From Wikipedia, a free encyclopedia written in simple English for easy reading.
Chile is a long, thin country which is on the western side of South America. The people there speak Spanish.
Chile, which claims a part of the Antarctic continent, is the longest country on earth. The Atacama Desert, in the north of the country, is the driest place of the earth. The rain there is under 0.05 mm per year. The center of Chile, with the two cities Santiago and Valparaiso, has a Mediterranean climate with average temperatures of 28°C in January and 11°C in July. In the middle of Chile, the country is very fertile.
There are about 16 million people living in Chile in 2006.About 10 million people live in the center of Chile around Valparaiso and Santiago, on about 20% of the total territory.
Chile is a well educated country. Only 2.7% are not able to read or write. In comparison to the other countries in South America, Chile has got the best school system.
About 95% of Chileans are Caucasian, mostly Spanish. Around 3% of the population is Native American, and about 2% full European. The majority of people are Roman Catholic (70%). About 10% are Protestant, and there are some who practice Judaism as well. The country's official language is Spanish.
Chile's currency is the Chilean peso (1 Euro is about 737 Chilean pesos).