Culture of Chile
Encyclopedia
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...
is one of a relatively homogeneous society where historically its geographical isolation and remoteness has played a key role. Since colonial times the Chilean culture has been a mix of Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
colonial elements and indigenous
Indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples are ethnic groups that are defined as indigenous according to one of the various definitions of the term, there is no universally accepted definition but most of which carry connotations of being the "original inhabitants" of a territory....
(essentially Mapuche
Mapuche
The Mapuche are a group of indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina. They constitute a wide-ranging ethnicity composed of various groups who shared a common social, religious and economic structure, as well as a common linguistic heritage. Their influence extended...
) culture.
Traditional Chilean culture is of rural and agrarian origin, where horsemen, the Huaso
Huaso
A huaso is a Chilean countryman and skilled horseman, similar to the Argentinian, Rio Grande do Sul's or Uruguayan gaucho, the American cowboy, the Australian stockman, and Mexican vaquero and charro. A female huaso is called a huasa, although the term china is far more commonly used for his wife...
s of Central Chile
Zona Central, Chile
Zona central is one of the five natural regions into which CORFO divided continental Chile in 1950. It is home to a majority of the Chilean population and includes the three largest metropolitan areas- Santiago, Valparaíso, and Concepción...
, are the most emblematic symbol. While Chile has a geographically
Geography of Chile
Image:Chilenav.gif|thumb|417px|left|Click over the map to obtain a topographic map of the region and its toponymyrect 23 14 119 35 rect 23 35 119 44 rect 23 44 119 54 rect 23 54 119 65 rect 23 65 119 75 rect 23 75 119 85...
diverse territory, the lifestyle of the Central Chile
Zona Central, Chile
Zona central is one of the five natural regions into which CORFO divided continental Chile in 1950. It is home to a majority of the Chilean population and includes the three largest metropolitan areas- Santiago, Valparaíso, and Concepción...
has not been possible everywhere and different customs exists towards the north and south of Chile. Additionally, while some regions of Chile have very strong indigenous heritage, such as Araucanía Region
Araucanía Region
The IX Araucanía Region is one of Chile's 15 first order administrative divisions and comprises two provinces: Malleco in the north and Cautín in the south....
, Easter Island
Easter Island
Easter Island is a Polynesian island in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian triangle. A special territory of Chile that was annexed in 1888, Easter Island is famous for its 887 extant monumental statues, called moai, created by the early Rapanui people...
and Arica y Parinacota Region, some regions lacks considerable indigenous communities and a few other regions have noteworthy non-Spanish European immigrant heritage. The mainstream Chilean culture that emanates from the historical core of central Chile is of predominant mediterranean climate
Mediterranean climate
A Mediterranean climate is the climate typical of most of the lands in the Mediterranean Basin, and is a particular variety of subtropical climate...
(as reflected in the food), rural criollo
Criollo people
The Criollo class ranked below that of the Iberian Peninsulares, the high-born permanent residence colonists born in Spain. But Criollos were higher status/rank than all other castes—people of mixed descent, Amerindians, and enslaved Africans...
and mestizo
Mestizo
Mestizo is a term traditionally used in Latin America, Philippines and Spain for people of mixed European and Native American heritage or descent...
origin.
Media coverage has since the 1990s shown the existence of youth subculture
Youth subculture
A youth subculture is a youth-based subculture with distinct styles, behaviors, and interests. Youth subcultures offer participants an identity outside of that ascribed by social institutions such as family, work, home and school...
s in the major cities, particularly 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...
.
National identity
The term Chilenidad describes the Chilean National identity.Hernán Godoy describes the psychological characteristics of the Chilean, and hence part of the Chilean national identity, with following words: roto
Roto
Roto or rota is a Chilean term, considered derogatory, which refers to a person of poverty and vulgar habits of urban origin. It is also used contemptuously to refer to inhabitants of Chile, especially in Peru and Bolivia...
, madness, sober, serious, prudent, sense of humor, great fear to the ridicule, servile, cruel, and lack of foresight among other qualities. Jorge Larraín criticized these older descriptions as "overgeneralized abstractions" impossible to apply to a whole nation.
Music of Chile
Dance
Dance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting....
is the cueca
Cueca
Cueca is a family of musical styles and associated dances from Chile, Bolivia, Peru, and Argentina. In Chile, the cueca holds the status of national dance, where it was officially selected on September 18, 1979.- Origins :...
(short for zamacueca) and first appeared in 1824. Another form of traditional Chilean song, though not a dance, is the tonada. Arising from music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
imported by the Spanish colonists, it is distinguished from the cueca by an intermediate melodic section and a more prominent melody. The cueca was promoted by the Pinochet regime in the 1970s and 1980s for political reasons to promote Chilean nationalism, cultural pride and conservative patriotic fervor.
In the period starting from 1930 to 1970 appears a rebirth in the interest and popularity in folk music in Chile carried out initially by groups such as Los Cuatro Huasos, who took folk songs from the Chilean country and arranged them vocally and with musical instruments. They gave several recitals in Chile and in Latinoamerica that contributed with its diffusion. Later appeared other groups such as Los de Ramon
Los de Ramon
Los de Ramón are a Chilean folkloric group of vast trajectory and extended musical diffusion not only in Chile , also in Latin America. Conformed by the family group of Raul de Ramon , his wife Maria Eugenia and his two children Carlos Alberto and Raul Eduardo were of great importance like...
, Los Huasos Quincheros, Los Cuatro Cuartos and others who continued with this diffusion. Also appeared several Chilean folk composers such as Raul de Ramon
Raul de Ramon
Raúl de Ramón was a Chilean composer, musician and folklorist and author of numerous songs of great diffusion in Chile like The Curanto, Nostalgia Colchaguina, Camino de Soledad, Rosa Colorada, Canción de la Caballería, El Amor del Arriero and a hundred more...
, Margot Loyola
Margot Loyola
Margot Loyola Palacios is a musician, folk singer and researcher of the folklore of Chile and Latin America in general.Loyola has been active as a musician and musical ethnographer/anthropologist for many decades...
, Luis Aguirre Pinto, Violeta Parra
Violeta Parra
Violeta del Carmen Parra Sandoval was a notable Chilean composer, songwriter, folklorist, ethnomusicologist and visual artist...
, Víctor Jara
Víctor Jara
Víctor Lidio Jara Martínez was a Chilean teacher, theatre director, poet, singer-songwriter, political activist and member of the Communist Party of Chile...
and others that carried out folk investigation and composed folk music that is still sung up to day.
In the mid-1960s native musical forms were revitalized by the Parra family
Parra family
The Parra family is a Chilean family known for its many artists. Members of the Parra family are noted contributors to Chilean culture with almost every member being a distinguished national artist. The family is not related to the Parra brothers, members of the Chilean rock fusion group Los...
with the Nueva Canción Chilena
Nueva canción
Nueva canción is a movement and genre within Latin American and Iberian music of folk music, folk-inspired music and socially committed music...
, which became associated with political activism and reformers like Chilean socialist
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
Salvador Allende
Salvador Allende
Salvador Allende Gossens was a Chilean physician and politician who is generally considered the first democratically elected Marxist to become president of a country in Latin America....
and his Popular Unity government. Violeta Parra, Víctor Jara, Los Jaivas
Los Jaivas
Los Jaivas are a Chilean musical group who perform in folk, rock, and progressive rock styles.-History:Los Jaivas appeared in Chilean music in 1963 as a progressive-rock-andino group, mixing rock with South American ancestral music...
, Inti-Illimani
Inti-Illimani
Inti-Illimani is an instrumental and vocal Latin American folk music ensemble from Chile. The group was formed in 1967 by a group of university students and it acquired widespread popularity in Chile for their song Venceremos which became the anthem of the Popular Unity government of Salvador...
, Illapu
Illapu
Illapu , are a Chilean folk and andean musical ensemble that was formed in 1971 in Antofagasta, in northern Chile, by the brothers José Miguel, Jaime, Andrés and Roberto Márquez Bugueño. A later addition to the group was Osvaldo Torres. Illapu comes from the Quechua word meaning "Lightning Bolt"....
and Quilapayún
Quilapayún
Quilapayún are an instrumental and vocal folk music group from Chile and among the longest lasting and most influential exponents of the Nueva Canción Chilena movement. Formed in Chile during the mid-1960s, the group became inseparable with the revolution that occurred in the popular music of the...
are performers of this music. During the military rule in the 1970s, all forms of public expression contrary to the junta
Military dictatorship
A military dictatorship is a form of government where in the political power resides with the military. It is similar but not identical to a stratocracy, a state ruled directly by the military....
were repressed, and protest song
Protest song
A protest song is a song which is associated with a movement for social change and hence part of the broader category of topical songs . It may be folk, classical, or commercial in genre...
s, which were played and circulated in a clandestine manner. In the late 1980s and after the return of democracy in the 1990s, new musical bands like La Ley
La Ley
"La Ley" is Spanish for "The Law"*For the Chilean rock band, see La Ley .*For the Argentine publishing company, see La Ley .*For the Spanish-language radio station in Goldsboro, North Carolina, see WYMY....
, Los Tres
Los Tres
Los Tres is a Chilean rock band composed of four members: a rock/folk singer and three jazzmen. It was one of the noted bands in the Chilean nineties, together with La Ley and Lucybell....
and Los Prisioneros
Los Prisioneros
Los Prisioneros was a chilean rock band formed in San Miguel, Santiago, Chile in 1982. They began as a local band during the early 1980s, playing small shows in their neighborhood and high school...
, began to appear, and the rise of heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
and alternative rock
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
there. Even 1970s Chilean rock
Chilean rock
Chilean rock music comes from many decades of evolving musical styles, many of the later conceived artists in the 80's and 90's are highly influenced by artists such as folk musicians Victor Jara and Violeta Parra...
bands like the Los Ángeles Negros
Los angeles negros
Los Ángeles Negros was a Chilean music band that recorded primarily during the mid and late 1970s. Formed in 1967, the band released several albums after coming together through a local radio competition....
regained popularity across Latin America.
Chilean literature
Chile's most famous contributions to literature have come from Nobel Prize
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
poets Pablo Neruda
Pablo Neruda
Pablo Neruda was the pen name and, later, legal name of the Chilean poet, diplomat and politician Neftalí Ricardo Reyes Basoalto. He chose his pen name after Czech poet Jan Neruda....
and Gabriela Mistral
Gabriela Mistral
Gabriela Mistral was the pseudonym of Lucila de María del Perpetuo Socorro Godoy Alcayaga, a Chilean poet, educator, diplomat, and feminist who was the first Latin American to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, in 1945...
, whose homes and birthplaces are now museums that attract literary pilgrims to Chile. Neruda's Heights of Machu Picchu, Canto General and the autobiographical Memoirs are widely available in English, however Mistral's works are harder to find.
Contemporary Chilean authors have earned an international reputation in the literary world. The most famous is novelist Isabel Allende
Isabel Allende
Isabel Allende Llona is a Chilean writer with American citizenship. Allende, whose works sometimes contain aspects of the "magic realist" tradition, is famous for novels such as The House of the Spirits and City of the Beasts , which have been commercially successful...
, whose House of the Spirits, Of Love and Shadows, and Eva Luna have all been international bestsellers. She is the niece of president Salvador Allende
Salvador Allende
Salvador Allende Gossens was a Chilean physician and politician who is generally considered the first democratically elected Marxist to become president of a country in Latin America....
.
The increasingly popular Luis Sepúlveda
Luis Sepúlveda
Luis Sepúlveda is a Chilean writer, film director, journalist and political activist.- Life :Luis Sepùlveda was born in Ovalle, Limarí Province...
has written stylish short novels like The Old Man Who Read Love Stories, and combines travel writing with imaginative fiction in Full Circle: a South American Journey.
José Donoso's novel Curfew recalls the latter days of the recent military dictatorship, while Antonio Skármeta
Antonio Skármeta
Antonio Skármeta is a Chilean writer, born November 7, 1940 in Antofagasta, Chile. He was born to Croatian immigrants from the Adriatic island of Brač, region of Dalmatia....
's novel Burning Patience (drawing on Neruda's life as a Chilean icon) was the inspiration for the Oscar-winning Italian film, Il Postino
Il Postino
Il Postino is a 1994 Italian film directed by Michael Radford. The film was originally released in the U.S. as The Postman, a straight translation of the Italian title...
(The Postman).
Chilean fine and visual arts
Established in 1849 in the University of Chile, the Chilean Academy of Painting has helped foster fine painting and inspire young artists. Roberto MattaRoberto Matta
Roberto Sebastián Antonio Matta Echaurren , better known as Roberto Matta, was one of Chile's best-known painters and a seminal figure in 20th century abstract expressionist and surrealist art....
, a twentieth century painter, is a world known artist who used abstract and surrealist technique in his work. Carlos Sotomayor
Carlos Sotomayor
Carlos Sotomayor was a Chilean painter, born in La Serena, Chile. He is considered to be one of the principal exponents of the cubism from South America.-Early years:...
(1911-1988) is considered one of the main exponents of cubism from South America. Camilo Mori
Camilo Mori
Camilo Mori Serrano was a painter and a founder of the Grupo Montparnasse....
(1896-1973) was the founder of the Group Montparnasse. Claudio Bravo
Claudio Bravo
Claudio Andrés Bravo Muñoz is a Chilean footballer who plays for Real Sociedad in Spain, as a goalkeeper. He is also a Chilean international.-Colo-Colo:...
(1936-2011) was a hyperrealist who lived and worked in Morocco since 1972.
Sculpture has also been prominent in Chile’s culture. Nineteenth century sculptor Rebeca Matte (1875-1929) was the first Chilean woman to embrace the art. She was commissioned to produce a piece by the government of Chile as a gift to the government of Brazil which she called “Icarus and Daedalus” (United in Glory and Peace). In 1930, her husband donated a bronze copy to the Museum of Fine Arts in Santiago which is recognized as a leading masterpiece. Matte also created a battle monument as a tribute to the heroes of Concepcion. In the twentieth century Marta Colvin
Marta Colvin
Marta Colvin Andrade is a sculptress from, Chillán, Chile.-Biography:Marta Colvin Andrade was the daughter of James Colvin and Elcira Andrade....
(1907-1995) gained international status by exhibiting her work in cities around the world.
Chilean cuisine
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
. In the 20th century French cuisine
French cuisine
French cuisine is a style of food preparation originating from France that has developed from centuries of social change. In the Middle Ages, Guillaume Tirel , a court chef, authored Le Viandier, one of the earliest recipe collections of Medieval France...
marked an important turning point influencing culinary methods and creating a type of Criollo
Criollo people
The Criollo class ranked below that of the Iberian Peninsulares, the high-born permanent residence colonists born in Spain. But Criollos were higher status/rank than all other castes—people of mixed descent, Amerindians, and enslaved Africans...
style that has been implemented now in Chilean cooking. British cooking influences
British cuisine
English cuisine encompasses the cooking styles, traditions and recipes associated with England. It has distinctive attributes of its own, but also shares much with wider British cuisine, largely due to the importation of ingredients and ideas from places such as North America, China, and India...
include the onces or tea
Tea
Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by adding cured leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant to hot water. The term also refers to the plant itself. After water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world...
breaks usually taken in the afternoon among Chileans of all classes and backgrounds. Many Chilean recipes are enhanced and accompanied by wine
Wine
Wine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...
and Pisco
Pisco
Pisco is a colorless or yellowish-to-amber colored grape brandy produced in winemaking regions of Chile and Peru. Pisco was developed by Spanish settlers in the 16th century as an alternative to orujo, a pomace brandy that was being imported from Spain...
, a type of grape brandy produced in Chile as well a drink in Peru. Throughout Chile each region spanning from north to south contain a variety of culinary recipes special to each location.
- Arrollado de Huaso *AsadoAsadoAsado is a term used both for a range of barbecue techniques and the social event of having or attending a barbecue in Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile and southern Brazil. In the former countries asado is also the standard word for barbecue. An asado usually consists of beef alongside various...
*Bistec a lo Pobre *CazuelaCazuelaCazuela is the common name given to a variety of dishes, specially from South America. It receives its name from the cazuela in which is cooked...
*CharquicánCharquicanCharquekán is a Chilean dish, containing potatoes, minced meat, pumpkin, white corn, onion and sometimes peas. Charquekán is dry llama meat . This way of preserving meat made it possible for ancient cultures to store food. Today Charquecán Orureño is one of the most famous ways to prepare this meat...
*Chilenitos *ChurrascoChurrascoChurrasco is a Portuguese and Spanish term referring to beef or grilled meat more generally, differing across Latin America and Europe, but a prominent feature in the cuisines of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Nicaragua, Uruguay, and other Latin American countries...
*Cola de monoCola de monoCola de mono is a traditional Chilean drink served around Christmas time, very much like the tradition of serving eggnog during Christmas in North America...
*CurantoCurantoCuranto is a traditional food of Chiloé Archipelago that has spread to the southern areas of Chile and recently Argentina. It is traditionally prepared in a hole, about a meter and a half deep, which is dug in the ground...
*EmpanadaEmpanadaAn empanada is a stuffed bread or pastry baked or fried in many countries in Latin America, Southern Europe and parts of Southeast Asia. The name comes from the verb empanar, meaning to wrap or coat in bread. Empanada is made by folding a dough or bread patty around the stuffing...
*Ensalada a la Chilena *HumitaHumitaHumita is a Native American dish from pre-Hispanic times, and a traditional food in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador and Peru. It consists of masa harina and corn, slowly cooked in oil....
*Manjar BlancoManjar BlancoManjar blanco is a term used to refer to a variety of delicacies in the Spanish-speaking world. In Spain the term refers to blancmange, a European delicacy found in various parts of the continent as well as the United Kingdom. In the Americas it refers to a sweet, white spread or pastry filling...
*MarraquetaMarraquetaThe marraqueta is a South American crunchy bread made with flour, salt, water and leavening...
*Mote con huesilloMote con huesilloMote con huesillo is a traditional Chilean summer-time drink, known as the “refreshing national drink.” It is a non-alcoholic beverage consisting of a sweet clear nectar like liquid made with dried peaches cooked in sugar,water and cinnamon, and then once cooled mixed with fresh cooked husked...
*Pan de Huevo *Pan de PascuaPan de PascuaPan de Pascua is a typical Chilean cake that is traditionally eaten around Christmas time. It is similar to a sweet sponge cake flavored with ginger and honey. It usually contains candied fruits, raisins, walnuts and almonds. Pan de Pascua was originally introduced to Chile by German immigrants....
*Palta Reina *Pastel de chocloPastel de chocloPastel de choclo is a typical Argentinian, Peruvian and Chilean dish made of fresh ground corn with basil. It is traditionally served in a paila . Commonly mixed in with the choclo is ground beef, chicken, black olives, onions and/or slices of hard boiled eggs....
*PebrePebrePebre is a Chilean condiment made of coriander, chopped onion, olive oil, garlic and ground or pureed spicy aji peppers. Pebre is most commonly spooned on meat, usually from a barbecue. If you add chopped tomatoes it is called Chancho en piedra....
*Porotos Granados *SopaipillaSopaipillaA sopaipilla, sopapilla, sopaipa, or cachanga is a kind of fried pastry and a type of quick bread served in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, northern Mexico, New Mexico, Peru, Texas, and Uruguay. The word sopaipilla is the diminutive of sopaipa, a word that entered Spanish from the Mozarabic language of...
.
Film production in Chile
Domestic film production in Chile is still small but dynamic, it has been steadily growing since 1990 and the country now produces about 20 motion pictures annually. Important filmmakers include: Raul Ruiz (Palomita blancaPalomita Blanca
Palomita Blanca is a 1971 novel written by Enrique Lafourcade. More than fifty editions have been published, making the novel the most widely sold novel in the history of Chilean literature, with more than a million copies sold...
), Miguel Littin
Miguel Littin
Miguel Ernesto Littín Cucumides is a Chilean film director, screenwriter, film producer and novelist. He was born to a Palestinian father, Hernán Littin and a Greek mother, Cristina Cucumides....
(El chacal de Nahueltoro), Silvio Caiozzi (Julio comienza en julio), and Andrés Wood with (Machuca
Machuca
Machuca is a 2004 Chilean film written and directed by Andrés Wood. Set in 1973 Santiago during Salvador Allende's socialist government and shortly before General Augusto Pinochet's military coup in 1973, the film tells the story of two friends, one of them the very poor Pedro Machuca who is...
). Other entertainment includes radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
and television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
with TVN (Television Nacional de Chile) owned but not paid by the government but funding comes from commercial sponsors by private companies and media productions.
Sports in Chile
- Football (soccer)
The most popular and widely followed sport in Chile, and practiced by Chileans from all economic backgrounds, it is the one sport that appeals to both young and old that is the most accessible. Federación de Fútbol de Chile is the governing body of "fútbol" in Chile. Practices such as "baby fútbol" which is a street level scrimmage match is played on areas made of concrete. Located throughout Chile are football stadiums such as Estadio Nacional de Chile
Estadio Nacional de Chile
The Estadio Nacional Julio Martínez Prádanos is the national stadium of Chile, and is located in the Ñuñoa district of Santiago). It is the largest stadium in Chile with an official capacity of 47,000, and is part of a 62 ha sporting complex which also features tennis courts, an aquatics center, a...
located in Santiago and where the final of the 1962 World Cup
1962 FIFA World Cup
The 1962 FIFA World Cup, the seventh staging of the World Cup, was held in Chile from 30 May to 17 June. It was won by Brazil, who retained the championship by beating Czechoslovakia 3–1 in the final...
was held. Chile was banned in FIFA
FIFA
The Fédération Internationale de Football Association , commonly known by the acronym FIFA , is the international governing body of :association football, futsal and beach football. Its headquarters are located in Zurich, Switzerland, and its president is Sepp Blatter, who is in his fourth...
participation in the early 1990s due to a faked player injury on the field during a 1989 playoff game and could not appear in the 1990 and 1994 World Cup events as a result.
- SkiingSkiingSkiing is a recreational activity using skis as equipment for traveling over snow. Skis are used in conjunction with boots that connect to the ski with use of a binding....
Chile practices a host of sporting events and because of its geographical location that is situated between the Andes Mountains
Andes
The Andes is the world's longest continental mountain range. It is a continual range of highlands along the western coast of South America. This range is about long, about to wide , and of an average height of about .Along its length, the Andes is split into several ranges, which are separated...
and the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
. Skiing
Skiing
Skiing is a recreational activity using skis as equipment for traveling over snow. Skis are used in conjunction with boots that connect to the ski with use of a binding....
and snowboarding
Snowboarding
Snowboarding is a sport that involves descending a slope that is covered with snow on a snowboard attached to a rider's feet using a special boot set onto mounted binding. The development of snowboarding was inspired by skateboarding, sledding, surfing and skiing. It was developed in the U.S.A...
are done in between those two locations. With more than 4 thousand kilometers (2500 mi) of mountains, Chile is known internationally as one of the world's best skiing destinations and the best of South America. This recognition is based on the excellent quality of the slopes, a top-level infrastructure, a beautiful landscape, accessibility and proximity to urban centers. Santiago de Chile is interested in hosting the Winter Olympics in the future, destined to be the first site in the southern hemisphere.
The main ski centers are located in Central Chile right in the middle of the Andes, at heights that vary from 2400 meters (7872 ft) up to 3000 meters (9840 ft) above sea level. These centers are the ones with the biggest skiing surfaces as well as the best supporting infrastructure.
The centers of Southern Chile are located at lower altitudes and most of them are on volcano slopes. The scenery is normally spectacular, some passing beautiful forests and some with breathtaking panoramic views.
- SurfingSurfingSurfing' is a surface water sport in which the surfer rides a surfboard on the crest and face of a wave which is carrying the surfer towards the shore...
Chile is a great surfing destination, and from the Northern region to the Central region there are many beaches with the right conditions for the sport. It is practically possible to surf all year round except for the middle of the winter (July and August) when weather conditions are non-conducive to surfing. The water temperature fluctuates between 10º and 20°C (50º and 68°F).
In northern Chile, the waves are smaller, but very forceful and between Arica
Arica
Arica is a city in northern Chile. "Arica" may also refer to:Places* Arica and Parinacota Region, Chile* Arica Airport , Chile* Arica, Amazonas, town in Colombia* Rio Aricá-açu, tributary of the Cuiabá River south of Cuiabá, BrazilOther...
and Iquique
Iquique
Iquique is a port city and commune in northern Chile, capital of both the Iquique Province and Tarapacá Region. It lies on the Pacific coast, west of the Atacama Desert and the Pampa del Tamarugal. It had a population of 216,419 as of the 2002 census...
, tubes are common. The temperature of the water fluctuates between 15º and 20°C (59º and 68°F). Due to the difficult conditions of the Atacama Desert
Atacama Desert
The Atacama Desert is a plateau in South America, covering a strip of land on the Pacific coast, west of the Andes mountains. It is, according to NASA, National Geographic and many other publications, the driest desert in the world...
, there are many unexplored, quiet beaches in this area. In the Central Region the water is a little bit colder, and there are steeper shores and bigger waves.
- BasketballBasketballBasketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
In addition to football/soccer, basketball is particularly popular in southern Chile where it as an indoor sport which can be played all year round despite Southern Chile's cold and rainy winters. The NCBAOC is the official league. It stands for the National Chile Basketball Association of Chile. Other sports in Chile include golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
, polo
Polo
Polo is a team sport played on horseback in which the objective is to score goals against an opposing team. Sometimes called, "The Sport of Kings", it was highly popularized by the British. Players score by driving a small white plastic or wooden ball into the opposing team's goal using a...
, tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
, rugby
Rugby football
Rugby football is a style of football named after Rugby School in the United Kingdom. It is seen most prominently in two current sports, rugby league and rugby union.-History:...
, field hockey
Field hockey
Field Hockey, or Hockey, is a team sport in which a team of players attempts to score goals by hitting, pushing or flicking a ball into an opposing team's goal using sticks...
and even an ice hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
team, as the sport was introduced to Chile by northern Europeans.
- RodeoChilean rodeoRodeo is a traditional sport in Chile. It was declared the national sport in 1962. It has since thrived, especially in the more rural areas of the country. Chilean rodeo is different from the rodeo found in North America...
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...
. It was declared the national sport in 1962. It has since thrived, especially in the more rural areas of the country. Chilean rodeo is different from the rodeo
Rodeo
Rodeo is a competitive sport which arose out of the working practices of cattle herding in Spain, Mexico, and later the United States, Canada, South America and Australia. It was based on the skills required of the working vaqueros and later, cowboys, in what today is the western United States,...
found in North America. In Chilean rodeo, a team (called a collera) consisting of two riders (called Huaso
Huaso
A huaso is a Chilean countryman and skilled horseman, similar to the Argentinian, Rio Grande do Sul's or Uruguayan gaucho, the American cowboy, the Australian stockman, and Mexican vaquero and charro. A female huaso is called a huasa, although the term china is far more commonly used for his wife...
s) and two horses rides laps around an arena trying to stop a calf
Calf
Calves are the young of domestic cattle. Calves are reared to become adult cattle, or are slaughtered for their meat, called veal.-Terminology:...
, pinning him against massive cushions. Points are earned for every time the steer is properly driven around the corral, with deductions for faults. Rodeos are conducted in a crescent-shaped corral called a medialuna
Medialuna
A medialuna is crescent-shaped corral used for rodeos, the official sport in Chile. They are generally 64–66 meters in diameter...
.
Comparisons and relations with other cultures
As a Latin American nation, Chile will display similarities with both neighboring and Hispanic cultures. However, the Chilean people shown a more Europeanized and western outlook and culture than PeruPeru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
and Bolivia
Bolivia
Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...
, but Chile is less than that of Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
and Uruguay
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
. Chileans are apparently castizo
Castizo
Castizo is a Spanish word with a general meaning of "pure" or "genuine". The feminine form is castiza. From this meaning it evolved other meanings, such as "typical of an area" and it was also used for one of the colonial Spanish race categories, the castas, that evolved in the seventeenth...
in contrast to more indigenous demographics Bolivia
Bolivia
Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...
and Paraguay
Paraguay
Paraguay , officially the Republic of Paraguay , is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest. Paraguay lies on both banks of the Paraguay River, which runs through the center of the...
where 95% of its people also speak the Guarani language
Guaraní language
Guaraní, specifically the primary variety known as Paraguayan Guaraní , is an indigenous language of South America that belongs to the Tupí–Guaraní subfamily of the Tupian languages. It is one of the official languages of Paraguay , where it is spoken by the majority of the population, and half of...
.
Chilean popular culture have influenced and shows more affinity with what is typically perceived as South American one, such as football, asado
Asado
Asado is a term used both for a range of barbecue techniques and the social event of having or attending a barbecue in Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile and southern Brazil. In the former countries asado is also the standard word for barbecue. An asado usually consists of beef alongside various...
barbecue
Barbecue
Barbecue or barbeque , used chiefly in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia is a method and apparatus for cooking meat, poultry and occasionally fish with the heat and hot smoke of a fire, smoking wood, or hot coals of...
and the Nueva Canción
Nueva canción
Nueva canción is a movement and genre within Latin American and Iberian music of folk music, folk-inspired music and socially committed music...
musical movement. There are some characteristics of Chile with distant cultures in Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, Costa Rica
Costa Rica
Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....
and Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
were noted in modern anthropology, in part of 19th century trans-migrations of Chileans and other Latin Americans. South Americans, like Chile, are strongly nationalistic and loyal to their nation they live in.
Chile marginally shares together with Peru a larger Quechua and Spanish colonial heritage, as well the majority of Chileans like Peruvians have a degree of indigenous (with Peru, the Incas) ancestry, but one where, in contrast to Peru, the European element dominates. But, Chileans with the "Gothic" myth by Nicolas Palacios, the country would be construed to descended from Anglo-Germanic/Celtic stock like Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
and South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
to some extent, in the southern hemisphere, where some former European colonies were transplanted.
See also
- Chilean AmericanChilean AmericanChilean Americans are United States citizens or residents of Chilean origin. They number about 124,116 in 2009.In 2000, close to 14,000 lived in the states of Florida and California, while around 16,330 lived in the states of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and other New England states...
- ChamantoChamantothumb|right|250px|Chilean businessman and weapon scientist [[Carlos Cardoen]] wearing a chamanto and a [[chupalla]] sombreroA chamanto thumb|right|250px|Chilean businessman and weapon scientist [[Carlos Cardoen]] wearing a chamanto and a [[chupalla]] sombreroA chamanto thumb|right|250px|Chilean...
- History of ChileHistory of ChileThe 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...
- Archaeological sites in Chile
- Latin American cultureLatin American cultureLatin American culture is the formal or informal expression of the peoples of Latin America, and includes both high culture and popular culture as well as religion and other customary practices....
External links
- Catalogue cultural of Chile
- Chilean Cultural Heritage Gateway
- Art and Literature - Chile Cultural Society
- http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070730/schlotterbeckMarian Schlotterbeck "Artists Pursue the Disappeared" The NationThe NationThe Nation is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States. The periodical, devoted to politics and culture, is self-described as "the flagship of the left." Founded on July 6, 1865, It is published by The Nation Company, L.P., at 33 Irving Place, New York City.The Nation...
, July 12, 2007.] - Art and Culture - this is Chile