Santiago is the capital of Chile, a country in South America. It is Chile's largest metropolitan area. It is also the country's center of culture, business, and industry. Santiago lies on the Mapocho River at the foot of the Andes Mountains.
Its history, however, goes back to the days when small indigenous communities chose this fertile valley as a place to settle, attracted by the benevolent climate and wealth of natural resources.
Santiago has served as the capital city of Chile since colonial times. The city has a downtown core of 19th-century neoclassical architecture and winding side-streets featuring a mix of art deco, neo-gothic, and other styles.
A colony of Spain, Chile previously had been an audiencia of the Viceroyalty of Peru.
What is the old name for Santiago Chile?
Santiago del Nuevo Extremo
When Valdivia founded the city, he named it "Santiago del Nuevo Extremo" or "Nueva Extremadura," in reference to the territory he intended to colonize and his home region of Extremadura.
What does Santiago mean in English?
Saint James
Meaning:Saint James. A classical Spanish boy's name with plenty of panache, Santiago has been wildly fashionable throughout the Spanish-speaking world for centuries. It means “Saint James,” after the Saint James the Great, who is said to have visited and been buried in the Iberian Peninsula.
In accordance with Law 19.253, the Chilean State recognizes the Mapuche, , Rapanui, Atacameño or Likan Antai, Quechua, Colla, Chango, Diaguita, Kawésqar and Yagán as the main indigenous peoples of Chile.
Who were the first inhabitants of Chile?
The earliest periods of population in Chile are called Paleo-Indian and Archaic periods. Paleo-Indian Period (15,000 to 8,000 BC) In Monteverde, close to Puerto Montt, remains of small nomadic groups that lived in the area 12,500 years ago have been found.
What natives were in Chile?
There are 10 different Indigenous groups in Chile. The largest one is the Mapuche, followed by the Aymara, the Diaguita, the Lickanantay, and the Quechua peoples.
The Chileans are ethnically a mixture of Europeans and Indians. The first miscegenation occurred during the 16th and 17th centuries between the Indigenous tribes, including the Atacameños, Diaguitas, Picunches, Araucanians (Mapuches), Huilliches, Pehuenches, and Cuncos, and the conquistadores from Spain.
What was the indigenous genocide in Chile?
The Selk'nam genocide was the systematic extermination of the Selk'nam people, one of the four indigenous peoples of Tierra del Fuego archipelago, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Chile was conquered by the Inca Empire in the 1400s, then by the Spanish Empire in the 1500s. It gained independence in 1818.
About 5,000 Indigenous people were murdered in less than 50 years, with 100 survivors remaining, estimates indicate. For the Selk'nam, the 19th century in Chile was a time of terror, though one hears little about it. Until three weeks ago, the government officially ignored the story and the destiny of this people.Oct 3, 2023.
The Selk'nam, also known as the Onawo or Ona people, are an indigenous people in the Patagonian region of southern Argentina and Chile, including the Tierra del Fuego islands. They were one of the last native groups in South America to be encountered by migrant Europeans in the late 19th century.