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| Santiago de Chile | |||
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Santiago de Chile Location of Santiago commune in Greater Santiago |
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| Coordinates: | |||
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| Region | Santiago Metropolitan Region | ||
| Province | Santiago Province | ||
| Foundation | February 12 1541 | ||
| Government | |||
| - Mayor | Raúl Alcaíno Lihn | ||
| Area 1 | |||
| - City | 22.4 km² (8.6 sq mi) | ||
| - Urban | 641.4 km² (247.6 sq mi) | ||
| Elevation | 520 m (1,706 ft) | ||
| Population (2002)2 | |||
| - City | 200,792 | ||
| - Density | 8,464/km² (3,267/sq mi) | ||
| - Urban | 5,428,590 | ||
| - Metro | 6,402,552 | ||
| Time zone | Chile Time (CLT)Chile Time. World Time Zones .org. Retrieved on 2007-05-05. (UTC-4) | ||
| - Summer (DST) | Chile Summer Time (CLST)Chile Summer Time. World Time Zones .org. Retrieved on 2007-05-05. (UTC-3) | ||
| 1 City = Santiago Centro, Urban = Greater Santiago | |||
| Website: municipalidaddesantiago.cl | |||
Santiago (Spanish: Santiago de Chile (help·info)), is the capital of Chile, and the center of its largest conurbation (Greater Santiago). It is located in the country\'s central valley, at an elevation of 520 m (1,700 ft) AMSL. Although Santiago is the capital, legislative bodies meet in nearby Valparaíso.
Approximately two decades of uninterrupted economic growth have transformed Santiago into one of Latin America\'s most modern metropolitan areas, with extensive suburban development, dozens of shopping malls, and impressive high-rise architecture. The city also boasts some of Latin America\'s most modern transportation infrastructure, such as the growing Santiago Metro (the metropolitan underground train system) and the new Costanera Norte, a toll-based highway system that passes below downtown and connects the Eastern and Western extremes of the city in a 25-minute drive. Santiago is headquarters to many important companies and is a regional financial center.
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Municipality of Santiago
Throughout this article the term Santiago will normally refer to the Greater Santiago area; however, there are several other entities which bear the name of Santiago and need to be explained: The commune (comuna) of Santiago (sometimes referred to as Santiago Centro), is a subdivision of the Santiago Province, which is itself a subdivision of the Santiago Metropolitan Region. The commune is administered by the Santiago municipality (Municipalidad de Santiago), a separate legal entity with an elected mayor and council. It encompasses the oldest part of Greater Santiago —that enclosed by old rail lines— including downtown, and houses all major government infrastructure, including the government palace La Moneda. It has an area of 22.4 km² (9 sq mi) and a population of 200,792 (2002 census).
The Founding of Santiago by Pedro de Valdivia by Pedro Lira (1889).
Santiago was founded by Spanish Conquistador Pedro de Valdivia on February 12, 1541 with the name Santiago de Nueva Extremadura. The founding ceremony was held on Huelén Hill (later renamed Cerro Santa Lucía). Valdivia chose the location of Santiago because of its moderate climate and the ease with which it could be defended—the Mapocho River then split into two branches and rejoined further downstream, forming an island.
The city was destroyed on September 11, 1541 by the Indian forces under the chief Michimalonco, which led to the Arauco War.
Map of Santiago during the 18th century.
The first buildings were erected with the help of the native Picunche Indians. The south bank of the Mapocho River was later drained and converted into a public promenade, known as the Alameda (now Avenida Alameda Libertador Bernardo O\'Higgins). The city was slightly damaged during the War of Independence (1810–18), in the Battle of Maipú, which was fought south-west of the city. Santiago was named capital in 1818.
Santiago in 1896.
During the early 19th century, Santiago remained a small town with few buildings excepting Palacio de La Moneda, the building used as the Chilean mint during the Spanish period, and a few churches and other civic buildings. The Iglesia de la Compañía de Jesús caught fire during an 1863 church service, and 2000 people died, one of the worst modern fires.Brief report of the fire (Spanish)
In the 1880s extraction of nitrate fertilizer in Northern Chile brought prosperity to the country, and promoted the capital city\'s development. Important landmarks were built in 1910 during the Centennial celebrations of independence from Spain, such as the National Library, the Museum of Fine Arts and the Mapocho Train Station (Estación Mapocho, now an events center).
Santiago began its transformation into a modern city in the 1930s, with the building of the Barrio Cívico, surrounding Palacio de La Moneda. The city also grew in population, due to migration from the north and south of Chile. In 1985 an earthquake destroyed some historically significant buildings in the downtown area.
Nowadays, Santiago is among the largest and most important financial centers in Latin America.[citation needed]
The city lies in the center of the Santiago Basin, a large bowl-shaped valley consisting of a broad and fertile plain surrounded by mountains. It is flanked by the main chain of the Andes on the east and the Chilean Coastal Range on the west. On the north, it is bound by the Cordón de Chacabuco, a transverse mountain range of the Andes, whereas at the southern border lies Angostura de Paine, where an elongated spur of the Andes almost reaches the Coastal Range. Santiago Basin is part of the Intermediate Depression and is remarkably flat, interrupted only by a few hills. Among those are Cerro Renca, Cerro Blanco and Cerro Santa Lucía.
The Andes mountains around Santiago are quite tall, culminating in Tupungato volcano at 6,570 m (21,555 ft). Other volcanoes include Tupungatito, San José and Maipo. Cerro El Plomo is the highest mountain visible from Santiago\'s urban area. If you are on top of the mountain, you can see the whole city of Santiago
Santiago has a mild Mediterranean climate: relatively hot dry summers (November to March) with temperatures reaching up to 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) on the hottest days; winters (June to August) are more humid and cold mornings, with typical maximum daily temperatures of 15 degrees Celsius (59 degrees Fahrenheit), and minimums of a few degrees above freezing. Occasional snowfall occurs on the suburbs that are highest, and may extend to the rest, but infrequently (the last snowfall reaching down to the city center was in August 2007). Mean rainfall is 338 mm per year.
| Weather averages for Santiago, Chile | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 38 (100) | 36 (97) | 35 (95) | 32 (90) | 28 (82) | 26 (79) | 27 (81) | 28 (82) | 28 (82) | 32 (90) | 33 (91) | 37 (99) | 38 (100) |
| Average high °C (°F) | 29 (84) | 28 (82) | 26 (79) | 22 (72) | 17 (63) | 14 (57) | 13 (55) | 16 (61) | 18 (64) | 21 (70) | 25 (77) | 27 (81) | 21 (70) |
| Average low °C (°F) | 12 (54) | 11 (52) | 9 (48) | 7 (45) | 5 (41) | 3 (37) | 2 (36) | 3 (37) | 5 (41) | 7 (45) | 8 (46) | 10 (50) | 7 (45) |
| Record low °C (°F) | 6 (43) | 5 (41) | 4 (39) | -1 (30) | -3 (27) | -6 (21) | -6 (21) | -6 (21) | -3 (27) | -2 (28) | 2 (36) | 7 (45) | -6 (21) |
| Precipitation mm (inch) | 0.4 (0) | 0.8 (0) | 3.2 (0.1) | 10.4 (0.4) | 42.2 (1.7) | 70.4 (2.8) | 86.6 (3.4) | 51.8 (2) | 22.0 (0.9) | 13.4 (0.5) | 9.2 (0.4) | 2.1 (0.1) | |
| Source: January 5, 2008 | |||||||||||||
Smog is most prevalent during the winter.
Thermal inversion (a meteorological phenomenon whereby a stable layer of warm air holds down colder air close to the ground) causes high levels of smog and air pollution to be trapped and concentrate within the Central Valley during winter months. In the 1990s air pollution fell by about one-third, but there has been little progress since 2000.
As of March 2007, only 61% of the wastewater in Santiago was treated . Cruzada ambiental por el Mapocho limpio (Spanish). Retrieved on 2008-02-11. “permitirá pasar del 68 al 81% en el tratamiento de las aguas servidas”, which increased up to 71% by the end of the same year, however, the Mapocho river, which crosses the city from the north-east to the south-west of the Central Valley, remains contaminated by household, agricultural and industrial sewage, and by upstream copper-mining waste (there are a number of copper mines in the Andes east of Santiago), being dumped unfiltered into the river.El Mercurio. Región Metropolitana saneará el 100% de aguas servidas al 2010 (Spanish). Fundación Terram. Retrieved on 2008-02-11. Laws force industry and local governments to process all their wastewater, but are loosely enforced.. Agua, Recurso Escaso y Vital (Spanish). Retrieved on 2008-11-02. “se calcula que sólo el 77% de las industrias del país cumple con la norma de RILES existente” There are now a number of large wastewater processing and recycling plants under construction. There are ongoing plans to decontaminate the riverMapocho urbano limpio: El río soñado. Retrieved on 2008-11-02. “Proyecto Mapocho Urbano Limpio” and make it navigableFundación Futuro. Proyecto Mapocho (Spanish)..
Noise levels on the main streets are high . Ruidos molestos en Santiago (Spanish). Retrieved on 2008-02-11. “cerca de un 70% de la población santiaguina está expuesta a serias interferencias de su sueño por ruido que excede 65 dB”, mostly because of noisy diesel buses. Diesel trucks and buses are also major contributors to winter smog. A lengthy replacement process of the bus system began in 2005 and will last until 2010 (see Transportation section below).
Panorama view of eastern Santiago, seen from San Cristóbal hill
Panorama view of northern Santiago, seen from Providencia
Population of Santiago from 1820 to 2020.
Santiago by Human Development Index on a commune-basis. Greener is higher. The blue line divides the formal areas of the city.
The population of Santiago\'s urban agglomeration grew from 0.982 million in 1940 to 2.82 million in 1970 and 4.75 million in 1992. According to the 2002 census, it contains a population of about 5.47 million, equivalent to nearly 37% of the total population of the country and 43% of the total urban population, making it one of the largest cities in Latin America. Santiago\'s Metropolitan Area, according to an official estimate from 2006, has a population of 6.293 million people.
The city is increasingly receiving immigration from other countries in Latin America due to comparatively strong economic growth. Many Peruvians live in Santiago, as well as Bolivians, Argentines, and Ecuadorians.
Santiago at night
Santiago is the industrial and financial center of Chile, and generates 45 percent of the country\'s GDP.[citation needed] The city, along with Buenos Aires and São Paulo, is one of the main financial centres of South America. Some international institutions, such as ECLAC (Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean), have their offices in Santiago.
In recent years, due to the strong growth and stability of the Chilean economy[citation needed], many multinational companies have chosen Santiago as the place for their headquarters in the region, like HP, Reuters, JP Morgan, Intel, Coca-Cola, Unilever, Nestlé, Kodak, BHP Billiton, IBM, Motorola, Microsoft, Ford, Yahoo!, and many more.
The construction sector is booming in Santiago.[citation needed] Several large apartment complexes are being built throughout the city and construction cranes are a common sight. Currently under construction is the Costanera Center, a mega project in Santiago\'s Financial District. This includes a 280,000-square-metre (3,014,000 sq ft) mall, a 300-metre (980 ft) tower, two office towers of 170 metres (558 ft) each, and a hotel 105 metres (344 ft) tall. When completed in 2010 it will be the tallest building in South America. Near Costanera Center another skyscraper is being built, Titanium La Portada, and this will be 190 metres (623 ft) tall. Although these are the two biggest projects, there are many other office buildings under construction in Santiago, as well as hundreds of high rise residential buildings.
Comodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport is Santiago\'s national and international airport.
Central Station.
Trains operated by Chile\'s national railway, Empresa de los Ferrocarriles del Estado, connect Santiago to Temuco, in the central-southern part of the country. All such trains arrive and depart from the Estación Central ("Central Station").
Bus companies provide passenger transportation from Santiago to most areas of the country, while some also provide parcel-shipping and delivery services.
Expressway in Las Condes
Toll road, inter-urban free flow highways connect the city\'s extremes, including the Vespucio Highway (which surrounds the city describing a semi-circle), Autopista Central (which crosses the city in a North-South direction), and the Costanera Norte (which runs from the eastern edge, in Las Condes to the international airport and the higways to Valparaíso on the western side of the city).
Santiago Metro map
The Santiago Metro has five operating lines. Two subway lines (Line 4 and 4A) and an extension of Line 2 were inaugurated during late 2005 and 2006. The system is under expansion, and extensions are going to be built on Lines 1 and 5 throughout 2009.
Transantiago is the name for the city\'s public transport system. It works by combining local (feeder) bus lines, main bus lines and the Metro network. It includes an integrated fare system, which allows passengers to make bus-to-bus or bus-to-metro transfers for the price of one ticket, using a single contactless smartcard.
Introduced on February 10 2007, it attempted to rationalize bus routes by eliminating redundancy, patent in the previous chaotic system run by thousands of independent bus operators. The plan backfired, however, as the decreased bus fleet and the newer routes proved insufficient to properly serve a population inadequately prepared for the changes. The major complaints are the lack of buses and their inconsistent frequencies, missing or poor infrastructure (such as segregated corridors, pre-paid areas and bus stops), the network\'s coverage, and the number of transfers needed for longer trips. As a result, users have overcrowded the Metro, which they see as fast and predictable.
Taxicabs can usually be found on the streets and are painted black with yellow roofs; unmarked taxis may be called up by telephone (Radiotaxis). Colectivos are shared taxicabs that carry passengers along a specific route, for a fixed fee.
Greater Santiago extends throughout 37 municipalities and covered 64,140 ha in 2002. The majority of Santiago lies within the same named province, with some peripheral areas contained in the provinces of Talagante, Maipo and Cordillera. Specifically, Santiago joins the cities of San Bernardo (Maipo province) and Puente Alto (Cordillera province) to form the Greater Santiago conurbation.
The province of Santiago is divided into 32 municipalities (comunas in Spanish). Each municipality in Chile is headed by a mayor (alcalde) elected by voters every four years. The members of the municipal council (concejales) are elected in the same election on a separate ballot.
.svg/58px-Comunas de Santiago (nombres).svg)
Municipal Theatre of Santiago
Bellas Artes museum
Contemporary Art Museum of Santiago
Palacio de La Moneda in downtown Santiago
There are two symphonic orchestras:
There are also various jazz establishments, the most notable being the Club de Jazz in Ñuñoa.
Museums include:
The city\'s main parks are:
Cultural places to visit include:
Main Sport Venues:
Santiago\'s Metropolitan Cathedral.
Templo Votivo de Maipú.
Most of Chile\'s population is Catholic and Santiago is no exception. According to the National Census, carried out in 2002 by the National Statistics Bureau (INE), in the Santiago Metropolitan Region, 3,129,249 people 15 and older identified themselves as Catholics, equivalent to 68.7% of the total population, while 595,173 (13.1%) described themselves as Evangelical Protestants. Around 1.2% of the population declared themselves as being Jehovah\'s Witnesses, while 0.9% identified themselves as Latter-day Saints (Mormons), 0.25% as Jewish, 0.11% as Orthodox and 0.03% as Muslim. Approximately 10.4% of the population of the Metropolitan Region stated that they were atheist or agnostic, while 5.4% declared to follow other religions.INE, Chile, 2002 Census
Other
Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
| Capitals of South America | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Communes and municipalities in Santiago Metropolitan Region | |
|---|---|
| Santiago Province | Santiago · Cerrillos · Cerro Navia · Conchalí · El Bosque · Estación Central · Huechuraba · Independencia · La Cisterna · La Florida · San Ramón · La Granja · La Pintana · La Reina · Las Condes · Lo Barnechea · Lo Espejo · Lo Prado · Macul · Maipú · Ñuñoa · Pedro Aguirre Cerda · Peñalolén · Providencia · Pudahuel · Quilicura · Quinta Normal · Recoleta · Renca · San Joaquín · San Miguel · Vitacura |
| Chacabuco Province | Colina · Lampa · Tiltil |
| Cordillera Province | Pirque · Puente Alto · San José de Maipo |
| Maipo Province | Buin · Calera de Tango · Paine · San Bernardo |
| Melipilla Province | Alhué · Curacaví · María Pinto · Melipilla · San Pedro |
| Talagante Province | El Monte · Isla de Maipo · Padre Hurtado · Peñaflor · Talagante |
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