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Interesting Questions, Facts and Information
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 Interesting Questions, Facts, and Information
 Chile
| You are standing in the middle of a park. You see la Catedral de Santiago, the building of Santiago's Municipality, el correo central, and the building were the Parliament used to be. Where are you? | Santiago de Chile (choli) |
Plaza de Armas. Plaza de Armas is full of people, street artist, clowns, music... A really fun place to go.
| Which native mammal of Chile is the llama supposedly descended from? | 9 for 10 - Chile (minch) |
Guanaco. Llamas were domesticated around 4000 BC. The guanaco is smaller than the llama and is an endangered species.
| Which is the southernmost town in the world? | Viva Chile! (Juanito) |
Puerto Williams. Ushuaia, Argentina is recognized as the southernmost city in the world. Puerto Williams is further south, but because of its size, it is considered a town. Both Punta Arenas and Puerto Montt are cities further north.
| Which is the most important river in Santiago? | Santiago de Chile (choli) |
Mapocho. It crosses the city from the north-east to the south-west, and it is very contaminated.
| Which is Santiago's oldest subway station? | Santiago de Chile (choli) |
Estacion escuela militar. It is located in front of The Military school of Santiago.
| What is the northernmost region of Chile where you can find the cities of Arica and Iquique? | Viva Chile! (Juanito) |
Region de Tarapaca. Region Metropolitana is in central Chile where you will find Santiago. Region de Los Lagos and Region del Biobio are both further down south.
| What is the name of Neruda's house which is located in Santiago? | Santiago de Chile (choli) |
La Chascona. A very interesting house. Neruda used to fill his house with sea rocks, maps, and any other thing he collected. If you ever come to Santiago you have to see it.
| What is the approximate population of Chile? | All About Chile (sebastián.cl) |
16,000,000. The last census was in 2002.
| What is Chile's neighbour to the east? | 9 for 10 - Chile (minch) |
Argentina. Chile's length, 2,650 miles, is about ten times its average width! Most of this eastern border is with Argentina.
| What is Chile's highest mountain? | 9 for 10 - Chile (minch) |
Ojos del Salado. Ojos del Salado is on the Chile Argentina border. It rises to a height of 22,572 feet and is the second highest peak in the Andes.
Tortolas and Tupungato are also on the Chile Argentina border. Ostenso is in Antarctica.
| What is capital city of Chile? | All About Chile (sebastián.cl) |
Santiago. The official name is Santiago de Nueva Extremadura. Santiago was founded by Pedro de Valdivia, an Spanish conqueror
| What happened on Santiago in 1985? | Santiago de Chile (choli) |
A big earthquake. WE haven't had an earthquake since then. Which is pretty odd, because we usually have big earthquake every seven years.
| What does the San Cristobal Hill have on the peak? | Santiago de Chile (choli) |
A statue of La Virgen Inmaculada Concepcion. It has 56 ft tall, and it was made in France
| What desert is found in Chile's northwest? | 9 for 10 - Chile (minch) |
Atacama. The Atacama desert lies between the coastal mountains and the Andes. This extremely arid region is known for its mineral deposits, especially sodium nitrate used for fertilizers.
| What area is internationally known for its waves? It receives visitors from all around the world who show up to surf. The best beach for surfing is Punta de Lobos. | Viva Chile! (Juanito) |
Pichilemu. Antofagasta and Concepcion are cities in Chile. Rapa Nui is the native name for Easter Island. There is a lot of things other than surfing that can be done in Pichilemu such as horseback riding, kayaking, fishing and more!
| The trip to the North is about 24 hours and I take the night bus to Antofagasta. North of Copiapo the desert begins in earnest and its dull, dull, dull. So when in the middle of nowhere I suddenly see this man made structure I think I am looking at a mirage. What am I seeing? | Touring the North of Chile (triviapaul) |
A Giant Sculpted Hand. In 1992 a local artist had this bizarre idea of sculpting a 15 m (50 ft) hand in the desert about 50 km (30 mi) south of Antofagasta and calling it "El Mano del Desierto". The other options are equally bizarre things to find in the middle of a desert (which tells you something about my feelings towards Las Vegas).
| The southernmost tip of South America lies in Chile. What is its name? | 9 for 10 - Chile (minch) |
Cape Horn. The first European to sail round Cape Horn was a Dutchman. He named it after his home town of Hoorn. Storms, currents and icebergs make this a very dangerous area for sailors.
| The largest underground copper mine in the world is in the 6th region of Chile. Which mine is this? | Viva Chile! (Juanito) |
El Teniente. Chuquicamata is the largest open pit copper mine in the world. El Capitan is just Spanish for The Captain, and Codelco is Chile's largest copper mining corporation.
| The island Rapa Nui, famous for its enormous Moai stone carvings, is better known in English as what? | Viva Chile! (Juanito) |
Easter Island. Rapa Nui is the original name that Rapanui natives gave to Easter Island. The Rapanui currently make up 60% of the population of the island. Antofagasta and Temuco are both cities in Chile. Christmas Island is a territory of Australia.
| The flag of Chile is similar to another flag. Which? | All About Chile (sebastián.cl) |
Texas. The two flags are white, blue, and red and have a white star.
| The area around San Pedro is full of natural beauty but the most impressive site (personal opinion), Tatio, is a two hours drive over dirt roads away. For what is Tatio famous? | Touring the North of Chile (triviapaul) |
Geysers. There is actually a volcano called Tatio, but the name Tatio is synonymous with geysers (there are about 50,000 hits on "Tatio" but try to find one without the word "geyser" !). Huge Sand Dunes (sand boarding!) and Salt Caves are some of the attractions near San Pedro. Tatio is one of the few geyser fields in the world. There are only four: the most famous of course is Yellowstone, the others are on Kamchatka peninsula (Russia), New Zealand's North Island (some count the Iceland geysers as a fifth, the definition of a geyser field is more personal than scientific; whether its four or five, they are very very rare). Special about Tatio is that all geysers are concentrated in a very small area: only about 3x3 km (2x2 mi). The real stunner however is that the geysers are on a plateau at 4300 m (14000 ft)! The air is so thin just walking around will make you lose your breath and visitors should bring oxygen masks, just in case. For a nice list of geysers see www.johnstonsarchive.net/geysers/geyserct.html
| Tectonics 101: Our home planet (aka earth) is made of huge slabs, continent size. When they hit each other head on one slab goes up making the highest mountains, one slab goes down forming a deep sea trench and all kind of mayhem happens: earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions scourge the country. I have been talking about volcanoes and mountains already and though i didn't mention them until now, earthquakes are a daily nuisance to Chileans. Measuring 9.5 on the Richter scale, the strongest earthquake of the 20th century occurred in southern Chile in late May 1960, killing about 5,000. In the case of Chile the slab going up is South America, the slab going down is called the Nazca plate. The resulting mountains are the Andes, but what is the trench called? | Touring the North of Chile (triviapaul) |
Atacama Trench. Yes, after a desert, a salt lake and a region there is also a trench called Atacama. Another name for it is the very descriptive but even less imaginative name Peru-Chile Trench. Sigh* I love geography but sometimes I wish geographers would spend some time being creative. Actually I quite like the sound of Nazca Trench. Not only is Nazca a plate, but also an oceanic ridge. More importantly, the name comes from a place in the Peruvian desert where one Erich von Däniken would have us believe aliens have landed. Thats what I call imaginative. Humboldt was an 18th century German explorer who gave his name to the cold current flowing north along the coast. The deepest point is called Richards Deep and with -8065 m (-26460 ft) it is even lower than the mountains are high... amazing! www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Atacama-Trench
| On my way back to Santiago I stop at La Serena to chill. Founded in 1544 it's Chile's second oldest city. Situated only a couple of kilometers from the coast it is tied to the city of Coquimbo, connected/separated by 5km (3 mi) of beach where every summer vacation (February) hordes of Chileans, Argentines and Brazilians crowd the hotels which are empty the rest of the year. Doing some sightseeing in both cities I notice the differences in the twin cities: La Serena is an administrative center with Universities, Coquimbo is a harbor and industrial town. The twins are very different except for one feature which all Chilean cities seem to share. Which one? | Touring the North of Chile (triviapaul) |
A Central Square: the Plaza de Armas. Few cities have a statue of Simon Bolivar, many have an avenue where one can promenade, most have some kind of local market, but all, I repeat: ALL Chilean settlements, from village to metropolis have a central square and they are ALL called Plaza de Armas (I must be wrong on this but I have found NOT ONE village without a Plaza de Armas. If you find one please tell me!). For some reason the first necessity for city founders is a place where the soldiers can march. The square is then surrounded by a church, then the residence of the King's representative (governors palace etc), then a courthouse, then supplemented by the city hall, homes of dignitaries etc. There are lots of flags all over the country and on the Plaza de Armas there is often some kind of statue or monument celebrating the country and its heroes, but rarely of Bolivar, who liberated the north of the continent and never made it to Chile. Bolivars counterpart in the south is the Argentine San Martin, but the real Chilean hero is Bernardo O' Higgins; General Carreras is also a favourite and statues of these two locals pop up everywhere.
Many Cities have an avenue but only in Santiago is it called the Alameda. It is actually the old Spanish name but everybody still uses it; I can't blame them since the official name is "Avenida de Libertador General Bernardo O' Higgins". Many Cities also have a Mercado, but only in La Serena it is called "La Recova". It's a bit of a cross between a medieval Arab 'souk' and a modern American mall.
I'm flying home now, I hope you join me next year when I visit the south of Chile.
| Of what metal was Chile the world's leading producer at the beginning of the 21st century? | 9 for 10 - Chile (minch) |
copper. The mining of copper, iron and nitrates have always been important in Chile's economy.
| Let's start from the beginning: When was Santiago founded? | Santiago de Chile (choli) |
1541. It was founded by Pedro de Valdivia on February 12, 1541
| Its almost time to return to the south and I pass by Calama again. Close by is a small town with the name Chuquicamata (sometimes Chiquicamata). It is famous for being the world's largest open-pit mine. What is being mined here? | Touring the North of Chile (triviapaul) |
Copper. Copper for years has been the backbone of Chilean exports. In 1975 it still was responsible for more than 50% of exports. The economy has modernized and diversified considerably (wood products, wine, fruit) but copper is still the very important. Chilean mountain ranges are full of it; even in the desert copper minerals color the landscape a nice shade of green (I think the mineral is called Malachite). There is almost no iron to be found in Chile and though I'm not an earth science expert I guess it's quite ridiculous to mine natural gas from an open pit. I am not too sure about how to mine Nitrates but historically it has been very important. The area what is now El Norte Grande, being a desert, was economically totally uninteresting for the bordering countries Peru, Bolivia and Chile. This changed almost overnight when Nitrates became an important strategic resource and huge amounts of it were found in the Atacama desert. To make a complicated story short: in 1879 a war broke out between the three countries, Chile won, secured the area for itself (thus cutting Bolivia off from the sea) and Chile prospered for decades from the revenues.
| In which region of Chile is Santiago? | Santiago de Chile (choli) |
Region Metropolitana. Chile has 12 regions and the metropolitan region. This one is the only one that doesn't have a number.
For Chileans It is impossible to be wrong on this one.
| In which commune of Santiago would you be if you were in front of Los Dos Caracoles? | Santiago de Chile (choli) |
Providencia. Los Dos Caracoles is a mall that has the shape of two snails.
South America. Chile is on the Pacific coast, and stretches from Peru to the southern tip of the continent.
| In Calama I miss the last bus to my destination San Pedro, so I am stranded. Calama is the only sizable settlement on Chiles longest river. What is it called? | Touring the North of Chile (triviapaul) |
Loa. The Loa river is Chiles longest with an official length of 443.85 km (275.85 mi). This is quite a feat considering that Chile is no wider than 430 km (265 mi) anywhere. It only manages to do so because it describes a big "U". The Baker river is in the far south and is the largest river with a flow 870 m3/sec compared to Loa's measly 4! The Bio-Bio in central Chile is, by Chilean standards, also large and is a popular rafting destination. The Elqui river valley near La Serena is famous for production of Pisco, the national brandy (excellent stuff). Check www.dga.cl for more info on Chiles waters.
| In 1879 Chile went to war with two of its neighbours. The cause of the war was the ownership of areas where an important mineral was found. What is this mineral? | 9 for 10 - Chile (minch) |
nitrate . Bolivia and Peru fought for the control of the Atacama province, a region that was rich in nitrates. In 1884 Bolivia ceded this province to Chile.
 Frequently Asked Questions about Chile
- Where is the most famous wine production region in Chile? ( goto )
- What do the words con carne mean as in chile con carne? ( goto )
- Does the popular tasty food chili come from the nation of Chile? ( goto )
- Which of the Earth's crustal plates is subducted into the Peru-Chile deep sea trench? ( goto )
- What is the wine production region in Australia and Chile that comparale to Napa Valley in the US? ( goto )
- Which is the most correct spelling in English for this vegetable/spice: Chile, chili or chilli? ( goto )
- The driest place on earth was recorded at the meteorological station in Quillagua, Chile, which is located in what desert? ( goto )
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