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.