After Pizarro had conquered Peru he dispatched Diego de Almagro with an army, instructing him to explore and take the territory to the south, or what is now Chile. He was unable to accomplish the task. In 1540 Pizarro sent another expedition under Pedro Valdivia, whom fortune favored and who penetrated to what is now the city of Santiago, which he founded in 1541. For more than 100 years the warlike Araucanian Indians made repeated attacks on settlers in this territory, the Spaniards having great difficulty in conquering them. A treaty of peace was concluded in 1640.

When the revolutionary movement in South America started against Spain, Chile on September 18, 1810, declared her independence, and became the scene of much fighting, finally on April 5, 1818, defeating forever Spanish power and becoming absolutely independent.

A republican form of government was adopted, the executive power being vested in a President, and the legislative in two houses, a Senate and a Chamber of Deputies.

The Republic of Chile has 292,580 square miles, with a ragged coast line of 2,627 miles, and varies in width from 90 to 248 miles. It is bordered on the north by Peru, the east by Bolivia and Argentine, the south and west by the Pacific Ocean.

Two almost parallel ranges of mountains, the Cordillera de la Costa and the Andes, run from north to south, with a valley over 500 miles long and 40 wide spread between them. In this chain of mountains are more than 30 extinct volcanoes from 11,700 to 21,340 feet in height.

Owing to its extreme length Chile possesses many climates. To the north it is dry and hot, the central portion being decidedly temperate with changing seasons, almost like California, while in the south the temperature gets lower, and rains increase. To the extreme south there is much snow and cold with but little vegetation.

There are practically no negroes in the 3,500,000 of Chile’s population. Some writers estimate that 25 per cent. of the inhabitants are Germans, or of German descent, this nation having many business men and large colonies in the Republic, especially toward the south and around Valdivia. Perhaps 50 per cent. are descendants of the Araucanian Indians by the early Spanish explorers. There is a large percentage of English; it is estimated that in Valparaiso, a city of 250,000, there are at least 20,000 Anglo-Saxons. The French and Italian colonies are also quite numerous.

Chile ranks third in South America in her railways, possessing a total of 3800 miles, nearly 2000 of which are owned by the Government. A longitudinal railway, designed to run practically the length of the country—2132 miles—from north to south, is in process of construction. It will be connected with the coast and the hinterland by roads crossing it at right angles, and is designed to develop the entire country and to be of strategic value in transporting troops. Two new trans-Andean roads are contemplated in addition to the one now running from Los Andes to Mendoza, one to operate about 300 miles north of Santiago—the other to cross 400 miles to the south of the capital. Other lines from the smaller ports to the longitudinal road are proposed, in all over 3000 miles being projected. Of the roads maintained by the government, it might be said that they are run at a great annual loss, a condition which may operate materially against the country’s prosperity at some near date. Many of the privately owned roads are used only in connection with the nitrate industry.

Chile has many small rivers varying from 25 to 150 miles in length arising in the mountains and rushing to the sea. Most of them are dry a greater part of the year, but during the rainy season become raging torrents. With the exception of a few in the southern part of the country, they are not navigable, but by a proper system of conserving and storing their water might be made useful for generating power or light.

Her extensive coast line gives Chile 59 ports on the Pacific, most of which are open roadsteads and at certain times of the year positively dangerous, loading and unloading of vessels being done by means of lighters, ships being obliged to lie from one to two miles off the land. The principal ports from north to south in the order named are Arica, Pisagua, Iquiqui, Tocopilla, Antofagasta, Taltal, Caldera, Carrizal, Coquimbo, Valparaiso, Talcahuano, Coronel, Valdivia, Puerto Monte, Ancud, and Punta Arenas, the most southerly city on this continent and one of the big fur markets of the world.

Chile is to-day spending millions of dollars on the modernization of her leading ports so as to properly safeguard life and property, but it will be years before this work is finished.

Primarily the wealth of Chile comes from her nitrate beds and her mining possibilities. There are about $150,000,000 invested in the nitrate industry alone—$55,000,000 being English and $51,000,000 local. American capital is little represented in this line. The exports in 1913 amounted to 60,500,000 quintals, a quintal being 101.41 pounds; the value in money was $98,239,569. Iodine is one of the by-products in the manufacture of nitrate, and is controlled by a combination or trust, $1,876,277 worth being exported last year, the United States taking 183 tons, England 65 tons and the remainder of Europe 264 tons.

The nitrate beds run a distance of 450 miles south of the Camarones River, at an altitude of 4000 to 5000 feet and from 10 to 20 miles inland. Many theories have been advanced as to these deposits, the one generally accepted being that these fields were once the bottom of some sea elevated by a titanic upheaval. The beds vary in width from a half to five miles, and the “caliche” or strata of earth bearing the nitrate is usually covered by sand and dirt varying from a few inches to 10 feet. This is blown out by dynamite, separated by washing and boilings from foreign matter, then bagged and shipped. A more desolate spot than a nitrate “officina,” as these reduction plants are called, would be hard to imagine. No trees or vegetation are to be seen and even water has to be carried for miles in cars for operating the machinery and for other uses. Authorities differ as to the extent of the deposits, some alleging they will be worked out in 20 years, while others claim there is sufficient supply available for 200 years. Nitrate is used extensively in the arts, for manufacturing gunpowder and explosives and for a fertilizer in agriculture.

Copper is found in great profusion, $7,947,307 worth being exported last year. One of the largest copper mines is owned by the Braden Copper Company, an American concern. In 1913 its average daily production was 30 tons of bar copper. Machinery is being installed which is intended to double this output. Chile at one time contributed one-third of the world’s supply of this metal and mineralogists state that there are yet great bodies of high grade ore awaiting the discoverer.

Coal is found throughout the south of Chile, one coal field alone being estimated to contain 1,862,000,000 tons. Over $7,500,000 is invested in this enterprise.

Iron ore of excellent quality and freeness from sulphur is found in large quantities. An American company is largely interested in developing this market, and contemplates investing $6,000,000 in their property.

There are silver and gold, deposits of salt and borax, as well as cobalt, nickel, mercury bearing ores, tungsten, zinc, graphite, sulphur and alum. All of these await proper development as they exist in paying quantities.

Much of the territory, which resembles California in scenery, climate and formation, is given over to agriculture. Over 600,000 tons of wheat were harvested in 1912 with 71,000 tons of barley, 50,000 tons of oats and 40,000 tons of corn. Some authorities claim Chile to be the fourth largest wine producing country of the world, most of its vintage being consumed locally.

Stock raising is increasing, especially to the south, where sheep are profitably grazed. The latest census gives the number of cattle at 1,900,000, sheep 5,000,000 and goats 300,000. Much wool from three to four-inch staple is produced, last year 20,563,833 pounds being exported. Dairying is rapidly growing. Bee culture is becoming a permanent industry, there being 90,000 hives in Chile in 1913. Much honey and wax are exported.

There are millions of acres of virgin forests of valuable hard woods in the south, the north being a barren, treeless country. The chief trees are the Chilean oak, the rauli, elm, cypress, pine, cherry, laurel and of late the eucalyptus is being propagated extensively.

Some industries such as shoe factories, canneries, breweries, distilleries, sugar refineries, cracker bakeries, and the like exist but their products are for local consumption.

The fruits of Chile, such as the cherry, peach, pear, apple, nectarine, plum, apricot and melon, are the equal of ours. Inasmuch as the seasons here are reversed, these luscious fruits would reach our markets during winter, and this could be developed into a profitable trade.

Chile exports nitrate of soda (nitrate), copper, iodine, wheat, borate of lime, iron, gold, silver, wool, hides, woods, honey, and wax.

She imports bottles, cars and rolling stock, cement, cotton goods, glassware, iron and steel manufactures, such as wire, nails, pipes, corrugated iron, hardware, tools, locomotives, mining and agricultural machinery, mineral waters, paper, petroleum, rice, sacks, tinned salmon, thread, tea, woolen goods, shoes, and hats.

Chilean money is unstable and fluctuates from day to day, the paper peso or dollar being worth from 17 to 36 cents, according to variations in exchange. A gold peso exists fictitiously for trade purposes, being estimated at 18 pence or 36 cents U. S. gold. When this mark “$” is followed by the word oro the amount is understood to be gold. If however this abbreviation is used “m/c” it means “moneda corriente” or the paper money.

Chile has for a long time talked of changing its currency and making it staple. The sooner this is done the better for the country. Such a movement has been greatly retarded by men who have made money due to the fluctuations in currency.

Both the English and Germans have large interests here, and as a consequence do the bulk of the exporting and importing business with Chile. Imports in 1913 were $122,075,994 as against $139,878,201 of exports. India shipped to Chile $3,500,000 worth of jute bags for nitrate in 1913, and stands seventh in the list of countries sending goods here, the United States being third with $16,806,341 to its credit as against England’s $38,616,886 and Germany’s $33,189,070.

Commercial travelers are not required to pay a license. The authorities are very liberal about admitting samples.

The following cities are worth visiting for trade purposes:

Chile may be reached by taking any line from New York to Buenos Aires, then crossing via the Trans-Andean road to Santiago or Valparaiso, or by any line of steamers sailing for Colon, thence via train to Panama from where English, German, Chilean or Peruvian steamers sail weekly, touching at all the leading coast ports. There are also English and German ships direct from Europe, which pass through Smythe Channel on the southwest coast of Chile and touch at all its ports on both the outward and return voyage.