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Santiago
Chile's capital, ringed by the snow-capped Andes
Framed by the towering, snow-dusted wall of the Andes, Santiago is a prosperous, modern capital in a long valley between mountains and the Pacific. Chile's overwhelming centre of life, the metropolis holds close to seven million people, more than a third of the nation, and produces a vast share of its wealth. Glass towers rise in its financial district, nicknamed Sanhattan, while leafy older neighbourhoods, hilltop parks, and a backdrop of glittering peaks give the city an enviable setting, even as winter smog often settles in its valley bowl.
The city sits in a broad basin of Chile's Central Valley, roughly 500 to 650 metres above sea level, hemmed by the main Andean range to the east and the lower coastal cordillera to the west. The Mapocho River runs down from the mountains through the city. This enclosed topography traps air in winter, producing the smog the city battles, but it also delivers a sunny Mediterranean climate and places world-class ski slopes and vineyards within an hour's drive of downtown.
Pedro de Valdivia founded Santiago in 1541, and despite earthquakes, indigenous resistance, and floods, it grew into the capital of Spanish and then independent Chile. Mining wealth, especially copper and nitrates, financed its grand civic buildings and a stable, increasingly affluent economy. Today Santiago is among the most modern cities in Latin America, with a clean metro system and a powerful financial sector, yet it remains marked by sharp inequality and by the political memory of the 1973 coup and the dictatorship that followed.