Imagine a long, thin slice of California with a patch of the Sahara desert glued onto the north. Let some of New Zealand's fjords wash against the south. Press all of this against a spine of tall, rugged mountains. This would be Chile, which has some of the world's most varied and dramatic landscapes.
Parts of the country-Tierra del Fuego, for example-feel like the ends of the earth. Yet Chile is one of the most modern and convenient travel destinations in South America. In many places, it has a European feel-along with European prices.

The country's history is as extensive as its coastline is long. The northern region of Chile formed part of the Incan empire, and the more southerly regions were originally occupied by other indigenous tribes. Spanish explorers, conquerors and settlers arrived in the mid 1530s and began a struggle with the native residents that was to go on for more than 300 years. When the last Arauca Indians on Chiloe Island surrendered, the Spanish hold on the land was complete.
By that point, however, the European settlers had already made substantial moves toward independence from Spain (led by a hero with the unlikely name of Bernardo O'Higgins). Though Chile's political history since then has had its ups and downs, the country has enjoyed constitutional rule and a republican form of government throughout much of its history.
The War of the Pacific, fought more than a century ago against Peru and Bolivia, resulted in considerable expansion of the national territory by adding the mineral-rich Atacama Desert. The next major rift in the nation's history occurred in 1970 when economic difficulties and political unrest followed the election of South America's first Marxist president, Salvador Allende. The tensions culminated in 1973 with the takeover by a dictatorship-the military junta headed by Gen. Augusto Pinochet Ugarte.
But Chile's democratic tradition was revived after Pinochet decisively lost a 1988 plebiscite (he had wanted a confirmation of his presidential powers until 1997). A presidential election brought a civilian, Patricio Aylwin, into power, and since then democracy has continued. Today, Chile is considered politically stable.
Chile is 2,705 mi/4,329 km long (about the distance in the U.S. from San Diego, California, to Charleston, South Carolina), but averages only 100 mi/160 km in width. Desert dominates the north, tundra the south. The center has many fertile valleys and lovely scenery. The nation's coastline is indented by many bays and fjords, while the eastern regions terminate in the Andes Mountains. Some people associate all of South America with the Amazon jungle and heat, but there is no jungle in Chile-in fact, much of the land can be freezing cold.
Chileans are a mix of Spanish, Irish, English, German and Scottish immigrants and native Indians. Where else but Chile can you find German immigrants who speak Spanish and revere a national hero named O'Higgins?