History of Chile: a timeline

7 moments in the history of Chile, in order, each with what happened and why it matters.

Eras

  1. Empire and the colonial Americas (1492–1808)
  2. Revolutions and new nations (1808–1898)
  3. Revolution, war and dictatorship (1898–1975)
  4. Democracy and today (1975–)

Empire and the colonial Americas (1492–1808)

  1. 12 February 1541–25 December 1553: Santiago de Chile and the Mapuche war — Pedro de Valdivia, a veteran of the Italian wars, left Cusco in January 1540 with Pizarro's licence and on 12 February 1541 founded Santiago in the Mapocho…

Revolutions and new nations (1808–1898)

  1. January 1817–5 April 1818: San Martín crosses the Andes — After the patriots' defeat at Rancagua in 1814 and the Spanish reconquest of Santiago, Chilean exiles led by Bernardo O'Higgins joined José de San Martín in…
  2. 1847: Andrés Bello's grammar for Americans — In 1847 Andrés Bello published in Santiago his Gramática de la lengua castellana destinada al uso de los americanos.
  3. February 1879–April 1884: The War of the Pacific — The Atacama desert held the world's richest nitrate, used for fertiliser and explosives, mostly worked by Chilean companies on Bolivian and Peruvian soil.

Revolution, war and dictatorship (1898–1975)

  1. 11 September 1973–11 March 1990: The coup of 11 September 1973 in Chile — Salvador Allende, a socialist, had been elected president of Chile in 1970 and tried to build socialism by law: nationalising copper, speeding land reform,…

Democracy and today (1975–)

  1. October 1982: García Márquez wins the Nobel: the Boom — In the 1960s a handful of Latin American novelists became world famous almost at once: the Argentine Julio Cortázar with Rayuela (1963), the Peruvian Mario…
  2. c. 2015: The Venezuelan exodus — Venezuela, once the richest country in South America and a magnet for immigrants from Spain, Italy, Portugal and Colombia, has in a decade become the source of…

Changes over time