher=The Australia Times|access-date=3 March 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110427081917/http://www.australia-times.com.au/world/article.php?id=501|archive-date=27 April 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref> Initial damage estimates were in the range of US$15–30 billion, around 10 to 15 percent of Chile's real gross domestic product.<ref>[http://www.contractmagazine.com/contract/content_display/design/news/e3i128fcc3d3e64156a013dfae605b73a5b More Quakes Shake Chile’s Infrastructure], Adam Figman, ''Contract Magazine'', 1 March 2010 {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141114030306/http://www.contractmagazine.com/contract/content_display/design/news/e3i128fcc3d3e64156a013dfae605b73a5b |date=November 14, 2014 }}</ref>

Chile achieved global recognition for the successful [[2010 Copiapó mining accident|rescue of 33 trapped miners]] in 2010. On 5 August 2010, the access tunnel collapsed at the San José copper and gold mine in the [[Atacama Desert]] near [[Copiapó]] in northern Chile, trapping 33 men {{convert|700|m}} below ground. A rescue effort organized by the Chilean government located the miners 17 days later. All 33 men were brought to the surface two months later on 13 October 2010 over a period of almost 24 hours, an effort that was carried on live television around the world.<ref name="usstatedep">{{cite web|url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/1981.htm|title=Background Note: Chile|work=[[Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs]], [[United States Department of State]]|date=16 December 2011|access-date=19 March 2012|archive-date=21 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170121153101/https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/1981.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

Despite good macroeconomic indicators, there was increased social  dissatisfaction, focused on demands for better and fairer education, culminating in  [[2011–13 Chilean student protests|massive protests]] demanding more democratic and equitable institutions. Approval of Piñera's administration fell irrevocably.

In 2013, Bachelet, a Social Democrat, was elected again as president,<ref>{{cite news |agency=Associated Press |title=Chile's once and future president, Michelle Bachelet, wins runoff election |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/15/chile-president-michelle-bachelet-wins-election |work=the Guardian |date=15 December 2013 |language=en |access-date=16 August 2022 |archive-date=16 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131216042904/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/15/chile-president-michelle-bachelet-wins-election |url-status=live }}</ref> seeking to make the structural changes claimed in recent years by the society relative to [[Education in Chile|education reform]], [[Economy of Chile|tributary reform]], [[Recognition of same-sex unions in Chile|same sex civil union]], and definitely end the [[Binomial System]], looking to further equality and the end of what remains of the dictatorship. In 2015 a series of corruption scandals (most notably [[Penta case]] and [[Caval case]]) became public, threatening the credibility of the political and business class.

On 17 December 2017, [[Sebastián Piñera]]<ref name="servel"/> was elected president of Chile for a second term. He received 36% of the votes, the highest percentage among all 8 candidates. In the second round, Piñera faced [[Alejandro Guillier]], a television news anchor who represented Bachelet's New Majority (Nueva Mayoría) coalition. Piñera won the elections with 54% of the votes.<ref>{{cite news |title=Sebastián Piñera wins Chile's presidential election |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/dec/17/chileans-cast-their-ballot-in-decisive-presidential-runoff |work=the Guardian |date=17 December 2017 |language=en |access-date=16 August 2022 |archive-date=16 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220816115833/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/dec/17/chileans-cast-their-ballot-in-decisive-presidential-runoff |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== ''Estallido Social'' and Constitutional Referendum ===
In October 2019 there were [[2019 Chilean protests|violent protests about costs of living and inequality]],<ref>{{cite news| url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/10/20/fire-kills-three-ransacked-chile-supermarket-protests-intensify/| title = Fire kills three in ransacked Chile supermarket as protests intensify| newspaper = The Telegraph| date = 20 October 2019| last1 = Larsson| first1 = Naomi| access-date = 20 October 2019| archive-date = 20 October 2019| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20191020150605/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/10/20/fire-kills-three-ransacked-chile-supermarket-protests-intensify/| url-status = live}}</ref> resulting in Piñera declaring a [[state of emergency]].<ref>{{cite news| url = https://www.reuters.com/article/us-chile-protests/chiles-pinera-extends-state-of-emergency-says-we-are-at-war-idUSKBN1WZ0EP| title = Reuters| website = [[Reuters]]| date = 20 October 2019| access-date = 23 October 2019| archive-date = 21 October 2019| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20191021130018/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-chile-protests/chiles-pinera-extends-state-of-emergency-says-we-are-at-war-idUSKBN1WZ0EP| url-status = live}}</ref> On 15 November, most of the political parties represented in the National Congress signed an agreement to call a [[2020 Chilean national referendum|national referendum]] in April 2020 regarding the creation of a new Constitution.<ref>{{cite news |title=One month on: Protests in Chile persist despite gov't concessions |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/11/month-protests-chile-persist-gov-concessions-191118231609475.html |work=Al Jazeera |date=19 November 2019 |author=Sandra Cuffe |access-date=10 March 2020 |archive-date=17 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200317120559/https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/11/month-protests-chile-persist-gov-concessions-191118231609475.html |url-status=live }}</ref> But the [[COVID-19 pandemic]] postponed the date of the elections, while Chile was one of the hardest hit nations in the Americas as of May 2020. On October 25, 2020, Chileans voted 78.28 per cent in favor of a [[2021 Chilean Constitutional Convention election|new constitution]], while 21.72 per cent rejected the change. Voter turnout was 51 per cent. A second vote was held on April 11, 2021, to select 155 Chileans who form the convention which will draft the new constitution.<ref name="npr927859270">{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2020/10/26/927859270/chile-celebrates-voters-decision-to-scrap-constitution-start-over|title=Chile celebrates decision to rewrite constitution|website=NPR|author=Bill Chappell|date=26 October 2020|access-date=27 October 2020|archive-date=12 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210212030345/https://www.npr.org/2020/10/26/927859270/chile-celebrates-voters-decision-to-scrap-constitution-start-over|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-54687090|title=Jubilation as Chile votes to rewrite constitution|date=26 October 2020|work=BBC|access-date=6 November 2020|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201102082639/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-54687090|archive-date=2 November 2020|url-status=live}}</ref>

On 19 December 2021, leftist candidate, the 35-year-old former student protest leader, [[Gabriel Boric]], won Chile's presidential [[2021 Chilean general election|election]] to become the country's youngest ever leader, after the most polarizing election since democracy was restored, defeating right wing pinochetist and leader of the [[Republican Party (Chile, 2019)|Chilean Republican Party]] [[José Antonio Kast]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Leftist Gabriel Boric to become Chile's youngest ever president |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-59715941 |work=BBC News |date=20 December 2021 |access-date=21 December 2021 |archive-date=20 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211220000309/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-59715941 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Montes|first=Federico Rivas Molina, Rocío|date=2021-11-19|title=Chile cierra la campaña de las elecciones más polarizadas de su historia|url=https://elpais.com/internacional/2021-11-19/chile-cierra-la-campana-de-las-elecciones-mas-polarizadas-de-su-historia.html|access-date=2021-12-24|website=El País|language=es|archive-date=2021-12-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211224203040/https://elpais.com/internacional/2021-11-19/chile-cierra-la-campana-de-las-elecciones-mas-polarizadas-de-su-historia.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The center-left and center-right political conglomerates alternating power during the last 32 years (ex-[[Concertación]] and [[Chile Vamos]]) ended up in fourth and fifth place of the presidential election.

=== Gabriel Boric presidency (2022- ) ===

On 11 March 2022,  Gabriel Boric was sworn in as president to succeed outgoing President Sebastian Pinera.<ref>{{cite news |title=Gabriel Boric, 36, sworn in as president to herald new era for Chile |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/11/gabriel-boric-chile-president-new-era |work=The Guardian |date=11 March 2022 |language=en |access-date=15 March 2022 |archive-date=12 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220312233147/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/11/gabriel-boric-chile-president-new-era |url-status=live }}</ref> Out of 24 members of Gabriel Boric's female-majority Cabinet, 14 are women.<ref>{{cite news |title=Chile's president-elect names progressive, majority-women cabinet |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/21/chile-gabriel-boric-cabinet-majority-women |work=The Guardian |date=21 January 2022 |language=en |access-date=15 March 2022 |archive-date=25 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220125135734/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/21/chile-gabriel-boric-cabinet-majority-women |url-status=live }}</ref>

On 4 September 2022, voters rejected overwhelmingly the [[2022 proposed Political Constitution of the Republic of Chile|new constitution]] in the [[2022 Chilean constitutional referendum|constitutional referendum]], which was put forward by the [[Constitutional Convention (Chile)|constitutional convention]] and strongly backed by President Boric.<ref>{{cite news |title=Chile constitution: Voters overwhelmingly reject radical change |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-62792025 |work=BBC News |date=5 September 2022 |access-date=14 September 2022 |archive-date=5 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220905063525/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-62792025 |url-status=live }}</ref> Prior to the dismissal of the proposed constitution the issue of constitutional [[plurinationalism]] was noted in polls as particularly divisive in Chile.<ref>{{Cite news |title=El debate sobre el reconocimiento del "Estado plurinacional" divide a los chilenos |url=https://elpais.com/chile/2022-08-31/la-plurinacionalidad-de-la-nueva-constitucion-no-genera-consenso-entre-los-chilenos.html |last=Montes |first=Rocío |date=2022-08-31 |access-date=2022-09-24 |work=[[El País]] |language=Spanish |archive-date=2022-09-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220923213400/https://elpais.com/chile/2022-08-31/la-plurinacionalidad-de-la-nueva-constitucion-no-genera-consenso-entre-los-chilenos.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In May 2023, the far-right Republican Party became first in Chilean Constitutional Council [[2023 Chilean Constitutional Council election|election]].The Republican party won 22 out of the 51 seats, with right-wing parties winning another 11 seats, in the assembly tasked with drawing up Chile's new constitution.<ref>{{cite news |title=Chile constitution: Far-right party biggest in new assembly |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-65524068 |date=8 May 2023}}</ref> In December 2023, Chilean voters rejected in a [[2023 Chilean constitutional referendum|referendum]] a proposed new constitution drafted by a conservative-led committee.<ref>{{cite news |title=Chile voters reject conservative constitution in second referendum |url=https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20231217-chile-voters-reject-conservative-constitution-to-replace-dictatorship-era-text |work=France 24 |date=17 December 2023 |language=en}}</ref>

==See also==
{{portal|Chile|Latin America}}
{{div col|colwidth=22em}}
*[[Arauco War]]
*[[Chincha Islands War]]
*[[COVID-19 pandemic in Chile]]
*[[Economic history of Chile]]
*[[List of presidents of Chile]]
*[[Miracle of Chile]]
*[[Occupation of the Araucanía]]
*[[Politics of Chile]]
*[[Timeline of Chilean history]]
*[[U.S. intervention in Chile]]
*[[War of the Confederation]]
*[[War of the Pacific]]
*[[Criollo people]]
*[[History of Peru]]
*[[Constitutional history of Chile]]{{div col end|2}}

'''General:'''
*[[History of the Americas]]
*[[History of Latin America]]
*[[History of South America]]
*[[Spanish colonization of the Americas]]
*[[History of Easter Island]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==

===In English===
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
* {{EB1911|wstitle=Chile|volume=6|pages=142–160}} (See pp.&nbsp;153–160.)
*{{cite book |last=Andrew |first=Christopher |author-link=Christopher Andrew (historian) |author2=[[Vasili Mitrokhin]] |title=The World Was Going Our Way: The KGB and the Battle for the Third World |year=2005 |publisher=Basic Books |location=UK |isbn=0-465-00311-7}}
* Antezana-Pernet, Corinne. "Peace in the World and Democracy at Home: The Chilean Women's Movement in the 1940s" in ''Latin America in the 1940s'', [[David Rock (historian)|David Rock]], ed. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press 1994, pp.&nbsp;166–186.
* Bergquist, Charles W. ''Labor in Latin America: Comparative Essays on Chile, Argentina, Venezuela, and Colombia''. Stanford: Stanford University Press 1986.
* [[Robert N. Burr|Burr, Robert N.]] ''By Reason or Force: Chile and the Balancing Power of South America 1830–1905''. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press 1965.
*Collier, Simon. ''Ideas and Politics of Chilean Independence, 1808–1833''. New York: Cambridge University Press 1967.
*{{cite book |last=Collier |first=Simon |author2=William F. Sater |title=A History of Chile: 1808–1994 |year=1994 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, UK}}
*{{cite book |last=Crow |first=John A |title=The Epic of Latin America |url=https://archive.org/details/epicoflatinameri00crow |url-access=registration |edition=4th |year=1992 |publisher=University of California Press |location=New York |pages=[https://archive.org/details/epicoflatinameri00crow/page/331 331–333]}}
*{{Cite web |url=http://www.xs4all.nl/~rehue/art/far1.html |title=An overview of the Mapuche and Aztec military response to the Spanish Conquest |access-date=15 October 2008 |last=Cruz Farias |first=Eduardo |year=2002 |archive-date=6 April 2004 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040406194106/http://www.xs4all.nl/~rehue/art/far1.html |url-status=dead}}
* Drake, Paul. ''Socialism and Populism in Chile, 1932–1952''. Urbana: University of Illinois Press 1978.
* Drake, Paul. "International Crises and Popular Movements in Latin America: Chile and Peru from the Great Depression to the Cold War," in ''Latin America in the 1940s'', [[David Rock (historian)|David Rock]], ed. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press 1994, 109–140.
*{{cite book |last=Drake |first=Paul |title=Chile: A Country Study |year=1994 |publisher=Library of Congress |location=Washington, D.C. |display-authors=etal}}
*{{cite book |last=Faundez |first=Julio |title=Marxism and democracy in Chile: From 1932 to the fall of Allende |year=1988 |publisher=Yale University Press |location=New Haven, Connecticut}}
* Harvey, Robert. "Liberators: Latin America`s Struggle For Independence, 1810–1830". John Murray, London (2000). {{ISBN|0-7195-5566-3}}
*{{cite book |last=Kaufman |first=Edy |title=Crisis in Allende's Chile: New Perspectives |year=1988 |publisher=Praeger Publishers |location=New York}}
* Klubock, Thomas. ''La Frontera: Forests and Ecological Conflict in Chile's Frontier Territory''. Durham: Duke University Press 2014.
*{{cite book |last=Korth |first=Eugene E |title=Spanish Policy in Colonial Chile: the Struggle for Social Justice, 1535–1700 |year=1968 |publisher=Stanford University Press |location=Stanford, California}}
*{{cite book |last=Lovemen |first=Brian |title=Chile: The Legacy of Hispanic Capitalism |edition=3rd |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford, UK}}
* Mallon, Florencia. ''Courage Tastes of Blood: The Mapuche Community of Nicolás Ailío and the Chilean State, 1906–2001''. Durham: Duke University Press 2005.
* Pike, Frederick B. ''Chile and the United States, 1880–1962: The Emergence of Chile's Social Crisis and challenge to United States Diplomacy''. University of Notre Dame Press 1963. 
*{{cite book |last=Prago |first=Albert |title=The Revolutions in Spanish America |url=https://archive.org/details/revolutionsinspa00prag |url-access=registration |year=1970 |publisher=The Macmillan Company |location=New York}}
*{{cite book |last=Rector |first=John L |title=The History of Chile |year=2005 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |location=US}}
* Stern, Steve J. ''Battling for Hearts and Minds: Memory Struggles in Pinochet's Chile, 1973–1988''. Durham: Duke University Press 2006.
*{{cite book |last=Whelan |first=James |title=Out of the Ashes: The Life, Death and Transfiguration of Democracy in Chile |year=1989 |publisher=Regnery Gateway |location=Washington, D.C.}}
{{div col end|2}}

===In Spanish===
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
*{{cite book |last=Amunátegui |first=Miguel Luis |author-link=Miguel Luis Amunátegui |title=Descubrimiento i conquista de Chile |url=http://www.memoriachilena.cl/archivos2/pdfs/MC0008747.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.memoriachilena.cl/archivos2/pdfs/MC0008747.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |year=1913 |publisher=Imprenta, Litografía i Encuadernación Barcelona |location=Santiago, Chile |language=es |pages=550 }}
*{{cite book |last=Barros Arana |first=Diego |author-link=Diego Barros Arana |title=Historia Jeneral de la Independencia de Chile |volume=I-IV |year=1855 |publisher=Imprenta del Ferrocarril |location=Santiago, Chile |language=es }}
*{{cite book |last=Barros Arana |first=Diego |author-link=Diego Barros Arana |title=Historia Jeneral de Chile |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lSsOAAAAQAAJ |volume=I-XVI |year=1884–1902 |publisher=Rafael Jover |location=Santiago, Chile |isbn=9780598482334 |language=es }}
*{{cite book |last=Bulnes |first=Gonzalo |author-link=Gonzalo Bulnes |title=La Guerra del Pacífico |edition=5th |year=1955 |publisher=Editorial del Pacífico |location=Santiago, Chile |language=es }}
*{{cite book |last=Carvallo y Goyeneche |first=Vicente |author-link=Vicente Carvallo y Goyeneche |editor=Miguel Luis Amunategui |title=Descripción Histórica y Geografía del Reino de Chile Vol. I (1542–1626) |url=http://www.memoriachilena.cl/temas/documento_detalle.asp?id=MC0008928 |edition=Instituto Chileno de Cultura Hispánica, Academia Chilena de la Historia |series=Coleccion de historiadores de Chile y documentos relativos a la historia nacional |volume=VIII |year=1875 |publisher=Imprenta de La Estrella de Chile |location=Santiago, Chile |language=es }}
*{{cite book |last=Carvallo y Goyeneche |first=Vicente |author-link=Vicente Carvallo y Goyeneche |editor=Miguel Luis Amunategui |title=Descripción Histórica y Geografía del Reino de Chile Vol. II (1626–1787) |url=http://www.memoriachilena.cl/temas/documento_detalle.asp?id=MC0008929 |edition=Instituto Chileno de Cultura Hispánica, Academia Chilena de la Historia |series=Coleccion de historiadores de Chile y documentos relativos a la historia nacional |volume=IX |year=1875 |publisher=Imprenta de La Estrella de Chile |location=Santiago, Chile |language=es |pages=483 }}
*{{cite book |last=Carvallo y Goyeneche |first=Vicente |author-link=Vicente Carvallo y Goyeneche |editor=Miguel Luis Amunategui |title=Descripción Histórica y Geografía del Reino de Chile Vol. III |url=http://www.memoriachilena.cl/temas/documento_detalle.asp?id=MC0008930 |edition=Instituto Chileno de Cultura Hispánica, Academia Chilena de la Historia |series=Coleccion de historiadores de Chile y documentos relativos a la historia nacional |volume=X |year=1875 |publisher=Imprenta de La Estrella de Chile |location=Santiago, Chile |language=es }}
*{{cite book |last=Castedo |first=Leopoldo |title=Resumen de la Historia de Chile de Francisco Antonio Encina |volume=2 |year=1954 |publisher=Empresa Editora Zig-Zag |location=Santiago, Chile |language=es }}
*{{cite book |last=Córdoba y Figueroa |first=Pedro de |author-link=Pedro de Córdoba y Figueroa |title=Historia de Chile (1492–1717) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PFADAAAAMAAJ |edition=Instituto Chileno de Cultura Hispánica, Academia Chilena de la Historia |series=Coleccion de historiadores de Chile y documentos relativos a la historia nacional |volume=II |year=1862 |publisher=Imprenta del Ferrocarril |location=Santiago, Chile |language=es }}
*[[:es:Cronología de Chile|Cronología de Chile]] in the Spanish-language Wikipedia.
* Díaz, J.; Lüders. R. y Wagner, G. (2016). ''Chile 1810–2010. La República en Cifras. Historical Statistics.'' (Santiago: Ediciones Universidad Católica de Chile); a compendium of indicators, from macroeconomic aggregates to demographic trends and social policies, focused on economic and social history; [https://web.archive.org/web/20181118152019/http://ediciones.uc.cl/ediciones-uc-econom%C3%ADa-y-administraci%C3%B3n-republica-cifras-p-10205.html more information]; Data can be obtained from: [http://cliolab.economia.uc.cl/BD.html online]
*{{cite book |last=Encina |first=Francisco Antonio |author-link=Francisco Antonio Encina |title=Historia de Chile: desde la prehistoria hasta 1891 |volume=I-XX |year=1940–1952 |publisher=Editorial Nascimento |location=Santiago, Chile |language=es }}
*{{cite book |last=Ercilla |first=Alonso de |author-link=Alonso de Ercilla |others=Eswikisource |title=La Araucana |url=http://es.wikisource.org/wiki/La_Araucana |language=es }}
*{{cite book |last=Eyzaguirre |first=José Ignacio Víctor |title=Historia eclesiastica: Politica y literaria de Chile |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_C8C2FNNWaBEC_2 |year=1850 |publisher=Imprenta del Comercio |location=Valparaíso, Chile |language=es }}
*{{cite book |last=Gay |first=Claudio |author-link=Claudio Gay |title=Historia física y política de Chile (1564–1638) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YvAcAiOvTmUC |volume=II |year=1845 |publisher=En casa del autor |location=Paris, France |language=es }}
*{{cite book |last=Gay |first=Claudio |author-link=Claudio Gay |title=Historia física y política de Chile (1638–1716) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YkBOf69iIEgC |volume=III |year=1847 |publisher=En casa del autor |location=Paris, France |language=es }}
*{{cite book |last=Gay |first=Claudio |author-link=Claudio Gay |title=Historia física y política de Chile (1749–1808) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=33sd9vdoKZ4C |volume=IV |year=1848 |publisher=En casa del autor |location=Paris, France |language=es |pages=506 }}
*{{cite book |last=Gay |first=Claudio |author-link=Claudio Gay |title=Historia de la Independencia Chilena |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9pEOAAAAQAAJ |volume=I & II |year=1856 |publisher=Imprenta de E. Thunot y Cia. |location=Paris, France |language=es }}
*{{cite book |last=Gómez de Vidaurre |first=Felipe |author-link=Felipe Gomez de Vidaurre |editor=José Toribio Medina |title=Historia Geográfica, Natural y Civil del Reino de Chile Vol. II |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZlLx6KdkZ2oC |edition=Instituto Chileno de Cultura Hispánica, Academia Chilena de la Historia |series=Coleccion de historiadores de Chile y documentos relativos a la historia nacional |volume=XV |year=1889 |publisher=Imprenta Ercilla |location=Santiago, Chile |language=es }}
*{{cite book |last=Góngora Marmolejo |first=Alonso de |author-link=Alonso de Góngora Marmolejo |title=Historia de Todas las Cosas que han Acaecido en el Reino de Chile y de los que lo han gobernado (1536–1575) |url=http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/FichaObra.html?Ref=1102&portal=157 |series=Crónicas del Reino de Chile |year=1960 |publisher=Atlas |location=Madrid, Spain |language=es |pages=75–224 }}
*{{cite book |last=González Camus|first=Ignacio|title=El dia en que murio Allende |year=1988 |publisher=Instituto Chileno de Estudios Humanísticos (ICHEH) and Centro de Estudios Sociales (CESOC) |location=Santiago, Chile |language=es }}
*{{cite book |last=González de Nájera |first=Alonso |author-link=Alonso González de Nájera |title=Desengaño y reparo de la guerra del Reino de Chile |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OiJJAAAAMAAJ |series=Colección de Documentos Inéditos para la Historia de España |volume=XLVIII |year=1866 |publisher=Imprenta de la Viuda de Calero |location=Madrid, Spain |language=es |quote=History of Chile (1425–1655) |access-date=2013-09-18}}
*{{cite book |last=Herring |first=Hubert |title=A History of Latin America |url=https://archive.org/details/historyoflatinam00herr |url-access=registration |year=1968 |publisher=Alfred A Knopf |location=New York }}
*{{cite book |last=Jufré del Águila |first=Melchor |author-link=Melchor Jufré del Aguila |title=Compendio historial del Descubrimiento y Conquista del Reino de Chile |url=http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/servlet/SirveObras/bnc/12252742020148273321435/index.htm |edition=Universidad de Chile |year=1897 |publisher=Imprenta Cervantes |location=Santiago, Chile |language=es }}
*{{cite book |last=Karamessines |first=Thomas |title=Operation Guide for the Conspiration in Chile |url=http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB8/ch05-01.htm |year=1970 |publisher=United States National Security Council |location=Washington, D.C. |access-date=2009-04-12 |archive-date=2006-11-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061101133245/http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB8/ch05-01.htm |url-status=dead }}
*{{cite book |last=Mariño de Lobera |first=Pedro |author-link=Pedro Mariño de Lobera |editor=Fr. Bartolomé de Escobar |title=Crónica del Reino de Chile, escrita por el capitán Pedro Mariño de Lobera... reducido a nuevo método y estilo por el Padre Bartolomé de Escobar (1593) |url=http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/servlet/SirveObras/13582842323460728544424/index.htm |series=Crónicas del Reino de Chile |year=1960 |publisher=Atlas |location=Madrid, Spain |language=es |pages=227–562 }}
*{{cite book |last=Medina |first=José Toribio |author-link=José Toribio Medina |title=Diccionario Biográfico Colonial de Chile |url=http://www.memoriachilena.cl/archivos2/pdfs/MC0008968.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.memoriachilena.cl/archivos2/pdfs/MC0008968.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |year=1906 |publisher=Imprenta Elzeviriana |location=Santiago, Chile |language=es |pages=1,006 }}
*{{cite book |last=Pérez García |first=José |author-link=José Pérez García |editor=José Toribio Medina |title=Historia Natural, Militar, Civil y Sagrada del Reino de Chile (Vol. I) |url=http://www.memoriachilena.cl/archivos2/pdfs/MC0008926.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.memoriachilena.cl/archivos2/pdfs/MC0008926.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |edition=Instituto Chileno de Cultura Hispánica, Academia Chilena de la Historia |series=Coleccion de historiadores de Chile y documentos relativos a la historia nacional |volume=XXII |year=1900 |publisher=Imprenta Elzeviriana |location=Santiago, Chile |language=es }}
*{{cite book |last=Pérez García |first=José |author-link=José Pérez García |editor=José Toribio Medina |title=Historia Natural, Militar, Civil y Sagrada del Reino de Chile (Vol. II) |url=http://www.memoriachilena.cl/archivos2/pdfs/MC0008927.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.memoriachilena.cl/archivos2/pdfs/MC0008927.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |edition=Instituto Chileno de Cultura Hispánica, Academia Chilena de la Historia |series=Coleccion de historiadores de Chile y documentos relativos a la historia nacional |volume=XXIII |year=1900 |publisher=Imprenta Elzeviriana |location=Santiago, Chile |language=es }}
*{{cite book |last=Rosales |first=Diego de |author-link=Diego de Rosales |editor=Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna |title=Historia general de el Reyno de Chile: Flandes Indiano (1425–1553) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2SaDFre_Ez4C |volume=I |year=1877 |publisher=Imprenta i Libreria del Mercurio |location=Valparaíso, Chile |language=es }}
*{{cite book |last=Rosales |first=Diego de |author-link=Diego de Rosales |editor=Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna |title=Historia general de el Reyno de Chile: Flandes Indiano (1554–1625) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C34CAAAAYAAJ |volume=II |year=1878 |publisher=Imprenta i Libreria del Mercurio |location=Valparaíso, Chile |language=es }}
*{{cite book |last=Rosales |first=Diego de |author-link=Diego de Rosales |editor=Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna |title=Historia general de el Reyno de Chile: Flandes Indiano (1625–1655) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HhHbyQaRGnkC |volume=III |year=1878 |publisher=Imprenta i Libreria del Mercurio |location=Valparaíso, Chile |language=es }}
*{{Cite web |url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/1981.htm |title=Background Note: Chile |access-date= 16 January 2009|author=US State Department |language=es }}
*{{cite book |last=Vega |first=Garcilaso de la |author-link=Inca Garcilaso de la Vega |others=Eswikisource |title=Comentarios reales |url=http://es.wikisource.org/wiki/Comentarios_reales |year=1616 |language=es }}
*{{cite book |last=Valdivia |first=Pedro de |author-link=Pedro de Valdivia |title=Cartas |url=http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/FichaObra.html?Ref=1101 |series=Crónicas del Reino de Chile |year=1960 |publisher=Atlas |location=Madrid, Spain |language=es |pages=1–74 }}
*{{cite book |last=Vicuña Mackenna |first=Benjamín |author-link=Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna |title=Diego de Almagro |url=https://archive.org/details/diegodealmagroes00vicu |year=1889 |publisher=Imprenta Cervantes |location=Santiago, Chile |language=es |pages=[https://archive.org/details/diegodealmagroes00vicu/page/122 122] }}
*{{cite book |last=Vicuña Mackenna |first=Benjamín |author-link=Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna |title=La guerra a muerte: memoria sobre las últimas campañas de la Independencia de Chile (1819–1824) |url=https://archive.org/details/laguerramuerteme00vicu |year=1868 |publisher=Imprenta Nacional |location=Santiago, Chile |language=es |pages=[https://archive.org/details/laguerramuerteme00vicu/page/562 562] }}
*{{cite book|last=Vivar |first=Jerónimo de |author-link=Jerónimo de Vivar |title=Crónica y relación copiosa y verdadera de los reinos de Chile (1558) |url=http://www.artehistoria.jcyl.es/cronicas/contextos/11498.htm |year=1987 |publisher=ARTEHISTORIA REVISTA DIGITAL |location=Madrid, Spain |language=es |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080526101641/http://www.artehistoria.jcyl.es/cronicas/contextos/11498.htm |archive-date=2008-05-26 }}
*{{Cite web |url=http://vlib.iue.it/history/americas/Chile/ |title=WWW-VL: History: Chile |access-date=16 January 2009 |author=World Wide Web Virtual Library History Central Catalogue |language=es |archive-date=29 February 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080229093640/http://vlib.iue.it/history/americas/Chile/ |url-status=dead }}
{{div col end|2}}

==External links==
* {{cite web |url= http://lanic.utexas.edu/la/chile/#history |title= Chile: History |author= Latin American Network Information Center |publisher= University of Texas at Austin |location=USA }}
* [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/America/Chile/_Topics/history/_Texts/GALHOC/home.html History of Chile] (book by Chilean historian Luis Galdames)

{{History of South America}}
{{Chile topics}}

{{Navboxes
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[[Category:History of Chile| ]]