Learn Spanish & Study Spanish In Chile

History of Chile

Prior to the Spanish conquest, Chile had many indigenous tribes occupying the lands of present day Chile. Each group established some form of territoriality. As the Incan Empire grew in Peru, it started to make influence and vie for the lands of present day Chile. They made great headway in the Northern parts of the country but were stopped by the Mapuche tribes that occupied the central and southern lands.

Pedro de Valdivia makes the most acclaim as the first conquistador to show interest in spreading Spanish colonialism into the deep reaches of Chile. Just after 1540, Vladivia was able to push his forces South from Peru and establish Santiago de Chile which is today’s Capital. The Mapuchians (Araucanians by the Spanish) continually struggled against the Spanish expansion on their lands. They were successful in keeping the colonists from taking all their land and kept their influence in the area.

The Spanish settlements that were established grew exponentially and by the middle of the 1700’s were around half a million people. The majority of Spanish and European inhabitants centered around Santiago. The Viceroy of Peru held the Northern Lands and the Mapuchians held on to much of the South.

In 1810 the people of Chile established independence in name only when Napolean’s  brother took over power in Spain. After many years of struggles against the Spanish to gain full independence from Spanish rule, an army under the lead of Bernardo O’Higgins wrested control from the Spanish Army to give full independence to the Country. By the end the 1800’s the established government of European ancestry firmed up its modern day borders through several incursions with the Mapuchians and its neighboring countries of Peru, Bolivia, and Argentina. This gave them entire control of the Pacific coast south of Peru.

 At this time the large land owners of the country gave their dominance to the countries government and proceedings. This led to unrest and eventually to a civil war against the dictator at the end of the century.
During the early 20th century, the government was in a transitional stage where the working class tried to make gains and have their voices heard. This lead to a new constitution in 1925 which led the way for social reforms and left leaning ideas playing influence in the development of the country. Conservatives still maintained power in many parts of the government.

In 1970 Allende a socialist candidate won the presidency through the popular vote but only by a smidgen. He quickly enacted sweeping reforms that nationalized much of the country’s means of production and re-distributed land. The conservatives were outraged and with the faltering economy on their side posed a coup in late 1973 that lead to the death of Allende and emergence of General Pinochet as the dictator of Chile for the next 16 years.

After the death of Pinochet, democratic elections were held once again and a candidate representing a coalition of socialist/democrat parties took control of the country. This coalition has remained in power to this day with the election of the socialist, Michelle Batchelet in recent times.

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