Greater Santiago

La Moneda palace

Santiago, also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and the bigest city of Chile. It is located in the country's central valley, at an elevation of 520 m (1,706.04 ft) above mean sea level.

Santiago is located in the middle of the country

Geography: The city lies in the center of the Santiago Basin, a large valley consisting of a broad and fertile lands surrounded by mountains. The city has a varying elevation, with 400 m (1,312 ft) in the western areas and 540 m (1,772 ft) in the Plaza Italia. 


 It's surround  by the range of the Andes on the east and the Chilean Coastal Range on the west. On the north, it is bounded by the Cordón de Chacabuco, a mountain range of the Andes. The Andes mountains around Santiago are quite tall; the tallest of which is the Tupungato volcano at 6,570 m (21,555 ft).
 The Santiago Basin is part of the Intermediate Depression, interrupted only by a few hills; among them are Cerro Renca, Cerro Blanco and Cerro Santa Lucía. This basin is approximately 80 km in a north-south direction and 35 km from east to west.

Cerro San Cristóbal

During recent decades, urban growth has expanded the boundaries of the city to the east closer to the Andean Precordillera. Areas called La Dehesa, Lo Curro and El Arrayan has been reached to overcome the barrier of 1000 metres of altitude
There is a famous hill, called Cerro San Cristobal, which is a low-latitude ridge of the Andes Mountains, which enters the basin and emerges in northeast of the city.

Climate:  The climate of this area is Mediterranean temperate with regular temperature variations between winter and summer. It rains between March and September (autumn and winter) and almost no rain in vernao. The average annual temperature is 14 º C. The average is 9 ° C in winter and 22 ºC in summer, although it can exceed 30 º C during this season.

History: Santiago was founded by Spanish Conquistador Pedro de Valdivia on February 11, 1541 with the name Santiago de Nueva Extremadura, as a homage to Saint James and Extremadura, Valdivia's birth place in Spain. The founding was held on Huelén Hill (now called Cerro Santa Lucía). 

City foundation

Valdivia chose the location of Santiago because of its climate, abundant vegetation and the ease with which it could be defended the Mapocho River.The Inca ruler Manco Cápac II warned the new rulers that his people would be hostile to the occupiers. The Spanish invaders had to battle against hunger caused by this resistance. Pedro de Valdivia ultimately succeeded in stabilizing the food supply and other resources needed for Santiago.


The new town consisted of straight roads of 12 varas (14.35 m, 47.1 ft) width, in equal intervals of 138 varas (165.08 m, 541.6 ft) perpendicular to each other. With nine roads in the east-west direction and 15 in the north-south direction. 




About the president 
Sebastián Piñera took office on March 11, 2010, as the first president to be elected democratically rightsince 1958 and the first year since Pinochet left office in March 1990.

About the people

According to data in the 2002 census by the National Institute of Statistics, the Santiago metropolitan area population reached 5,428,590 inhabitants, equivalent to 35.91% of the national total. 

Santiago is an economically divided. The western half of the city is much poorer than the eastern side. Accordingly, crime is much more prevalent on the western side. Public facilities such buildings or transport are often severely overcrowded.

Religion
Santiago's people, was for many years a completely Catholic city.  Catholicism remained strong until the early twentieth century. Although still the main religion of the city, over the years has lost ground because of income from protestant currents and the growth of agnosticism and atheism.According to the latest census, people who are located in neighborhoods with higher incomestend to follow Catholicism.

What is happening in the city

Student movement


Across the country the main news these past 7 months has been the student movement this, Santiago is a visible face of this (the rest of the country also mobilized) students have been in work stoppages and take their places around 7 months with the conviction to make a differencein the Chilean education. 


 Demanding a new framework for education in Chile, including more direct state participation in secondary education and an end to the existence of profit in higher education. Beyond the specific demands regarding education, there is a feeling that the protests reflect a "deep discontent" among some parts of society with Chile's high level of inequality.
Protests have included massive non-violent marches, but also a considerable amount of violence on the part of a side of protestors as well as riot police.

The first clear government response to the protests was a proposal for a new education fund and a cabinet shuffle. Other government proposals were also rejected. Student mobilizations continue to date, with periodic marches, occupations of high schools and universities. 
This has been a landmark in our country, as in 2006 the movement has left a mark on all thecitizens has been a way of uniting the country. See whole families making noise on the streets of Santiago to show their support is priceless.