Recent searches
Search options
@opencage@en.osm.townIn this week's #geoweirdness thread we again explore the oddness of a specific country and what a country it is.
Today we bring you… Chile 
1/
2/ As you may have noticed, Chile is a tremendously long and thin country.
The Chilean mainland spans approximately 4,300 km from north to south and 180 km from east to west.
A fun site for comparing country sizes is https://www.thetruesize.com
which lets you drag country shapes around the globe.
3/ The sheer size of Chile from top to bottom means it spans much of the continent of South America and, so has several types of habitats and types of nature.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_Chile
The country contains:
- the highest volcano on Earth https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ojos_del_Salado
- the Atacama desert, one of the driest in the world https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atacama_Desert
- and the world-famous Patagonia region.
This map shows this diversity and plots the different types of vegetation found in Chile.
4/ Chile’s territory also includes several Pacific islands, the most famous of which is Easter Island.
Known as Rapa Nui by its indigenous Polynesian population, it’s internationally famous for the large monumental statues (moai) dotted around the island 
Annexed in 1888, this UNESCO World Heritage Site is one of the world’s remotest inhabited islands and has a population of nearly 8,000.
5/ Next, we have Chile's Juan Fernández Archipelago.
Located around 670km off the mainland, this island group consists of Robinson Crusoe Island, Alejandro Selkirk Island (Isla Más Afuera) and Santa Clara.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Fern%C3%A1ndez_Islands
Robinson Crusoe island was home to a marooned Scottish sailor from 1704 to 1709 which partially inspired Defoe's famous novel. The island, previously named "Más a Tierra" was renamed in 1966 to help attract more tourists.
6/ It’s not just offshore islands and diverse natural geography that make Chile geoweird, it also stands out regionally for its history full of territorial disputes and conflicts.
Before working through some key cases, we can share the following map, which provides an overview of Chilean territorial losses and disputes that have shaped its geography and borders.
7/ Let's start with the War of the Pacific (1879–1884), a conflict between Chile , Bolivia 
, and Peru 
over control of nitrate-rich coastal territories.
Chile emerged victorious, gaining Bolivia's entire coastline and leaving it landlocked. Despite losing its access to the sea, Bolivia still maintains a navy as a symbol of its unresolved maritime aspirations and the conflict's lasting impact on its national identity.
8/ This war led to several key border and territorial changes, including in/on the Puna de Atacama, a mineral-rich plateau in the Andes.
Following the War of the Pacific, Chile and Argentina 
eventually divided the disputed area in 1899.
9/ Moving towards their northern neighbour Peru , Chile has had several border and territorial disputes.
Some followed their respective Wars of Independence and the transformative period of the 1890-1900s, which reshaped the region overall, as discussed previously, but others lasted well into the 1970s, with flashpoints such as Pinochet’s Charaña Accords.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chara%C3%B1a_Accords
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilean%E2%80%93Peruvian_territorial_dispute#
10/ In addition to these land disputes, Chile and Peru have had maritime territorial disputes over a sea area spanning roughly 37,000 square km.
This turned into an international law case presented at the Hague 
in 2008 and saw Chile lose control over some of its formerly claimed territory.
Below are maps of the disputed area and the agreed upon boundary following the ruling.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilean%E2%80%93Peruvian_maritime_dispute
11/ Leaving the Pacific and turning to the Atlantic, we have the Beagle Conflict, a tense border dispute between Chile and Argentina that nearly led to war in 1978.
The conflict centered on the Picton, Lennox, and Nueva Islands in the Beagle Channel, a key waterway with access between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans alongside the Magellan Strait and Drake Passage.
In 1984, Argentina officially recognised these islands as Chilean territory.
12/ Finally, before we wrap up this thread, Chile is one of seven sovereign states with territorial claims in Antarctica 
Chile claims a part of West Antarctica and nearby islands and cover areas such as the South Shetland Islands.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilean_Antarctic_Territory
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territorial_claims_in_Antarctica#South_American_involvement
Below are maps of the different territorial claims and the highlighted area claimed by Chile.
Learn more in our Antarctica thread:
https://en.osm.town/@opencage/110130119187074162
13/ We hope you enjoyed our look at Chilean #geoweirdness
Thanks for reading and sharing 
. What did we miss?
We have many more threads about specific countries and regions, border disputes, geocoding, etc over on our blog: https://blog.opencagedata.com/geothreads
If you’re curious about this region, we’ll leave you with our threads about nearby
Argentina:
https://en.osm.town/@opencage/110599187621622687
and
Brazil:
https://en.osm.town/@opencage/109851103892999726
Until next time!
@opencage
Bolivian propaganda mural near the Peruvian border: "That which once was ours, one day will be again".
