Santiago

Santiago is the capital of Chile, set in a central valley between the Andes and the coastal mountains. It is named after Saint James, the patron saint of Spain, and its founder called it Santiago del Nuevo Extremo. Cerro San Cristóbal, a hill in the middle of the city, carries a white statue of the Virgin Mary that a funicular climbs up to.

Pedro de Valdivia founded the city in 1541 beside the Mapocho River, at the foot of Santa Lucía Hill. It became the seat of the Spanish governors of Chile and kept its role as capital when the country won its independence in the 1810s. The University of Chile opened in the 1840s, with the Venezuelan scholar Andrés Bello as its first rector. A railway reached the port of Valparaíso in the 1860s, and the first line of the Santiago Metro opened in the 1970s. The city spread east toward the Andes in the 20th century.

Concha y Toro, the winery behind the Casillero del Diablo label, has its headquarters in Santiago and grows grapes in the Maipo Valley on its edge. Falabella began as a tailor's shop in the city and grew into a chain of department stores across South America. CMPC makes paper, cardboard and tissue products and is also based there.

La Moneda Palace was built in the late 18th century as the colonial mint and later became the office of the president of Chile. Santa Lucía Hill, where the city began, is now a terraced park with fountains, stairways and an old fort at its top. The Chilean Museum of Pre-Columbian Art keeps textiles, ceramics and stone carvings from the cultures of the Americas in the former royal customs house.