Capital: Santiago (founded in 1542)
Population: 16.5 million (2007 estimate)
Official Language: Spanish
Currency: Chilean peso
Government: Stable presidential democracy
Current President: Sebastián Piñera, who assumed office in March 2010
Administrative divisions: 15 regions, 50 provinces, and 341 municipal governments
Religion: 80% Catholic
Literacy: 96%
Life expectancy: 78 yrs
Principal exports: copper, fish, fruit, wine, pulp & paper
Bordering nations: Peru, Bolivia, Argentina
Father of the nation: Bernardo O’Higgins, son of an Irish immigrant who led an army to claim a Republic for Chile from the Spanish in 1810.
Chilean flag:
