Santiago de Chile
Santiago (official name), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and main city of Chile and the Santiago Metropolitan Region, of which it also It is the geographical center and whose population is concentrated in its vast majority in the city. Located on the banks of the Mapocho River, Santiago was founded by the Spanish conquistador Pedro de Valdivia, under the name of Santiago de Nueva Extremadura (in honor of the Apostle Santiago, thus becoming the capital of the Governorate of Nueva Extremadura) in the XVI. It is currently the economic and administrative center of the country, as well as being the largest urban agglomeration with the largest population in the country.
The city is home to the main commercial, cultural, and financial public organizations (the government palace, the Judiciary, and a series of international organizations), with the exception of the National Congress, the National Navy, the National Fisheries Service (Sernapesca) and the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage, located in the city of Valparaíso. It is also the headquarters of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (Cepal).
Although it is generally conceived as a single city, Santiago does not constitute a single administrative unit, but is part of the territory of at least 43 communes, of which 28 are completely within the urban radius and 15 municipalities outside it, but all very connected through modern highways and avenues. Most of the metropolis is located within the province of Santiago, and parts of it are located in communes belonging to other provinces of the Metropolitan Region, these are San Bernardo, Calera de Tango, Buin, Puente Alto, Talagante, Peñaflor, Padre Hurtado, El Monte and Isla de Maipo.
Santiago is located approximately at the coordinates 33°26′16″S 70°39′01″W / -33.43778, -70.65028 (at a similar latitude as Cape Town and Sydney) and at an average altitude of 567 m s. no. m. With an extension of 837.89 km², Santiago had a population of 6,254,314 inhabitants in 2017, which was equivalent to 35.6% of the total population of the country. Santiago is the seventh most populous metropolitan area of Latin America, also the seventh most inhabited city in Latin America and the southern hemisphere and, according to some estimates, one of the 50 most populous urban agglomerations in the world. With its more than 6 million inhabitants, it is the most populous urban center of Chile, far ahead of Greater Concepción, Greater Valparaíso, the La Serena-Coquimbo conurbation, the metropolitan area of Temuco and Antofagasta, which are the next most populous.
Santiago is routinely positioned as a leading city in Latin America on a number of social, economic and environmental factors. The Chilean capital is the second most competitive city in Latin America, second only to São Paulo, as well as the third with the best quality of life (the second in South America and the 90th in the world) and the safest in Latin America. In addition, it is considered an "Alpha-class global city", and the 53rd highest-income city in the world, with a GDP (PPP) of USD 91 billion in 2005 and an estimate of USD 160 billion. USD towards 2020.
Likewise, in 2012 it was classified as the third most competitive Latin American city —also the third in South America and the 68th in the world— and in 2013 it was classified as the smartest city in the region. Finally, according to a study As reported by the Economist Intelligence Unit, Santiago would be the second best Latin American city to live in, after Buenos Aires.
History
Origins and foundation
According to archaeological investigations, it is believed that the first human groups settled in the Santiago basin around the 10th millennium BC. C. These groups were mainly hunter-gatherer nomads, who traveled from the coast to the interior in search of guanacos during the Andean snowmelt season. Around the year 800 of our era, the first sedentary inhabitants began to settle due to the formation of agricultural communities next to the Mapocho River, mainly of corn, potatoes and beans, and the domestication of the auquénidos of the entire area.
The peoples established in the areas belonged to Picunches (name given by Chileans) or Promaucaes (name given by Incas) groups, subjected to the Inca Empire from the end of the 15th century to the beginning of the 16th century. The Incas established some mitimaes in the valley, the main one installed in the center of the current city, fortresses such as the Huaca de Chena and the sanctuary of Cerro El Plomo. The area would have served as a base for the Inca expeditions to the south and as a road junction of the Camino del Inca.
After being sent by Francisco Pizarro from the governorate of Nueva Castilla and making a long journey from Cuzco, the Extremaduran conquistador Pedro de Valdivia arrived in the Mapocho valley on December 13, 1540. Valdivia's hosts camped next to the waters of the river, on the slopes of Cerro Tupahue and slowly began to establish relations with the Picunche settlers who inhabited the area, after which Valdivia summoned the caciques of the valley to a parliament where he explained his intention to found a city in the name of the King Carlos I of Spain, which would be the capital of his governorate of Nueva Extremadura. Seeing the Spanish military superiority over the Incas, they would have accepted and even recommended the founding of the town on a small island located between two arms of the river next to a small hill called Huelén.
On February 12, 1541, Pedro de Valdivia formally founded the city of "Santiago del Nuevo Extremo," the official name of the city in honor of the Apostle Santiago, patron saint of Spain, in the vicinity of the Huelén hill, renamed "Santa Lucía" by the conqueror. Following colonial rules, Valdivia entrusted the layout of the new city to the builder Pedro de Gamboa, who designed the city in the shape of a checkerboard: In the center of the city he designed a Plaza Mayor, around which several plots were selected for the Cathedral, the jail and the governor's house; In total, eight blocks were built from north to south and ten from east to west, and each lot (a quarter of a block) was given to the settlers, who built mud and straw houses.
However, the foregoing is in contrast to anthropological evidence: the alignment of the Plaza de Armas, Santa Lucía hill and El Abanico hill, with the sunrise during the summer solstice, and San Cristóbal hill which cuts the profile of the El Plomo-Littoria hills during the winter solstice, is a physical, concrete and indisputable fact.
To me what attracted me the attention is why Valdivia was mistaken in putting the square where it is not the center, it should have put it in the middle, it is so in all the cities, it is that he did not put it, the Plaza already existed, it was called 'Kancha', as a football field and it was unclassic, and before the Incas it was already a ceremonial sector for these calendary alignments. Santiago in the background is not 500 years old, Santiago is 2000 years old [...] Pedro de Valdivia did not discover it, because he knew that he was coming here, he already knew at the departure of Cusco that there was here a town that was an unclassical administrative center here in the [...] He also came as assistant Pedro Gómez de Don Benito who had come with (Diego de) Almagro six years earlier and had passed through Santiago.Researcher Alexis López Tapia a Mercury.
The researcher Rubén Stehberg of the National Museum of Natural History and Gonzalo Sotomayor of the Andrés Bello University gathered the evidence of the investigations presented in 1976, plus historical documents, and to this they added new evidence that would demonstrate that, under the old town of Santiago, an Inca city would be found, a vestige of the Tawantinsuyu occupation in the middle courses of the Mapocho and Maipo rivers. The occupation had kings and authorities along the valleys until they reached Mapocho, but these would have been killed during the conquest of Diego de Almagro. The Inca city of Mapocho was compared, according to writings demonstrated in the study, to another version of the Inca capital Cuzco, a place where mining and agriculture thrived. Consequently, it becomes clear that Pedro de Valdivia did not really found Santiago, but rather traveled directly to populate it and take possession of the city.
Months later, Valdivia left with his soldiers for the south, to continue the Arauco War. Santiago was left unprotected, which was taken advantage of by the indigenous hosts of Michimalonco, who attacked the fledgling city. On September 11, 1541, the city was attacked, but the 55 Spanish garrison managed to defeat the attackers. Apparently, the resistance was led by Inés de Suárez, a couple from Valdivia. Santiago was slowly rebuilt, giving prominence to the recently founded Concepción, where in 1556 the Royal Audience of Chile was founded. However, the constant danger that Concepción faced, due on the one hand to its proximity to the war and on the other to a succession of devastating earthquakes, did not allow the definitive establishment of the Royal Audience in Santiago until 1607, reaffirming its role as capital.
Colonial Santiago
Despite the fact that Santiago was on the verge of disappearing due to an indigenous attack, an earthquake and a series of floods, the city began to populate quickly. Of the 126 blocks designed by Gamboa, in 1558 forty had already been occupied, and in 1580, all of them, while the nearby lands housed tens of thousands of head of cattle. In the architectural field, the first important buildings in the city began to be built, highlighting the start of the stone construction of the first cathedral in 1561 and the church of San Francisco in 1572, both constructions being made mainly of adobe and stone..
A series of disasters would jeopardize the development of the city during the 16th and 17th centuries: an earthquake in 1575, a smallpox epidemic in 1590, the overflow of the Mapocho in 1608 and 1618, and finally, the earthquake of May 13 of 1647, where more than 600 people died and more than five thousand victims were left. These events would not stop the growth of the capital of the Captaincy General of Chile, at a time when all the power of the country was concentrated around the Plaza de Santiago weapons.
In 1767, the Spanish corregidor Luis Manuel de Zañartu began some of the main architectural works of the colonial period: the Calicanto Bridge, which efficiently linked the city with La Chimba, to the north of the river, and the Start of the construction of the cutwaters to prevent the overflow of the Mapocho. Although the bridge managed to be built, the cutwaters were constantly destroyed by the river. In 1780, Governor Agustín de Jáuregui hired the Italian architect Joaquín Toesca, who would design, among other important works, the facade of the Cathedral, the La Moneda Palace, the design of the San Carlos canal and the final construction of the cutwaters, during the government of Ambrosio O'Higgins, these being definitively inaugurated in 1798. The government of the viceroy of Peru created the opening of the road to Valparaíso in 1791, which would allow the connection of the capital with the main port of the country.
Capital of the Republic
On September 18, 1810, the First National Government Junta was proclaimed in Santiago, a fact that began the process of independence in Chile. The city, which would become the capital of the new nation, would be shaken by various events, especially due to the warfare that would take place in its vicinity.
Although some institutions such as the National Institute and the National Library were installed in the Patria Vieja, these were closed after the patriot defeat in the battle of Rancagua in 1814. The royalist government would last until 1817, when the Army of the Andes reached the victory in the battle of Chacabuco, reinstating the patriot government in Santiago. Independence, however, was not assured and the Spanish army obtained new victories and towards 1818 it headed towards Santiago, but the load would be definitively stopped on the plains of the Maipo River, during the battle of Maipú, on April 5, 1818.
With the end of the war, Bernardo O'Higgins took over as the first dictator of the new Chilean state. During the so-called Patria Nueva, the closed institutions were reopened and the General Cemetery was inaugurated, the works of the San Carlos canal were finished and in the southern arm of the Mapocho, known as La Cañada, the passage was closed. from the waters turning it into a tree-lined promenade, known as the Alameda de las Delicias.
Two new earthquakes struck the city: one on November 19, 1822 and another on February 20, 1835. These two events, however, did not prevent the city from continuing to grow rapidly: in 1820, it had 46,000 inhabitants, in 1854 the population was 69,018 inhabitants and in the 1865 census it was 115,337 inhabitants. La Chimba, thanks to the division of the old existing properties in the area. This new peripheral development caused the end of the traditional checkerboard structure that governed the center of the city.
The 19th century city
During the so-called Conservative Republic, various institutions were created, mainly of an educational nature, such as the University of Chile and the Quinta Normal de Agricultura. The channels that ran through the city for the evacuation of sewage disappeared giving way to the sewage system, to which the first networks of gas, drinking water and public lighting were added, and in 1851 the first telegraphy system was established with Valparaíso. However, a tragic event brought the city into mourning when more than 2,000 people died in the fire at the Church of the Company on December 8, 1863.
A new impulse in the urban development of the capital took place during the so-called Liberal Republic and the administration of the mayor of the city, Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna, among whose main works were the remodeling of Santa Lucía Hill, which went from being a garbage dump to a park adorned with neoclassical architectural works, the creation of a road that surrounded the city, which at that time had an extension similar to the current commune of Santiago, and the remodeling of the Alameda. This avenue was consecrated as the central artery of the city thanks to the development of various small palaces built by the oligarchy that benefited from the economic boom derived from copper and saltpeter mining. Many of the main urban works were financed by voluntary contributions from illustrious residents, highlighting works such as the Municipal Theater, the Equestrian Club or the current O'Higgins Park, built by the philanthropist Luis Cousiño in 1873.
The city quickly became the main hub of the Chilean railway system, the main means of transportation for more than a century. The first railway arrived in the city on September 14, 1857 and in 1884 the Central Station of Santiago was inaugurated. A thousand private vehicles and five hundred rental vehicles circulated in Santiago around those years and 45,000 people used the tram daily. The first telephones were installed during the 1880s and in less than ten years there were more than 1,200 lines.
At the end of the century, rainwater collection systems were built to prevent flooding in the center and the Mapocho channeling works began, for which it was necessary to demolish the cutwaters and the Calicanto Bridge, which occurred on August 10, 1888. At that time, Santiago had a population of close to 256,000 inhabitants, spread over an area of 3,766 hectares. Many of these inhabitants lived in poor neighborhoods, excluded from urban development promoted by the oligarchy, outside of the edges of the city as in the western neighborhoods of Yungay and Chuchunco.
The Santiago of the Centenary
With the advent of the new century, the city began to experience various changes related to the strong development of industry. Valparaíso, which until now had been the economic center of the country, slowly begins to lose prominence to the detriment of the capital. Already in 1895, 75% of the national manufacturing industry was located in the capital and only 28% in the port, and around 1910, the main banks and commercial stores settled in the streets of the city center, leaving Valparaíso.
The promulgation of both the Autonomous Commune Law and the decree creating municipalities would allow the creation of various administrative divisions in the Department of Santiago, in order to improve local administration. Maipú, Ñuñoa, Renca, Lampa, and Colina would be created in 1891, Providencia and Barrancas in 1897; and in 1901, Las Condes. In the department of La Victoria, Lo Cañas would originate in 1891, which would be divided into La Granja and Puente Alto in 1892. In 1899 La Florida would be born and in 1925, La Cisterna.
Cerro San Cristóbal began a long process of improvement during this period. In 1903 an astronomical observatory was installed and the following year the first stone of the Marian sanctuary was laid on its summit, which is characterized by the 14-meter image of the Virgin Mary, visible from various points of the city. However, the idea of reforesting it would not be fulfilled until a few decades later.
With the desire to celebrate the Centennial of the Republic in 1910, various urban works were carried out. The railway network was expanded, allowing the connection of the city with its emerging suburbs, through the ring railway and the one that led to Cajón del Maipo, while a new railway station was built in the north of the city: the Mapocho Station. On the land gained by the Mapocho canalization, the Forest Park was created and the new buildings of the Museum of Fine Arts, the National Boarding School and the National Library were inaugurated. In addition, the sewerage works would be completed, which covered about 85% of the urban population.
Population Explosion
At the end of 1920, the census estimated a population in Santiago of 507,296 inhabitants, which was equivalent to 13.6% of the total population of the country. This figure represented an increase of 52.47% with respect to the 1907 census, that is, an annual growth of 3.3%, almost three times more than the figure at the national level. This growth is mainly explained by the arrival of peasants from the south who came to work in the factories and railways under construction. However, this growth was experienced in the periphery and not in the urban area itself.
In these years, the center of the city was consolidated as a purely commercial, financial and administrative neighborhood, with the establishment of various portals and premises around Calle Ahumada and the Civic Quarter in the immediate vicinity of the Palacio de La Moneda. This last project meant the construction of various modernist buildings for the establishment of the offices of ministries and other public services, giving the initial kick for the construction of medium-rise buildings. On the other hand, the traditional inhabitants of the center began to emigrate out of the city to more rural sectors such as Providencia and Ñuñoa, which welcomed the oligarchy and professional European immigrants, and San Miguel for middle-class families. In addition, various villas began to be built on the periphery for members of various union organizations of the time. Modernity expanded in the city, with the appearance of the first cinemas, the extension of the telephone network and the inauguration of Los Cerrillos Airport in 1928, among other advances.
The sense of an era of economic growth reflected in technological advances was in stark contrast to the lower social classes. The growth of the previous decades became a population explosion without precedents since 1929. The Great Depression caused the collapse of the nitrate industry in the north, leaving 60,000 unemployed, which added to the fall in agricultural exports, totaled about 300,000 unemployed nationwide. These, for the most part, saw the big city and its thriving industry as the only chance to survive. Many migrants arrived in the city with nothing and thousands had to survive on the streets, unable to rent a room. Diseases spread and tuberculosis claimed the lives of hundreds of homeless people. Unemployment and the cost of living increased significantly, while the salaries of the people of Santiago fell.
The situation would only change several years later with a new industrial boom promoted by CORFO and the expansion of the state apparatus from the late 1930s. At this time, the aristocracy lost much of the power it held and the The middle class, made up of merchants, bureaucrats and professionals, acquired the leading role in national politics. In this context, Santiago begins to develop towards the masses, while the wealthy classes tend to take refuge in the upper neighborhoods of the capital. Thus, the old promenades of the wealthy class, such as the Parque Cousiño and the Alameda, lose hegemony in the face of popular recreation venues, such as the National Stadium that emerged in 1938.
Greater Santiago
| Relative growth of Santiago, by communes | |||||
| 1940 | 1952 | 1960 | 1970 | ||
| Barrancas | 100 | 223 | 792 | 1978 | |
| Conchalí | 100 | 225 | 440 | 684 | |
| The Farm | 100 | 264 | 1379 | 3424 | |
| The Counts | 100 | 197 | 506 | 1083 | |
| Ñuñoa | 100 | 196 | 325 | 535 | |
| Renca | 100 | 175 | 317 | 406 | |
| San Miguel | 100 | 221 | 373 | 488 | |
| Santiago | 100 | 104 | 101 | 81 | |
In the following decades, Santiago continued to grow unstoppably. In 1940, the city accumulated 952,075 inhabitants, in 1952 this figure reached 1,350,409 inhabitants and the 1960 census totaled 1,907,378 Santiago residents. This growth was reflected in the urbanization of the rural sectors of the periphery, where middle- and lower-class families settled with stable homes: in 1930, the urban area had an extension of 6,500 hectares, which in 1960 reached 20,900 and in 1980 at 38,296. Although most of the communes continued to grow, this was mainly concentrated in peripheral communes such as Barrancas to the west, Conchalí to the north, and La Cisterna and La Granja to the south. The lower classes settled through illegal occupations ("land seizures"), of which the most emblematic were Poblaciones Recabarren (1947), Zañartu (1947), Los Nogales (1948) and La Victoria (1957), although there was also purchase of sites since the 1930s and access to social housing built by the State and the social security funds. In the case of the upper class, they began to approach the sector of the foothills of Las Condes and The Queen. The center, on the contrary, lost inhabitants, leaving more space for the development of commerce, banking and government activities.
This growth took place without any type of regulation and it only began to be applied during the 1960s with the creation of various development plans for Greater Santiago, a concept that reflected the new reality of a city much more espacious. In 1958 the Santiago Intercommunal Plan was launched and proposed the organization of the urban territory, setting a limit of 38,600 urban and semi-urban hectares, for a maximum population of 3,260,000 inhabitants, the construction of new avenues, such as Avenida Circunvalación Américo Vespucio and Pan-American Route 5, the widening of existing ones and the establishment of "industrial cordons". The celebration of the 1962 Soccer World Cup gave a new impetus to the improvement works of the city. In 1966, the Santiago Metropolitan Park was created on the San Cristóbal hill and the MINVU began the eradication of callampas populations and the construction of new homes such as the San Borja Remodeling, near which the Diego Portales Building was built.
In 1967 the new Pudahuel International Airport was inaugurated and, after years of discussion, in 1969 the construction of the Santiago Metro would begin, the first stage of which would run under the western section of the Alameda and which would be inaugurated in 1975 The Metro would become one of the most prestigious constructions in the city and in the following years it would continue to expand, reaching two perpendicular lines at the end of 1978. Telecommunications would also have an important development, reflected in the construction of the Entel Tower, which since its construction in 1975 would be one of the symbols of the capital, being the tallest structure in the country for two decades.
After the 1973 coup d'état and the establishment of the military dictatorship, urban planning did not undergo major changes until the early 1980s, when the government adopted a neoliberal economic model and the role of organizer shifted from the State to the market; At the same time, the advertising campaign Give Santiago a place in your heart (1980) was developed, which sought to generate civic awareness and raise the morale of the inhabitants. In 1979 the regulatory plan was modified, extending the urban radius to more than 62,000 ha for real estate development, causing a new uncontrolled expansion of the city, reaching 40,619 ha in extension at the beginning of the 1990s, especially in the area of La Florida, which in the census In 1992 it became the most populous commune in the country, with 328,881 inhabitants. Meanwhile, a strong earthquake struck the city on March 3, 1985, which, although it caused few victims, left numerous victims and destroyed many old buildings.
The city at the beginning of the 21st century
With the start of the Transition in 1990, the city of Santiago already exceeded four million inhabitants, who preferably lived in the southern zone: La Florida was followed in number of inhabitants by Puente Alto and Maipú. Real estate development in these communes and others such as Quilicura and Peñalolén was largely due to the construction of housing complexes for middle-class families. Meanwhile, high-income families advanced towards the foothills and the so-called Barrio Alto, to the communes of La Reina, Las Condes, Vitacura and Lo Barnechea, and also towards the north of Santiago, specifically to the commune of Huechuraba. On the other hand, although poverty began to drop considerably, the strong dichotomy between the thriving globalized city and the marginal neighborhoods scattered throughout the capital remained.
The Avenida Providencia area was consolidated as an important commercial axis in the eastern sector and towards the 1990s, this development extended to the Barrio Alto, which became an attractive pole for the construction of high-rise buildings. Major businesses and financial corporations established themselves in the area, giving rise to a thriving modern business center known as Sanhattan. The departure of these companies to the Bairro Alto and the construction of shopping centers around the entire city caused a crisis in the historic center, which had to be reinvented: its main shopping streets became pedestrian walkways, such as Paseo Ahumada, and they instituted tax benefits for the construction of residential buildings, attracting mainly young adults.
In these years, the city began to face a series of problems generated by the disorderly growth experienced. Air pollution reached critical levels during the winter months and a layer of smog settled over the city, for which the authorities had to establish legislative measures for industries and vehicle restrictions on automobiles. To this was added that the great extension of the city caused the transport system to collapse. The Metro had to be considerably expanded by extending its lines and creating three new lines between 1997 and 2006 in the southeast sector, while a new extension to Maipú was inaugurated in 2011, leaving the metropolitan railway with a length of 105 km. In the case of buses, the system underwent an important reform at the beginning of the 1990s with the so-called "Micros Amarillas" and then in 2007 with the establishment of a transport master plan known as Transantiago —current Metropolitan Mobility Network—, which faced a series of problems resulting from a sudden and deficient implementation that generated unfavorable effects on the daily life of the inhabitants of the capital.
On February 27, 2010, a strong earthquake struck the capital, causing various damages to old buildings. Although the city managed to recover quickly, the damage to some modern buildings raised a debate about the actual application of the mandatory anti-seismic standards in the city.
After the earthquake, Santiago continued its accelerated development. Various urban highways were built, the Civic Quarter was renovated with the creation of the Plaza de la Ciudadanía, and construction began on the Ciudad Parque Bicentenario for the commemoration of the bicentennial of the Republic. The development of high-rise buildings continued in the eastern sector, which culminated in the opening of the Titanium La Portada and Gran Torre Santiago skyscrapers in the Costanera Center real estate complex. In terms of mobility, the Metro expansion reached 140 km at the beginning of 2019 and the construction of three new lines is planned for the following decade. In 2021 the new terminal of the international airport will be inaugurated and the commuter trains to Lampa and Melipilla are under construction; Additionally, a plan is being evaluated to establish a high-speed train that connects the capital with Valparaíso and Viña del Mar. Two new urban highways, Vespucio Oriente and Costanera Central, are in the bidding process.
Despite urban integration efforts, socioeconomic inequality and geosocial fragmentation remain two of the most important problems, both in the city and in the country. These problems have been considered one of the factors that led to the "social outbreak", a series of massive protests carried out between 2019 and 2020 against the government of Sebastián Piñera. Although the protests were transversal in the country, they began in Santiago as a result of the increase in the Santiago Metro fare and it was in this city where the largest demonstrations were concentrated. The protests led to a serious civil confrontation, which led to thousands of arrests and accusations of human rights violations. Meanwhile, the demonstrations registered serious episodes of violence against public and private infrastructure, the Santiago Metro being one of the one of the most affected by these episodes: more than half of its stations registered damage (several being partially set on fire) and just eleven months later the network returned to operating normally.
Geography
Location
The city of Santiago is located in South America at the coordinates 33°27′00″S 70°40′00″W / -33.45000, -70.66667, west of the Andes mountain range and on the southwestern edge of the continent.
Being located at the 33rd parallel south, Santiago is at a similar latitude to the cities of Cape Town in South Africa; Perth, Adelaide and Sydney in Australia; Mendoza, Rosario and Buenos Aires in Argentina, Uruguay and the state of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil. Being also located on the 70th meridian west, the city is on the same longitude as the territory of Nunavut, and the city of Quebec in Canada; the states of Maine and Massachusetts in the United States, Isla Española in the Dominican Republic; Aruba, Venezuela, Colombia, part of the Amazonas state of Brazil, the Department of Loreto of Peru, and some sections of Argentina.
The time of the city of Santiago is governed by the official time of Chile ―UTC-3 in summer and UTC-4 in winter―.
Although there is sometimes confusion, Santiago is not the midpoint of Chile; If only the continental territory is considered, it is the Playa Blanca resort, located in the Coronel commune in the Biobío region. If the national territory is considered from the northern limit with Peru to the southern end of the Chilean Antarctic Territory, the midpoint is It is located in Punta Arenas.
Geology and relief
The city of Santiago is located mainly on a plain known as the «Santiago basin». This basin is part of the Intermediate Depression and is delimited by the Chacabuco range to the north, the Andes Mountains to the east, the Paine Narrows to the south, and the Coastal Mountains to the west. Approximately, this basin has a length of 80 km in a north-south direction and 35 km from east to west.
During the Neoproterozoic ―1 000 Ma.― the supercontinent Rodinia existed, which began to break up into small continental masses ―750-600 Ma―. Already 550 million years ago, one of these fragments -Gondwana- had formed. It is during this period, however, that while Gondwana continued to be formed, its tectonic activity on the western margin (in the same period as its divergence from the Laurentian continent that led to the formation of what is now the Pacific Ocean) led to the formation of the Terra Australis Orogen, a process in which several orogeny events occurred during the Middle Permian. During this orogen, several terranes are added to the continental edge, such as the Chilenia terrane, which forms the current territory made up of the intermediate depression and central Chilean mountain range.
With the subduction processes of the Nazca Plate under the South American Plate ―started at the end of the Paleozoic―, an accretion process begins at the continental edge, which forms the “upper Paleozoic accretionary complexes”, continental masses from of the seabed that make up what is the coastal half of the north and center of the country.
The origin of the intermediate depression, which gives space to the geographical area where the city of Santiago is located, has been under discussion. Specialists on the one hand indicate that this comes from the geomorphological interaction of the Andes mountain range with the San Ramón fault, while another position indicates that the main origin is the product of differential erosion caused by the drainage network during the Neogene ―the last 10 and 4 million years―. Evidence has appeared to support the latter argument.
Over the past few million years, today's geomorphology has been taking shape. The Quaternary Glaciation affected the topology of the central zone of the country, forming moraines in the region. Only two periods of glaciation have been distinguished in the Maipo River valley and in the Andean section in front of Santiago.
Currently, Santiago lies mainly on the plain of the basin, with an altitude between 400 meters in the westernmost areas and reaching 540 meters in Plaza Baquedano, presenting some hills in the Cerrillos sector. The metropolitan area has surrounded some of these island hills, as in the case of Santa Lucía hill, Blanco hill, Calán, Lo Aguirre hill and Renca, which with 800 m s. no. m. it is the highest point of the city. To the southwest of Santiago, there is a rocky range of several island hills, within which the Chena hill stands out. To the west there are also some of the main heights of the Coastal Range, such as the Roble Alto hill with 2,185 meters of altitude, the Maipo River area being the only one where the mountain range loses altitude.
During the last decades, urban growth has expanded the limits of the city towards the eastern sector, approaching the Andean foothills, inhabiting the existing ejection cones. Even in areas such as La Dehesa, Lo Curro and El Arrayán, the barrier of 1,000 meters of altitude has been exceeded. Some low-altitude foothills detach themselves from the Andes and enter the basin, as is the case from the mountain range of Cerro La Pirámide and Cerro San Cristóbal, in the northeastern sector of Santiago.
The geological faults present in the area are the San Ramón fault and the Los Ángeles – Infiernillo fault. The rocks present in Santiago are mainly Quaternary, but there are also rocks from the Upper Cretaceous (Las Chilcas formation) and from the lower Cretaceous (Lo Prado formation), but plutonic rocks from the upper Cretaceous and the middle-lower Cretaceous can also be distinguished.
To the east, the so-called Sierra de Ramón rises, a mountain range formed in the foothills of the foothills due to the action of the Ramón fault, reaching 3,296 m s. no. m. on the hill of Ramón. Twenty kilometers further east is the Andes mountain range with its mountain ranges and volcanoes, many of which exceed 6,000 m s. no. m. and in which some glaciers remain. The highest is the Tupungato volcano at 6,570 m s. no. m., located near the Tupungatito volcano, 5,913 m s. no. m.. To the northeast, the Nevado El Plomo is located, with 6,070 ms. no. m., and Cerro El Plomo, with 5,424 m s. no. m.. Meanwhile, to the southeast of the capital, the Nevado Los Piuquenes is located, 6 019 m s. no. m., San José Volcano, 5,856 m s. no. m., and the Maipo volcano, 5,323 m s. no. m.. Of these peaks, both Tupungatito and San José and Maipo are active volcanoes.
Hydrography
The city of Santiago is located in the Maipo river basin, which covers an approximate area of 15,380 km². The main channel is born in the mountain range to the southeast of Santiago, on the slopes of the homonymous volcano and descends through the mountain range in the form of a canyon known as the Cajón del Maipo. Three important tributary channels converge in this area: the Volcán River, which is born under the San José Volcano and has some hot springs such as Baños Morales, the Yeso River, in whose upper channel the El Yeso reservoir is located, which is the main drinking water reserve for the entire Metropolitan Region, and the Colorado River. After leaving the foothills, the Maipo enters the Santiago basin, approaching the urban radius of the city, marking the border between the Puente Alto commune and the recently incorporated Pirque commune. Subsequently, the river moves away towards the southwest, being of great importance for agricultural development in the rural areas around Santiago, to finally continue its path towards the Pacific Ocean, ending in the town of Llolleo, in the V Region of Valparaíso.
However, the most important river for the city is the Mapocho River, on whose banks the city was forged in colonial times. The Mapocho is the main tributary of the Maipo, joining it in the El Monte sector, to the southwest of the conurbation, after its long journey from its source. The river arises from the confluence of several estuaries in the northeastern area of the Andes of the Metropolitan Region and later descends to the plain through gorges in the foothills and directly enters the eastern area of the city. The Mapocho crosses in an east-west direction about twenty metropolitan communes before leaving through the Pudahuel area and then going through agricultural areas until it reaches El Monte. The river regime is mixed, varying between snowy in the highest areas and rainy-snowy in the lowest; during the year, its flow can vary between 13.6 m³/s during November and 2.3 m³/s in April.
In order to have water closer for the agricultural development of the basin, various irrigation canals were built during the 19th century that connected the Mapocho with the Maipo, such as the San Carlos canal and the The partridges. Other channels were built to channel rainwater from the mountains, such as the Aguada ditch.
Climate
| Climogram of Santiago | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| E | F | M | A | M | J | J | A | S | O | N | D | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
0.6
30 13 | 1.3
30 13 | 6.1
27 11 | 16.3
23 9 | 55.5
19 6 | 83.3
16 5 | 75.9
15 4 | 55.1
17 5 | 27.2
20 7 | 12.9
23 9 | 6.2
26 10 | 1.5
29 12 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| temperatures in °C • total precipitation in mm source: Chilean Meteorological Directorate (1981-2010) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Conversion Imperial System
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The climate of the city of Santiago corresponds to a temperate climate with winter rains and a long dry season, better known as a continental Mediterranean climate, (Csb according to the Köppen climate classification). Among the main climatic characteristics of Santiago is the concentration of about 80% of rainfall during the southern winter months (June to August), and late autumn and early spring, with between 50 and 100 mm. with an annual total of 342 mm. These precipitations are rain, because the snow level is normally around 1800 m. s. no. m. in winter and occasionally falls below 1000 m. s. no. m., so the city is only sporadically affected by snowfall. In the period between 2000 and 2017, thirteen snowfalls have been recorded and only two have been measured in the central sector (2007 and 2017). The recurrence or periodicity of the snowfalls that affect the center of Santiago oscillates between one and four years, but with a high variability. The amount of snow recorded in Santiago on July 15, 2017 ranged from 3 cm in Quinta Normal to 10 cm in La Reina (Tobalaba). It is observed that nine out of ten events that recorded snow in Santiago have occurred under cold or neutral La Niña conditions.
This amount of rain contrasts with the figures for the months corresponding to a very dry season, produced by an uninterrupted anticyclonic domain for about seven or eight months, mainly during the summer, between December and March. In this season, the falling water does not exceed an average of 4 mm.
Temperatures vary throughout the year, going from an average of 20 °C during January to 8 °C during June and July. In the summer, Santiago is hot, with temperatures easily reaching 32 °C during the afternoons, with an all-time high of 38.3 °C on January 26, 2019, while nights are usually pleasant and temperate, dropping from 15 °C at dawn. For its part, in the autumn and winter months, the maximum temperature frequently drops below 10 °C and even 7 °C and the minimum is situated somewhat below 2 °C on average and even frequently falls below 2 °C. 0 °C, especially during the early morning, with a record low of -6.8 °C in 1976 (recorded in Pudahuel). Normal temperatures recorded between 1969 and 2017. Historical temperatures up to the present.
 Average climatic parameters of Santiago (Normal Station) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Ene. | Feb. | Mar. | Open up. | May. | Jun. | Jul. | Ago. | Sep. | Oct. | Nov. | Dec. | Annual |
| Temp. max. abs. (°C) | 38.3 | 36.2 | 36.2 | 33.9 | 31.6 | 27.3 | 28.4 | 31.0 | 32.6 | 33.4 | 34.9 | 37.3 | 38.3 |
| Average temperature (°C) | 30.1 | 29.4 | 27.4 | 22.3 | 18.1 | 15.5 | 14.3 | 16.2 | 19.6 | 22.8 | 26.1 | 28.7 | 22.7 |
| Average temperature (°C) | 21.2 | 20.2 | 18.1 | 14.3 | 11.1 | 8.4 | 7.7 | 9.2 | 11.0 | 14.8 | 17.6 | 20.0 | 14.2 |
| Temp. medium (°C) | 13.4 | 12.7 | 10.2 | 6.5 | 4.8 | 2.9 | 1.6 | 3.8 | 5.7 | 8.4 | 10.3 | 12.2 | 7.7 |
| Temp. min. abs. (°C) | 7.2 | 6.2 | 0.0 | -1.0 | -1.6 | -3.3 | -3.5 | -3.4 | -2.6 | -0.3 | 3.1 | 1.0 | -3.5 |
| Total precipitation (mm) | 0.3 | 1.7 | 3.8 | 12.1 | 41.2 | 80.7 | 101.1 | 55.8 | 22.5 | 11.4 | 9.1 | 2.1 | 341.8 |
| Precipitation days (≥ 1 mm) | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 52 |
| Days of snowfall (≥ 0.2 cm) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Hours of sun | 362.7 | 302.3 | 272.8 | 201.0 | 135.0 | 104.0 | 125.7 | 141.2 | 176.0 | 248.0 | 306.0 | 347.2 | 2721.9 |
| Relative humidity (%) | 57 | 60 | 65 | 71 | 80 | 84 | 84 | 81 | 78 | 71 | 63 | 58 | 71 |
| Source: Temperatures recorded between 1969 and 2017 by the Chilean Meteorological Directorate | |||||||||||||
| Source No. 2: World Meteorological Organization, Weatherbase | |||||||||||||
| Average climatic parameters of Santiago (Podahuel Station) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Ene. | Feb. | Mar. | Open up. | May. | Jun. | Jul. | Ago. | Sep. | Oct. | Nov. | Dec. | Annual |
| Temp. max. abs. (°C) | 39.3 | 37.2 | 36.8 | 34.5 | 31.1 | 26.7 | 28.2 | 29.9 | 32.9 | 33.3 | 35.2 | 37.1 | 39.3 |
| Average temperature (°C) | 30.0 | 29.5 | 27.5 | 23.2 | 18.6 | 15.3 | 14.1 | 16.5 | 19.0 | 22.4 | 25.9 | 28.6 | 22.4 |
| Average temperature (°C) | 20.5 | 19.6 | 17.4 | 13.6 | 10.5 | 8.1 | 7.5 | 8.9 | 11.1 | 14.0 | 16.9 | 19.4 | 14.0 |
| Temp. medium (°C) | 12.1 | 11.5 | 9.8 | 6.3 | 3.9 | 1.8 | 0.6 | 2.5 | 4.8 | 7.2 | 9.1 | 11.0 | 6.7 |
| Temp. min. abs. (°C) | 2.7 | 4.7 | 2.1 | -2.6 | -5.9 | -6.5 | -6.8 | -6.2 | -4.5 | -2.8 | 0.7 | 3.3 | -6.8 |
| Source: Temperatures recorded between 1969 and 2017 by the Chilean Meteorological Directorate | |||||||||||||
| Average climatic parameters of Santiago (Tobalaba Station) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Ene. | Feb. | Mar. | Open up. | May. | Jun. | Jul. | Ago. | Sep. | Oct. | Nov. | Dec. | Annual |
| Temp. max. abs. (°C) | 37.4 | 35.6 | 36.6 | 33.2 | 31.0 | 26.8 | 28.0 | 30.2 | 32.4 | 32.2 | 34.2 | 35.8 | 37.4 |
| Average temperature (°C) | 29.7 | 29.2 | 27.2 | 23.0 | 18.5 | 15.6 | 14.1 | 16.6 | 19.0 | 22.2 | 25.7 | 28.4 | 22.5 |
| Average temperature (°C) | 24.8 | 23.8 | 22.2 | 18.4 | 13.5 | 9.8 | 7.6 | 8.9 | 12.9 | 17.8 | 20.9 | 23.5 | 14.3 |
| Temp. medium (°C) | 13.5 | 12.9 | 10.4 | 8.6 | 6.4 | 4.2 | 1.9 | 3.3 | 5.8 | 8.1 | 10.1 | 12.3 | 7.8 |
| Temp. min. abs. (°C) | 5.2 | 3.8 | 1.0 | -2.1 | -3.8 | -4.6 | -5.2 | -4.1 | -1.6 | -1.6 | 0.0 | 0.6 | -5.2 |
| Source: Temperatures recorded between 1969 and 2017 by the Chilean Meteorological Directorate | |||||||||||||
Santiago's location within a watershed is one of the most important factors in the city's climate. The coastal range serves as a "climate screen" by opposing the spread of marine influence, which contributes to the increase in annual and daily thermal oscillation (the difference between daily maximum and minimum temperatures can easily exceed 15 °C) and the maintenance of a low relative humidity, close to at an annual average of 70%. In addition, it prevents the entry of air masses except for some low coastal cloudiness that penetrates the basin through the river valleys. The prevailing winds are from the southwest, with an average intensity of 20 km/h, especially during the summer, since calm prevails in the winter.
Environment
The city of Santiago is located in an ecological zone of the sclerophyll type known as the Chilean scrubland, which has been strongly modified due to the use of land for agricultural purposes or urban expansion. This has produced rapid soil degradation and erosion, which has generated a desertification process, aggravated by the use of groundwater for human consumption, forest fires, and the drying of swamps, among others. Despite this, there are still some strongholds of great importance for biodiversity, such as the Quebrada de la Plata or the Quebrada de Ramón, to which are added the protected wilderness areas located in the interior sectors of the Andes.
Within the city, meanwhile, around 1992 the number of green areas reached a surface of 2,686 public and 2,625 private hectares, equivalent to 2.5% of the consolidated urban area. Considering these figures, the average for each Santiago was 5.7 m² of green area, below the 9 m² recommended by the WHO. However, this figure is much lower today: while the city grows by about 1,000 hectares a year, only 8 hectares of green areas are created. To this we must add the fact that of the number of hectares of green spaces, half correspond to island hills that have little or no vegetation. Thus, discounting these areas, the figures would be close to 1.5 m² of green areas per inhabitant. The figures also show great variation depending on the area of the city: while in the eastern sector it reaches 20 m² per inhabitant, in the southern sector it barely exceeds 1 m².
A serious environmental problem that Santiago suffers is the existing air pollution. The closure of the city produces the accumulation of a layer of smog over the city since the last decades, which is aggravated during the winter months due to various climatic phenomena such as thermal inversion and the coastal trough and the considerable reduction of masses of circulating air in the basin. This, added to the cold typical of the season, produces a considerable increase in respiratory conditions, mainly in infants and the elderly, which even collapses the health care system in Santiago.
This pollution has various toxic chemical components, such as SO2, CO, O3 and NO2, added to the various types of suspended particulate matter (49% produced by mobile sources and 29% by stationary sources). The levels of accumulation of these substances are measured by seven air quality monitoring stations installed between 1988 and 1977 throughout the city. The measurements of these stations added to the meteorological analyzes allow the authorities in charge to decree extraordinary measures for the reduction of contamination, which are called "environmental alert", "environmental pre-emergency" and "environmental emergency". In recent years, the levels of environmental contamination have decreased considerably: in 1989, the average level of respirable particulate matter was 103.3 μg/m³, while in 2004 the figure reached 60.9 μg/m³, which it is still far higher than the 50 μg/m³ standard set by the government. In the case of the finest particulate matter (PM 2.5), the figures show a reduction from 68.8 to 29.3 μg/m³ in the same period, while environmental alert situations dropped from 38 in 1997 to 9 in 2004, the pre-emergencies from 37 to 4 and emergencies from 4 to none.
The water channels also have high degrees of contamination, mainly due to the deposit of industrial waste and sewage. The Maipo river and the Aguada ditch are the most affected channels, but in recent years various initiatives have emerged to reduce these problems. Various treatment plants have been built and in 2006 their coverage already reached 75% of urban sewage. Finally, the city produces a great deal of light pollution, which has affected and made it practically impossible for various astronomical venues located inside the city to work. the city.
Politics and government
Administration
Unlike other large cities and metropolitan areas in the world, Santiago lacks a metropolitan government in charge of its administration, which is currently distributed among various authorities, which complicates the functioning of the city as a unitary entity.
With the current territorial structure of the country, it is divided into three levels (regions, provinces and communes), but Santiago does not fit perfectly with any of them. Although the Santiago Metropolitan Region was created in 1976 to encompass a metropolitan area created two years earlier, from the former province of Santiago, it includes a series of towns far from the main city, such as Melipilla or Talagante. At the provincial level, Greater Santiago exceeds the limits of the current Province of Santiago, including those of Cordillera, Maipo, Talagante and Chacabuco. At the communal level, the city is made up of about thirty of these.
In general, two types of bodies are involved in the administration of the city. On the one hand, there are the thirty-seven municipalities, in charge of the local administration of each commune, and directed by a mayor and advised by a council, elected by popular vote. The person in charge of the superior administration of the Metropolitan Region is the Regional Government, formed by the Regional Governor and the Regional Council, also elected by popular vote, in addition there are the authorities designated by the President of the Republic, which are the Delegate Regional Presidential and Provincial Presidential Delegates.
Historical evolution
In colonial times, the person in charge of local administration was the Cabildo of the city, which changed its name to Municipality with the Constitution of 1823. Since 1833, The entire city and the localities of the department were administered by the same municipality, which began to be called "departmental municipality", and which was presided over by the provincial mayor. The election of the municipal (3 mayors and regidores) was introduced in 1876.
Over the years and the constant expansion of the city, it was necessary to divide the territory in order to improve administration and increase local participation in decision-making. In 1891, the Law of Organization and Attributions of Municipalities (better known as the Law of Autonomous Commune) was passed, which in the case of Santiago stipulated the creation of 10 constituencies, made up of a "local board" of three elected municipal councils and which together they would form the municipality. The Decree for the Creation of Municipalities definitively divided the departments into new municipalities that grouped together one or more subdelegations far from the departmental capital. The municipality of Santiago was made up of the districts of Santa Lucía, Santa Ana, Portales, Estación, Cañadilla, Recoleta, Maestranza, Universidad, San Lázaro and Parque Cousiño. In addition, other rural municipalities were created around the city: Ñuñoa, Maipú, Colina, Lampa and Renca, which, over the years, would continue to be subdivided into new municipalities.
Later, with the Constitution of 1925, the commune emerged in Chile as the territorial division of a municipality. In this new constitutional framework, the commune –administrative division– is equivalent to the subdelegation –political division–. In 1927, the department of Santiago was integrated with that of La Victoria, whose head was the city of San Bernardo, and the 10 urban communes were suppressed and the commune of Santiago was created, administered by the municipality namesake. In the following decades, four new departments are created (San Bernardo, Talagante, Puente Alto and Presidente Aguirre Cerda), creating new urban centers, while several of the rural communes are reached by the expansion of the Santiago city.
With the regionalization process of the 1970s, the departments were suppressed, organizing the country, at the local level, in communes administered by municipalities; In addition, in 1974 the Santiago Metropolitan Area was created, which included the former province of Santiago, excluding the department of San Antonio, and whose government and administration regime would be established by a special law. In 1976, the Metropolitan Area formally became the current Santiago Metropolitan Region.
At the beginning of the 1990s, we began to formally speak of Greater Santiago as the conurbation made up of the group of communes of the province of Santiago plus San Bernardo and Puente Alto, which had completely joined the urban area of Santiago. In 2005, the National Institute of Statistics included for the first time within the urban area of Santiago the commune of Padre Hurtado, in the province of Talagante, plus some territories adjacent to the city belonging to the communes of Pirque and San José de Maipo. In the following decade, the growth of the city towards the north expanded the urban area towards the province of Chacabuco. For the 2017 census, the INE added as part of the conurbation the areas of Valle Grande, Chicauma and Estación Colina in the Lampa commune, and Las Canteras and Chamisero in the Colina commune, in addition to the Peñaflor commune, in the Talagante province.
Communalities of Greater Santiago
According to the National Institute of Statistics, Greater Santiago covers an area of 83,789 hectares, distributed among forty communes of the Metropolitan Region. Of these, twenty-seven are completely urbanized and the rest partially. The forty communes that currently make up Greater Santiago are:
- In the province of Santiago, the adjacent urban area of the 32 communes that make up it.
- In the province of Chacabuco, part of the communes of Colina and Lampa
- In the province of Cordillera, the whole of Puente Alto, the urban area of Pirque in the homonymous commune, and the localities of La Obra and Las Vertientes, belonging to the commune of San José de Maipo.
- In the province of Maipo, the commune of San Bernardo;
- In the province of Talagante, the commune of Padre Hurtado and the urbanized areas of the commune of Peñaflor.
Despite the fact that there is no official consensus on the matter, the communes are usually grouped into seven sectors: north, center, northeast, southeast, south, southwest, and northwest.
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Capital of Chile
Since its founding, Santiago has been the main city of Chile. During colonial times, the governor of the Kingdom of Chile maintained his residence in front of the Plaza de Armas, notwithstanding that Concepción was the center of military actions at the beginning of the Arauco War, the governor spending long periods of time in said city. The second Royal Audience had its headquarters in the city from 1609 to 1810, being reopened during the Reconquest (1814-1817).
With the independence of the country, the capital was maintained in Santiago, where the new political institutions were established. The representative bodies of the three branches of the State have remained in Santiago since that time, with the exception of the National Congress, which met in Valparaíso in 1828 and was transferred to that city in 1990 in order to promote the decentralization of power. Despite this, a large part of the political activity continues to take place in Santiago, which is why the possibility of returning the seat of Congress to the national capital has been discussed on several occasions.
The vast majority of national public services and State institutions have their headquarters in Santiago, with very few exceptions, among which are the Commander-in-Chief of the Chilean Navy, the Undersecretary of Fisheries and Aquaculture, the National Fisheries Service, the National Customs Service and the National Council for Culture and the Arts, located in Valparaíso, the Forestry Institute, in San Pedro de la Paz; and the Chilean Antarctic Institute, in Punta Arenas.
In Santiago is the Palace of the Courts of Justice of Santiago, a building that houses the Supreme Court of Justice of Chile, the Court of Appeals of Santiago and the Court Martial of the Army, the Air Force and the Carabineros. It is located in the commune of Santiago, on Compañía street, between Morandé and Bandera, in front of Montt Varas square.
Symbols of the city
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Santiago received the title of city on February 12, 1552 by the Spanish Empire; With this title, the city needed a coat of arms that represented the honors bestowed by the monarchy. Thus, Emperor Carlos V granted the corresponding coat of arms to the city on April 5 of the same year. The certificate that granted said honor said:
[...] because Alonso de Aguilera, Procurador General of the provinces of Chile, in the name of the city of Santiago, [...] and he begged us that in that name, that by obeying what was supposed, we send signs for arms to the city, as the other cities and villas of our Indies had them, or as our mercy was; and We, by obeying the seed, had it for good, and by far, by in him there is a lion of his color, with his sword bare in the hand in the field of silver and by orla 8 gold worships in the blue field, according to which here is painted and figurated, in a shield to such as this; which we give to the city with its weapons and currencies.Real Cédula de Carlos I de España, 1552.
 Flag of the city | .png) Shield between 1863-1913 |
This shield was used during the colonial era, but during the 19th century it lost use and in 1863 a new emblem was adopted, which consisted of a coat of arms containing hills in its upper half and an azure field in its lower part. that represented the sea, presenting in the center a band with the word "Mapocho"; the emblem had notorious similarities with the shield of the municipality of Los Andes. There were also numerous variants of the shield, in which some colors were altered, the lower field was changed for a panoramic view of the city, or laurel wreaths were added to both sides of the shield and even a star at its upper end. This shield would last until 1913, the year in which the shield of Hispanic origin was readopted. Later, a flag composed of two vertical stripes in blue and gold would be adopted on which the coat of arms is imposed.
With the expansion of the city and its subsequent division into communes, these adopted their own emblems, leaving the use of both the shield and the flag, for the city and the commune of Santiago.
Demographics
According to the data collected in the 2017 census carried out by the National Institute of Statistics (INE), the population that made up the metropolitan area of Santiago reached 6,257,516 inhabitants, equivalent to 35.6% of the national total and 87.98% of the regional total. This figure reflects the large growth in the city's population during the 20th century: in 1907 there were 383,587 inhabitants, 1,010,102 in 1940, 2,009,118 in 1960, 3,899,619 in 1982, 4,729,118 in 1992, and 5,428,590 in 2002.
The growth of Santiago has undergone various changes throughout its history. In its early years, it had a growth rate of 2.68% per year until the 17th century, later dropping to less than 2% per year until the beginning of the century XX. In the middle of that century there was a demographic explosion that can be explained by the fact that, as the capital, it successively absorbed migration from the mining camps in northern Chile during the crisis of the 1930s and the population coming from rural areas between the 1940s and 1960s, mainly. The large amount of migration added to the high fertility rate at that time were reflected in annual growth figures that reached 4.92% between 1952 and 1960. However, since the end of that century, growth figures have been reduced again, reaching 1.35% in the early 2000s. Likewise, the size of the city has steadily expanded. The 20,000 hectares covered by Santiago in 1960 doubled before 1980 and in 2002 reached 86,778 hectares. Thus, the population density in Santiago was 6255.9 inhabitants/km² in 2002.
Santiago's population has been aging in recent decades, both due to decreased fertility and improved quality of life. According to the 2017 census, 27.04% of men and 24.51% of women in the communes of Santiago were under 20 years of age, while 13.56% and 17.76% were over 60 years of age., respectively. In contrast, the total number of those under 20 years of age in 1992 was 38.04% and those over 60 were barely 8.86%.
4,313,719 people in Chile claimed to have been born in one of the communes of Greater Santiago according to the 2002 census, equivalent to 28.54% of the national total. Of the inhabitants of Santiago on that date, 67.6% claimed to be born in the communes of the metropolitan area while 2.11% were foreign immigrants. Meanwhile, 3.3% of the population of Santiago claimed to belong to an indigenous ethnic group: 3.16% of the people of Santiago considered themselves Mapuche, 0.05% Aymara, 0.03% Quechua and 0.02% Rapa Nui.
Population distribution
Due to the great expansion that Santiago has had, throughout its history, its population has expanded the initial limits of the city from the Santa Lucía hill to sectors of the foothills and the banks of the Maipo river to the east until the plains of Maipú to the west. This caused a constant displacement of the main centers of population concentration from the center, which adopted the style of a financial district, towards the periphery.
Currently, a large part of the inhabitants are located in the peripheral sectors, with the communes of Puente Alto and Maipú (the two largest in the country) having more than 500,000 inhabitants each, while La Florida and San Bernardo on 300,000 inhabitants each. Communes such as Quilicura, in the far northwest, reached growth rates of more than 20% between the 1990s and 2000s, while some central communes such as Pedro Aguirre Cerda, Independencia or San Joaquín reached figures negative in that period.
This trend, however, has slowed in the last decade. The most central communes have experienced important processes of densification and verticalization. According to the 2017 census, the commune of Santiago became the third most populous in the country, with a total of 404,495 inhabitants, doubling its population in 15 years.
The expansion of the city has also generated the notorious differentiation between the different sectors of the city. Thus, for example, the northeastern sector (generally grouping the communes of Providencia, Ñuñoa, La Reina, Vitacura, Las Condes and Lo Barnechea), together with Huechuraba, in the northern sector of Santiago, have established themselves as a refuge for the wealthier class., becoming the place with the best quality of life in the country. The peripheral sectors, both in the southwest and southeast plus Quilicura, have developed hand in hand with the growth of the middle class since the 1980s, while the lower classes resources are located in various communes of the northwestern sector and especially the southern sector of the capital.
According to the 2006 CASEN survey, approximately 10.44% of the inhabitants of Santiago live below the poverty line. San Bernardo is the commune with the largest number of poor people, reaching 20.9% of its population, followed by Lo Espejo with 20.1%, Renca with 19.2% and Padre Hurtado with 18.7%. The ones with the lowest rate are those of the eastern sector that do not exceed 5% as a whole (and Las Condes that reaches the minimum with just 2.3%) and San Miguel that has 2.5%, preferably inhabited by population middle class.
Religion
Product of its foundation by Spanish colonizers, Santiago was for many years a deeply Catholic city. In fact, the name of the city was placed in honor of Santiago el Mayor, one of the twelve apostles and patron saint of Spain. As in other parts of the country, Catholicism remained strong until the turn of the 20th century, when the secularization of the state declined. its power at the national level. Even though it continues to be the main religion in the city, over the years it has lost ground due to the entry of various Protestant currents, and the growth of agnosticism and atheism. The Archdiocese of Santiago de Chile, in charge of Monsignor Celestino Aós Braco, exercises Catholic ecclesiastical jurisdiction in 35 of the 40 communes of Greater Santiago; the rest are under the prelature of the diocese of San Bernardo.
According to the last census, 67.91% of Santiago residents over the age of 15 declared that they were Catholic. This percentage increases mainly in the communes with higher incomes (Pirque reaches 81.8% and Vitacura, 77.92%), while it decreases in those with lower incomes, with a minimum of 57.84%, in La Pintana. This is mainly explained by the large increase in members of the evangelical church, to which 13.20% of Santiago residents adhere and which has its maximum number of followers in La Pintana, with 23.82%; On the other hand, in Providencia they only represent 3.68% of the population.
Other important religious denominations are Jehovah's Witnesses with 1.18%, Mormonism with 0.92% and Judaism with 0.28%, although in communes such as Vitacura and Las Condes it exceeds 2 %. Islam and the Orthodox Church have tiny records, with 0.03% and 0.12% respectively, and which correspond mainly to immigrants. 5.51% state they belong to another religion, including the Bahá'í Faith, which has its ninth world temple and the first South American one in Santiago. Finally, 10.85% of the elderly 15-year-olds declared they did not belong to any religion, reaching its maximum in the middle and upper-middle class communes, with 17.60% in Providencia.
Economy
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The city of Santiago is the main pole of economic development in Chile and one of the most important in Latin America. Its most important financial centers and business hubs are Sanhattan, located between the communes of Providencia, Las Condes and Vitacura, and Ciudad Empresarial, located in the commune of Huechuraba. According to the Central Bank, the gross domestic product of the Metropolitan Region in 2005 was 24,461,582 million Chilean pesos (approx. USD 35,380 million) and was equivalent to 43.68% of the total national GDP and a 46.98% of the national regionalized GDP. This figure adjusted with purchasing power parity increases to USD 91,000 million, which places it as the 53rd city with the highest income, and the fifth city in Latin America (after Ciudad of Mexico, Buenos Aires, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro). By 2020, its GDP (PPP) would reach USD 170 billion with an effective annual growth rate of 4.1%.
79.81% of the regional gross domestic product comes from the tertiary sector, highlighting that 26.16% of GDP originates solely thanks to financial and business services and 13.99% due to trade. Industry produces 19.50% of GDP, the agricultural sector barely 1.06% and mining 0.93%, mainly due to the Disputada de Las Condes copper mine. Regarding the generation of added value by sector at the national level, in Santiago 45.22% of that produced by the industrial sector is generated, 42.93% by the construction sector, 52.22% by the transport sector, 64.37% from the commercial sector and 76.79% from the financial sector.
Santiago is home to the country's main economic institutions, including the Santiago Stock Exchange (whose main stock market index is the IPSA), and the vast majority of the headquarters of national and transnational companies. Thanks to the signing of free trade agreements signed since the 2000s with the United States, the European Union, China, Japan and South Korea, among others, various international multinationals have used Santiago as a platform to enter the Latin American market. According to the magazine AméricaEconomía, Santiago is one of the best cities to do business in Latin America, ranking in the top positions on several occasions and even in 2007 tied for first place with Miami. to commerce, this has been boosted by the creation of several shopping centers in various areas of the capital and the rise of supermarkets, although to the detriment of local stores and traditional shopping districts such as Patronato or Franklin.
The capital is also an important center of tourist development at the national level, being the main gateway to the country through the international airport and the nearby Los Libertadores trans-Andean pass; both concentrate 55.2% of the total number of people entering the country per year, which is equivalent to 1,119,840 people in 2005. In addition, the main national tourist destination: a study by the National Tourism Service determined that 52, 3% of tourists (both national and international) were destined for the category "Santiago and its surroundings", to which is added 2.9% corresponding to "winter resorts", located mostly to the east of the capital. At the regional level, there are 221 hotel establishments with a total capacity of 9,240 rooms and 17,147 beds. This figure has been constantly increasing in recent years, especially in the range above the 3-star category due to the establishment of various international chains.
Basic services have been mainly in the hands of private companies since the late 1980s and early 1990s. Enel Distribución Chile is in charge of electricity distribution in 33 communes of Santiago, while in the communes of La Pintana, El Bosque, San Bernardo, Puente Alto and the southern zone of the Metropolitan Region are served by the General Electricity Company, CGE, both electric companies served by the Central Interconnected System. In terms of drinking water and sewage service, Aguas Andinas stands out, owned by the Agbar Group, its subsidiaries and the municipal company SMAPA, which covers Maipú and its surroundings. Metrogas is in charge of the distribution of natural gas coming mainly from southern Argentina through the GasAndes gas pipeline.
Culture and society
Heritage and monuments
Within the metropolitan area of Santiago, there are 174 heritage sites under the custody of the Council of National Monuments, among which are archaeological, architectural and historical monuments, as well as neighborhoods and typical areas. Of these, 93 are located within the commune of Santiago, considered the historic center of the city. Although no Santiago monument has been declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco, three have already been proposed by the Chilean government: the Inca sanctuary on Cerro El Plomo, the church and convent of San Francisco, and the La Moneda palace.
In the center of Santiago there are various buildings built during the Spanish domination and that, for the most part, correspond to Catholic temples, such as the Metropolitan Cathedral or the already mentioned church of San Francisco. Other buildings of the time are those located on the sides of the Plaza de Armas, such as the headquarters of the Royal Court, the Central Post Office or the Casa Colorada.
During the 19th century and the advent of independence, new architectural works began to be erected in the capital of the young republic. The aristocracy built small palaces for residential use, mainly in the surroundings of the Republic neighborhood, which have been preserved to this day. Added to this are other structures that adopted artistic currents from Europe, such as the Club Hípico de Santiago, the central houses of the University of Chile and the Catholic University, the Central Station and the Mapocho Station, the Central Market, the National Library, the Museum of Fine Arts and the Paris-London neighborhood, among others.
Several green areas in the city contain various heritage sites inside and around them. Among the most important are the fortifications of the Santa Lucía hill, the sanctuary of the Virgin Mary at the top of the San Cristóbal hill, the lavish crypts of the General Cemetery of Santiago, the Forest Park, the O'Higgins Park and the Regular Fifth.
Cultural activities and entertainment
The main theater companies are located in Santiago, hosting various national and international works, and which reach their greatest expression during the Santiago a Mil International Festival, which has been held every summer since 1994.
For various cultural, artistic, and musical events, there are several venues, including the Estación Mapocho Cultural Center, the Matucana 100 Cultural Center, the Gabriela Mistral Cultural Center, the Palacio de La Moneda Cultural Center, the Movistar Arena and the Caupolicán Theater. On the other hand, for opera, ballet and classical music presentations, the Municipal Theater of Santiago, located in the heart of the city, and the Municipal Theater of Las Condes stand out.
There are several cinemas in the capital, which give a total of more than 49,000 seats, to which are added art cinema projection centers. In recent years, various film festivals have been held in the city, the most prominent being the Santiago International Film Festival, created in 2005.
For children and young people there are various entertainment centers, such as the Fantasilandia amusement park, the National Zoo located on the San Cristóbal hill or the Buin Zoo on the outskirts of the city. The neighborhoods of Bellavista, Lastarria, Brasil, Italia, Plaza Ñuñoa and Avenida Vitacura concentrate a large part of the city's nightclubs, restaurants and bars, being the main centers of nightlife in the capital. In order to promote the economic development of the other regions, the law prohibits the construction of a gambling casino within the Metropolitan Region, but in its vicinity are the Enjoy Santiago casinos and the Monticello Grand Casino, both located just above the northern and southern regional limits, respectively, in addition to the traditional casino of Viña del Mar, 120 kilometers away from Santiago.
Museums and Libraries
Santiago is home to a large number of museums of different types, among which are the three "National" category managed by the National Cultural Heritage Service: the National Historical Museum, the National Museum of Fine Arts and the National Museum of Natural History.
Most of the museums are located in the historic center of the city, occupying the old buildings of colonial origin, as is the case with the National Historical Museum, which is located in the Royal Audience Palace. The Casa Colorada houses the Museum of Santiago, while the Museum of Colonial Art is installed in a wing of the church of San Francisco and the Museum of Pre-Columbian Art occupies part of the old Customs Palace. The Museum of Fine Arts, although it is located in the center of the city, occupies a building that was built at the beginning of the xx century especially to house said museum., and in the back of the building the Museum of Contemporary Art was established in 1947, dependent on the Faculty of Arts of the University of Chile.
Parque Quinta Normal also has several museums, among which are the aforementioned Natural History Museum, the Artequin Museum, the Science and Technology Museum, and the Railway Museum. In addition, close to the Quinta Normal is, since 2010, the Museum of Memory and Human Rights. In other sectors of the city there are various museums, such as the Aeronautical Museum in Cerrillos, La Chascona, home of the poet Pablo Neruda in Providencia, the Fashion Museum in Vitacura, the Mirador Interactive Museum in La Granja and the Carmen Museum in Maipú.
As for public libraries, the most important is the National Library located in the heart of Santiago. Its origins go back to 1813, when it was created by the nascent Republic and was transferred to its current premises a century later, which also house the headquarters of the National Archives. In order to provide closer proximity to the population, incorporate new technologies and complement the services provided by the municipal libraries and the National Library, the Santiago Library was inaugurated in 2005 in the Yungay neighborhood.
Education
According to the figures of the 2002 census, 89.49% of the population of Santiago over the age of 5 is literate, a little more than the national average. When distributing the population over 5 years of age based on their years of schooling, the majority (18.87%) is 12 years old while 5.39% say they have not completed at least one year; On average, the inhabitants of Santiago have a schooling of 9.26 years of study. At present, almost all minors between the ages of 5 and 18 are studying Basic General Education and Secondary Education, which make up the twelve years of compulsory education established in 2003 by the Constitution. Within the Metropolitan Region there are 2,576 urban nursery, primary, and secondary education establishments, equivalent to 21.90% of the national total, of which 611 are municipally owned, 1,615 are privately subsidized, 317 are private, and 33 are delegated administration corporations. In terms of the number of students, the total at the regional level in 2007 is 1,405,200 pre-school, primary or secondary education students.
Chilean higher education has historically been highly concentrated in the Chilean capital. Since colonial times, it is in this city of the Captaincy General where the first university study centers were installed. In 1622 the University of Santo Tomás began to function in the Dominican convent, and the following year the Jesuits inaugurated the Convictorio San Francisco Javier, also known as Convictorio Carolino. The latter would function until the expulsion and suppression of the Company. The religious matrix of both institutions was surpassed when the Royal University of San Felipe was created by royal decree of Felipe V of 1647, which absorbed the Dominican institution. This corporation functioned regularly until the advent of the Independence of Chile, when the National Institute was created in order to modify the higher education schemes.
The nascent republic would create in 1842, under the auspices of the Chilean-Venezuelan Andrés Bello, the University of Chile, an organization that would play a preponderant and exclusive role in higher education for more than fifty years. In 1848 the School of Arts and Crafts was also created, as an institution dedicated to technical education. The School would later form the main nucleus of the State Technical University (in 1947) and the University of Santiago de Chile (in 1981). At the end of the XIX century, and given the secular attitude adopted by the state university, in 1888 the Archbishopric of Santiago created the University Catholic, the one that would dispute with the University of Chile the formation of new students. country.
In 2005, 49.7% of higher education students nationwide were concentrated in the Metropolitan Region (where almost all of the schools are within the urban area of Santiago), which is equivalent to 663,679 students. Of these, 25.77% do so in traditional universities, 44.70% in private universities, 19.62% in technical training centers and 9.91% in professional institutes. In the city they are located the headquarters of the main universities in the country, five of them belonging to the Council of Rectors: Chile, Santiago, Católica, UMCE and Universidad Tecnológica Metropolitana (UTEM).
Sports
Football
The main sport played in Santiago is soccer, just like in the rest of the country. In 1903 the Santiago Football Association was founded, bringing together the first clubs of this sport. Although Valparaíso was the main venue for football at the time, Santiago began to compete for hegemony since the 1920s and finally the headquarters of the Chilean Football Federation moved its headquarters from the port to the capital. Of the 104 national professional soccer tournaments held since 1933, a Santiago team has won 84 times.
Currently, nine teams from Santiago play in Chilean professional soccer, six of which are in the First Division (Audax Italiano, Colo-Colo, Palestino, Unión Española, Universidad Católica and Universidad de Chile) and three in the First B (Barnechea, Magallanes and Santiago Morning). Colo-Colo, Universidad de Chile and Universidad Católica are considered the main teams in the country, reaching not only important participations in the national championship but also in international events (such as the Copa Libertadores or the Copa Sudamericana). These teams traditionally compete in the Superclásico and the Clásico Universitario, and together they are the most popular in the country, with an estimated adherence of 89% of the national population.
The main sports venue in the country is the Estadio Nacional de Chile, inaugurated in 1938, and which with a maximum capacity of 47,000 spectators is the headquarters of the Chilean soccer team when it plays at home. Other important stadiums are the David Arellano Monumental Stadium, the San Carlos de Apoquindo Stadium, the Santa Laura Stadium and the Bicentennial Municipal Stadium of La Florida.
Other sports
Various sports are practiced in Santiago, but they are much less popular than soccer. Although the city has historically hosted the matches of the Chilean Davis Cup team (including the 1976 final), in recent years it has lost its hegemony in tennis, including the transfer of the Chilean Open to Viña del Mar in 2001. to basketball, Universidad Católica has been champion 5 times of the DIMAYOR. The Chilean rodeo, unlike the smaller cities, is not practiced much and rodeos are held mainly in rural areas of communes such as San Bernardo and Maipú or on rare occasions in Medialuna Las Condes. During the National Holidays, more rodeos are held in the so-called Semana de la Chilenidad. As for athletics, the largest event held annually is the Santiago Marathon, which hosts around 30,000 participants between professionals and amateurs, who participate in the Marathon, Half Marathon and 10k categories jogging through the streets of Santiago.
Santiago has a privileged location next to the Andes for the development of winter sports. To the northeast of the city, less than 35 kilometers away, are the winter resorts of El Colorado, Farellones, La Parva and Valle Nevado, the latter having the largest skiable area in the southern hemisphere and home to the world championship of snowboarding organized by the FIS. Another ski center, Lagunillas, is located southeast of the capital but is smaller than the previous ones.
Major sporting events
The city has hosted various important events. The finals of the Copa América (1926, 1941, 1945, 1955, 1991 and 2015), the 1953 Women's World Basketball Championship, the 1959 World Basketball Championship, and the 1962 Soccer World Cup have been held in Santiago., the 1976 Davis Cup, the 1992 and 2015 World Polo Championships, the 1987 Youth Soccer World Cup and the 2008 U-20 Women's Soccer World Cup.
As for multi-sport tournaments, Santiago hosted the South American Games on two occasions: the III edition (1986) and the X edition (2014). Regarding the Pan American Games, the city has been elected four times, but to date it has not yet been able to organize the event. Economic and political problems forced the resignation of the 1975 and 1987 events, while the II Winter Pan American Games scheduled for 1993 were canceled by PASO due to lack of interest from the participants and administrative problems. Currently, Santiago is preparing for the organization of the 2023 Pan American Games, after having been chosen as the venue for said event by the members of PASO.
Predecessor: Rosario |  South American City 1986 | Successor: Lima |
Predecessor: Medellín | South American City 2014 | Successor: Cochabamba |
| Predecessor: Lima |  Pan American City 2023 | Successor: Barranquilla |
Transportation
Air transportation
The city of Santiago has two main types of connection with other cities in the country as well as with the rest of the world: its international airport and the national highway network. Air transportation uses the Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport, located in the Pudahuel commune, 13 kilometers northeast of the city center. The airport, which has been considered on multiple occasions as one of the most modern in Latin America, was used in 2019 by 24,630,742 passengers, of which 11,000,491 were international and 13,630,251 domestic. Pudahuel airport was inaugurated in 1967 as a replacement for the old Los Cerrillos Airport, which functioned as an aerodrome until its closure in 2005. Other take-off locations are the El Bosque Air Base, the Vitacura Municipal Aerodrome and the Eulogio Sánchez Aerodrome, but almost closed to public transport.
Intercity transport
As for highways, the city is crossed from north to south by Route 5, a section of the Pan-American Highway. The route allows the connection of Santiago with the cities of the north of the country through the concession Autopista del Aconcagua, and with the south through the Autopista del Maipo. The Autopista del Pacífico (68-CH) is one of the most used, allowing the connection of the capital with Greater Valparaíso; The Autopista del Sol (78-CH), meanwhile, connects Santiago with San Antonio and other cities on the Central Coast, while the Los Libertadores Highway (57-CH) does so with the cities of San Felipe, Los Andes and the Los Libertadores International Pass.
In Santiago there are various intercity bus services, one of the most important means of transportation with other Chilean cities; there are also some bus services to cities in bordering countries and even to Brazil. These services are concentrated in the Alameda, Santiago, San Borja and Los Héroes terminals, located in the center of the city. In the case of the San Borja Terminal, there are also some bus routes, known as "interprovinciales", to other towns in the Metropolitan Region such as Talagante, Peñaflor and Melipilla, which in recent years have acquired the character of Santiago's dormitory towns.
The Chilean railway system had great splendor during the first half of the XX century, with the Central Station of Santiago. However, it is currently focused mainly on cargo transportation to the ports of San Antonio and Valparaíso. For passenger service, there is the commuter service Tren Nos-Estación Central, which covers the communes of the central-south sector of Santiago to San Bernardo, and the interurban service Tren Rancagua-Estación Central, which has as its destination the capital of the Region of O'Higgins. There is also a long-distance service called Tren Chillán that connects with cities such as San Fernando, Curicó, Talca and Chillán, among others.
Internal transportation
Santiago concentrates 38.96% of the Chilean vehicle fleet by 2019, with a total of 2,228,385 vehicles, of which 2,197,683 are motorized. 1,553,704 cars travel through the city, which is equivalent to 41.76% of the national total. To support this huge park, an extensive network of avenues and streets extends throughout Santiago in order to provide connectivity to the different communes that make up the metropolitan area.
The main axis corresponds to Avenida Libertador General Bernardo O'Higgins (better known as Alameda) that runs southwest to northeast through the capital, and is also made up of Avenida Los Pajaritos to the west and Providencia and Apoquindo avenues to the east. The main avenue of the city is crossed by various longitudinal axes (from north to south) such as General Velásquez, Panamericana, Independencia, Gran Avenida, Recoleta, Santa Rosa, Vicuña Mackenna, Macul and Tobalaba avenues. Along with Alameda, other transversal axes that make up the network are those of San Pablo, Irarrázaval, Matta, Grecia and Departmental avenues, among others. Finally, the Avenida Circunvalación Américo Vespucio surrounds the internal sector of the city, facilitating the connection of the various axes.
During the 2000s, and in order to improve vehicular transportation in Santiago, various urban highways were built throughout the capital. General Velásquez and the sections of the Pan-American highway that cross the city were converted into the Central Highway, while Américo Vespucio gave way to the Vespucio Norte Express, Vespucio Sur and the future Vespucio Oriente highways. Following the edge of the Mapocho River, the Costanera Norte highway was built, communicating more expeditiously the northeast sector of the capital with the airport and the downtown sector. All these concessioned highways, totaling 210 km in length, have a free flow toll system.
Public transport
Regarding public transportation, since the early 1990s various government efforts have been made in order to solve the chaotic existing system in the city. In April 1991, the routes of the yellow buses (buses identified with that color) were tendered for the first time, starting their services on October 16, 1992. Despite this, the system maintained serious problems for which a new transport system was devised, called Transantiago. This project began operating on February 10, 2007, combining trunk services that cross the city with local feeder routes, which have a unified payment system through the bip! card. Transantiago, however, has had a series of design and implementation errors that have not yet been resolved and have jeopardized its success; In March 2019, the system changed its name, becoming the Metropolitan Mobility Network. In 2019, more than 5.8 million users used the Santiago public transport system, with a total of 1,037 million trips among the 382 routes of buses, the 7 metro lines and the commuter train service Nos-Central Station.
One of the fundamental axes of the Metropolitan Mobility Network is the Santiago Metro which, since its inauguration in 1975, is considered one of the most efficient and modern transport systems in Latin America. Daily, more than 2.6 million of people travel through its seven lines (1, 2, 3, 4, 4A, 5 and 6), which extend for more than 138 kilometers and 136 stations. After the inauguration of Line 3 in January 2019, it is expected that in 2026 the 215 km of extension will be reached with the projected lines 7, 8 and 9, plus the extensions of lines 2, 3 and 4.
Other local transportation systems include the services of 22,000 taxis—identified by black cars with yellow roofs—and 14,000 collective taxis—with full black bodies and an identifying sign on the roof. Regarding cycling, in Santiago you can find rental bicycles, the main ones being Bikesantiago promoted by Banco Itaú, Mobike and Bici Las Condes from the Municipality of Las Condes, along with it various municipalities have tried to promote the use of bicycles with the construction of bike lanes.
The value of urban public transport depends on the combination of type of transport chosen by the user, this is how the use of buses (also called micros) has the lowest cost in all time slots. The current cost of the ticket ranges from $640 (USD$1) to $800 (USD$1.2) depending on the schedule.
According to a report carried out by Moovit in July 2017, the average time that people spend on public transport in Santiago, for example to and from work, on a weekday is 84 minutes, while that 23% of people spend more than 2 hours every day. The average time people wait at a stop or station is 15 minutes, while 21% of people wait more than 20 minutes each day. The average distance people typically travel in a single trip is 7.4 km, while 15% travel more than 12 km in one direction.
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Media
In Greater Santiago, practically all existing communication services are available, from public telephones to wireless broadband networks. Fixed telephony —whose telephone prefix was number 2 until 2014, when national long distance was eliminated— has coverage for almost all the homes in Santiago through the companies Movistar Chile, VTR, Claro Chile, GTD Manquehue, CMET and Entel Chile, while mobile telephony (in charge of Movistar Chile, Entel, VTR Móvil, WOM, Claro Chile, Virgin Mobile, Gtd Móvil and Colo-Colo Móvil) has had great growth during the 2000s, reaching great penetration market. Similarly, internet services have expanded significantly during the same decade, although by 2019 there were communes in Greater Santiago where internet penetration was still low, as in the case of Cerro Navia where broadband connections Fixed broadband reaches only 22.7% of households.
Santiago concentrates almost all the media with a national presence, both on television, radio and in the press. Televisión Nacional de Chile, Canal 13, Mega, Chilevisión, La Red, TV+ and Telecanal have their headquarters in the capital and at the same time have numerous repeater stations throughout the country. As for radio broadcasting, Santiago is home to the main radio stations with national coverage, operated by various consortiums, including Iberoamericana Radio Chile (of PRISA Radio), Grupo Dial (belonging to Copesa), 13 Radios (of Canal 13), Grupo Bethia and Compañía Chilena de Comunicaciones.
In the case of the written press, it is dominated by two large consortiums: El Mercurio S.A.P. (which publishes the newspaper of the same name, Las Últimas Noticias and the evening newspaper La Segunda) and Copesa (which publishes La Tercera). To these are added the free Publimetro and various magazines and weeklies such as The Clinic.
TV channels
VHF
- 2 - Telecanal.
- 4 - The Network
- 5 - TV+
- 7 - TVN
- 9 - Mega
- 11 - Chilevision
- 13 - Channel 13
UHF/TVD
- 24 (13.1) Channel 13 HD
- 26 (26.1) Bío Bío TV
- 27 (9.1) Mega HD
- 27 (9.2) Mega 2
- 28 (4.1) The HD Network
- 28 (4.2) The HD2 Network
- 29 (5.1) TV+ HD
- 29 (5.2) TV MORE 2
- 29 (5.3) UCV TV
- 30 (11.1) Chilevision HD
- 30 (11.2) UChile TV
- 31 (2.1) Telechanal HD
- 33 (7.1) TVN HD
- 33 (7.2) NTV
- 35 (15.1) Link
- 35 (15.2) Corporación TV
- 35 (15.3) New Beginnings
- 35 (15.4) Television Mining North
- 36 (14.1) TVR
- 36 (14.2) Tevex
- 36 (14.3) UNIFE TV
- 36 (14.4) UESTV
- 38 (38.1) 38 TV
- 38 (38.2) CFC TV
- 38 (38.3) Gracia TV
- 40 (25.1) New HD Time
- 40 (25.2) New Time SD
- 40 (25.3) Radio Nuevo Tiempo
- 50 (50.1) STGO.TV
- 50 (50.2) Radio Usach
- 51 (21.1) Wapp TV
Radio stations
FM
- 88.1 MHz Radio Imagina
- 88.5 MHz Radio Concierto
- 88.9 MHz Future Radio
- 89.3 MHz Radio Maria
- 89.7 MHz Duna FM
- 90.5 MHz Radio Pudahuel
- 91.3 MHz The FM Conqueror
- 91.7 MHz DNA Radio Chile
- 92.1 MHz Radio Agriculture
- 92.5 MHz Radioactive
- 92.9 MHz Radio La Clave
- 93.3 MHz Cooperative Radio
- 93.7 MHz Radio Universe
- 94.1 MHz Rock & Pop
- 94.5 MHz Radio Universidad de Santiago
- 94.9 MHz Radio Sugar
- 95.3 MHz Radio Disney
- 95.9 MHz FM
- 96.5 MHz Start Radio
- 97.1 MHz Radio Corporación
- 97.7 MHz Radio Beethoven
- 98.1 MHz Radio Carabineros de Chile
- 98.5 MHz FM Two
- 99.3 MHz Radio Carolina
- 99.7 MHz Radio Bío-Bío
- 100.1 MHz Radio Infinita
- 100.5 MHz Pauta FM
- 100.9 MHz Play FM
- 101.3 MHz Heart FM
- 101.7 MHz The 40s.
- 102.1 MHz 13c Radio
- 102.5 MHz Radio Universidad de Chile
- 103.3 MHz Tele13 Radio
- 104.1 MHz Romantic FM
- 104.5 MHz Radio Armonía
- 104.9 MHz Radio Colo Colo
- 105.3 MHz Sonar FM
AM
- 540 kHz Radio Ignacio Serrano
- 570 kHz Radio Salud
- 600 kHz Radio End Times
- 660 kHz Divine Radio
- 690 kHz Radio Santiago
- 760 kHz Radio Colo Colo
- 820 kHz Radio Carabineros de Chile
- 880 kHz Radio Universal Church
- 930 kHz Radio Nuevo Mundo
- 960 kHz Dossil Radio
- 1000 kHz Radio BBN
- 1140 kHz Radio Nacional de Chile
- 1180 kHz Radio Portales de Santiago
- 1300 kHz Radio Connections
- 1330 kHz Radio Romance
- 1380 kHz Radio Plenitude
- 1420 kHz Radio Panamericana de Chile
- 1460 kHz Radio Fe
- 1540 kHz Radio South America
- 1600 kHz Radio Nuevo Tiempo
Citizen security
As in the rest of the country, the security of the population of Santiago is in the hands of Carabineros de Chile, which has 55 police stations throughout the capital plus four special forces police stations, one mounted, two for minors, one for family affairs and a sub-commission, which are divided into five prefectures: Center, East, West, North, South and Cordillera. To these is added the work of the Investigative Police of Chile and the services of the various bodies of the Judiciary.
Santiago is considered one of the safest cities in Latin America with a homicide rate that according to some studies varies between 2 and 6 homicides per year per 100,000 inhabitants. Nationally, it is the seventh lowest victimization rate within the 17 largest cities in the country, with 30.1% of inhabitants having at least one member of their family who has been a victim of robbery or attempted robbery during the last six months, figure 0.5 % lower than the national average. When breaking down this figure by communes, the lowest rates are found in the communes of the northeastern sector with Las Condes leading with barely 18%; on the contrary, the communes with the highest victimization rates are Conchalí and El Bosque with 38.9% and 38.5% respectively. The city center, meanwhile, has a low victimization rate of 20.9 %, product of thefts and robberies.
Despite being considered a "relatively safe" city, the level of fear among the population has grown significantly in recent times. In 2007, 22% of its population expressed a "high fear" of suffering some type of crime against them, while in previous years the figures were considerably lower (in 2000 it was 13.4% and in 2005 it was 15%)..8%). Compared to other cities in the country, the average of this index outside the capital is 15.9% and this figure is even higher than in the cities with the highest victimization rates: Iquique and Talca, which have 37.5%. and 35.9% victimization, only 17.7% and 18.9% of the respective population express “high fear”. In the breakdown by communes, again the lowest figures are in the eastern sector, with Ñuñoa with 10%, and the highest in El Bosque, with 32.5%. This high degree of insecurity felt by the population has been described as a product of the enormous gaps that differentiate the inhabitants of the city and the role of the media, among others.
Regarding the reporting rates of crimes with the greatest social connotation, the communes of Santiago have the highest figures at the national level. The regional average is 800 complaints per hundred thousand inhabitants (the highest in the country) and 11 communes of Greater Santiago are among the 20 with the highest figures. Santiago Centro leads the list with a rate of 3,646.7 complaints, followed by Providencia with 2,271.1. On the other hand, five communes of the metropolitan area are among the twenty that have the fewest complaints: the lowest is the rate of Cerro Navia, which reaches 341 complaints per hundred thousand inhabitants, followed by Maipú with 352.4. Finally, in Regarding the effective number of crimes, 220,255 people were apprehended during 2004 (of which more than 83% were men) mainly for crimes against property such as robbery and theft.
Garnish
| Rama | Military unit |
|---|---|
 Chilean Army
| Commander-in-Chief of the Chilean ArmySantiago)
|
 Chilean Navy
| Metropolitan Naval StationNormal) |
 Chilean Air Force
| Commander-in-Chief of the Chilean Air ForceCerrillos)
|
Twin cities
The city of Santiago has signed various city twinning protocols, among which are:
Managua, Nicaragua.
Ankara, Turkey (2000)
Athens, Greece (1969)
Buenos Aires, Argentina (1992)
Lima, Peru.
Algiers, Algeria.
Quito, Ecuador.
Zapopan, Mexico.- Guadalajara, Mexico.
Caracas, Venezuela
Guatemala City, Guatemala.- Mexico City, Mexico
- Santiago de Querétaro, Mexico.
Santiago de Veraguas, Panama.- Guayaquil, Ecuador
Hefei, People ' s Republic of China (2007)
Kiev, Ukraine (1998)
Santiago de Compostela, Spain.- Langreo, Spain (2007)
- Madrid, Spain (1991)
Manila, Philippines
Seoul, South Korea (1991)
Miami, United States- Minneapolis, United States (1961)
Montreal, Canada (1997, “declaration of intent”)- Beijing, People ' s Republic of China (2007)
- Plasencia, Spain (2007)
Riga, Latvia
São Paulo, Brazil (1998)
Friendship pact
Tunisia, Tunisia (1994)
Bogotá, Colombia.
Paris, France (1997)
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In addition, Santiago belongs to the Mercociudades network, signed by 180 cities from Mercosur member countries, and to the Union of Ibero-American Capital Cities (UCCI), a protocol signed by all the capital cities of Ibero-America plus Barcelona and Rio de Janeiro.