Country name: Chile
- Population: 17.3 million (UN, 2011)
- Capital: Santiago
- Area: 756,096 sq km (291,930 sq miles)
- Major language: Spanish (although there are several indigenous languages: Mapudungun, Quechua, Aymara and Rapa Nui)
- Major Religion: Christianity
- Currency: 1 Chilean peso = 100 centavos
- Main exports: copper, fish, fruit, paper and pulp, chemicals and wine
- Internet domain: .cl
- International dailling code: +56
- Climate: Chile is a very long and thin country, stretching 12,606 km (7,833 miles), covering 38 degrees of latitude! It therefore has a lot of weather conditions ranging from desert in the north to alpine tundra and glaciers in the south. The central part of Chile has a Mediterranean climate.
Some of the interesting things that Lewis the Lion discovered about Chile are that:
- It is one of South America’s most stable and prosperous nations
- It is the shape of a long, thin ribbon with the Andes, the longest mountain range in the world, running along the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west
- It is prone to earthquakes and many of its buildings are made to be earthquake proof
- It also has several islands as part of its territory including Juan Fernández, Salas y Gómez, Desventuradas and Easter Island
- The Mapuche tribe (who were migtating Native Americans from over 10,000 years ago) were the original inhabitants of southern and central Chile. When the Spanish came to conquer in 1553
- Chile is the world’s fifth largest exporters of wine and the eighth largest producer of wine
- One of the richest men in Chile sells honey roasted peanuts!