18th September: Chile Independence Day

Today is Chile Independence Day. Here are some things you may not know about Chile.

1. Chile is the longest country in the world from north to south at 2,647 miles (4,620 km) long and extends across 38 degrees of latitude. The Andes Mountain Range extends over the entire length of the country. It is very narrow, though, at only 350 km (217 mi) at its widest point east to west.
2. No-one is quite sure what the origin of the name Chile was, but there are several theories: It was named for a tribal chief, Tili; it's from a Native American word meaning either "ends of the earth" or "sea gulls"; the sound made by the trile, a local bird - cheele-cheele; or from the Quechua word chiri, which could mean either "the deepest point of the Earth", "Snow", or "cold".
3. Chile's highest point is Nevado Ojos del Salado, a stratovolcano in the Andes on the border with Argentina. It is the highest active volcano in the world at 6,893 m (22,615 ft). Its name comes from the enormous deposits of Salt that, in the form of lagoons or “eyes”, appear in its glaciers.
4. Chile has the world’s largest outdoor swimming pool, at the San Alfonso del Mar Resort. It is larger than 20 Olympic swimming pools and holds 66 million gallons of Water. The pool is also the world’s deepest at 115 feet.
5. Chile also has the world's largest Copper mine. Escondida produces over 5% of the world's copper supply.
6. The territory of Chile includes Easter Island or Rapa Nui, which was discovered by Admiral Jacob Roggeveen, a Dutchman, on Easter Day in 1772 - hence the English name for it. Easter Island is most famous for those massive statues with large heads, the moai, created by the early Rapa Nui people between the years 1250 and 1500 CE. Arcaeologists believe the moai represent the ancestors of the people who lived there. The statues face away from the sea as if watching over the villages - apart from seven, the Ahu Akivi which face out to sea to help travellers find the island. Easter Island is also home to the world's remotest airport, Mataveri Airport which is 2,336 miles (3,759 km) from Chile's capital, Santiago. The airport has one runway which is 10,886 feet (3,318 m) long and was once designated as an alternative landing site for NASA’s Space Shuttle program.
7. The national sport of Chile is rodeo, dating from the time of the Huasos or Chilean cowboys, who still live in Chile’s Central Valley where cattle are raised. The word Huaso comes from the Mapuche word for shoulders or haunches, because the Mapuche had never seen horses before the Spanish conquest and believed the conquistadors were attached to their horses between the shoulder and haunch. Rodeo has been the national sport since 1962 and involves two riders trying to pin a calf against large cushions. Participants can only ride Chilean Horses and must wear traditional Huaso costume.
8. Chile’s Atacama Desert is the driest desert in the world. Parts of the Atacama have not seen any rain since record-keeping began. The Atacama is also home to geoglyphs, large drawings made from stones arranged on the mountain sides. The Gigante de Atacama (Atacama Giant), located at Cerro Unitas, is the largest prehistoric anthropomorphic figure in the world at 390 feet (119 m) high and is thought to represent a deity of the indigenous people.
9. The southernmost village in the world is in Chile and is called “Puerto Williams”. The city at the very tip of Chile, Punta Arenas, is the southernmost city on a continent in the world.
10. Chile is home to the world's smallest species of deer, The pudú. They live in thickets and dense forest areas and are very shy - they are hardly ever seen in the wild.