British–Chile relations are foreign relations between the United Kingdom and Chile

Chile

Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

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History

The UK played an important role in Chile's history

History of Chile

The territory of Chile has been populated since at least 2,000 BC. By the 16th century, Spanish conquistadors began to subdue and colonize the region of present-day Chile, and the territory became a colony from 1540 to 1818, when it gained independence from Spain...

 the British Admiral Lord Cochrane

Lord Cochrane

Lord Cochrane can refer to:*William Cochrane, 1st Earl of Dundonald who prior to receiving the earldom was create Baron Cochrane of Dundonald*Earl of Dundonald has a subsidiary of Baron Cochrane of Paisley and Ochiltree...

 was the Chilean Navy's

Chilean Navy

-Independence Wars of Chile and Peru :The Chilean Navy dates back to 1817. A year before, following the Battle of Chacabuco, General Bernardo O'Higgins prophetically declared "this victory and another hundred shall be of no significance if we do not gain control of the sea".This led to the...

 first commander who fought in the Chilean War of Independence and 5 Chilean Navy ships have been named in his honour. The Chilean Navy and the Royal Navy maintain a close relationship with 1 ex-British Type 22 frigate

Type 22 frigate

The Type 22 Broadsword class is a class of frigate built for the British Royal Navy. Fourteen of the class were built in total, with production divided into three batches. With the decommissioning of HMS Cornwall on 30 June 2011, the final Type 22 of the Royal Navy was retired from service...

 and 3 Type 23 frigate

Type 23 frigate

The Type 23 frigate is a class of frigate built for the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom. All the ships were first named after British Dukes, thus the class is also known as the Duke class. The first Type 23 was commissioned in 1989, and the sixteenth, was launched in May 2000 and commissioned in...

s in Chilean service.

During the Falklands War in 1982, with the still pending Beagle conflict

Beagle conflict

The Beagle Conflict was a border dispute between Chile and Argentina over the possession of Picton, Lennox and Nueva islands and the scope of the maritime jurisdiction associated with those islands that brought the countries to the brink of war in 1978....

, Chile and Colombia became the only Latin American countries to abstain from voting in the TIAR

Tiar

The Tiar are scheduled caste, found in North India. They are also known as the Parihar.-History and origin:The word tiar is a corruption of the Sanskrit word thivara, which means a hunter. They were traditionally hunters, but with the greater deforestation of their environment, they are now mainly...

 (as did also USA and Trinidad Tobago). Chile provided the UK with ‘limited, but significant information’ . The Chilean Connection is described in detail by Sir Lawrence Freedman in his book The Official History of the Falklands Campaign.

Embassies

The United Kingdom has an embassies in Valparaiso

Valparaíso

Valparaíso is a city and commune of Chile, center of its third largest conurbation and one of the country's most important seaports and an increasing cultural center in the Southwest Pacific hemisphere. The city is the capital of the Valparaíso Province and the Valparaíso Region...

, Puerto Montt

Puerto Montt

Puerto Montt is a port city and commune in southern Chile, located at the northern end of the Reloncaví Sound in the Llanquihue Province, Los Lagos Region. The commune spans an area of and had a population of 175,938 in 2002. It is located 1,055 km to the south of the capital, Santiago...

, Punta Arenas and Santiago

Santiago, Chile

Santiago , also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile, and the center of its largest conurbation . It is located in the country's central valley, at an elevation of above mean sea level...

. Chile has an embassy in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

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External links

• http://ukinchile.fco.gov.uk/en/