Republic of Chile
Chile, 1818 to today. Draft, not yet reviewed
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the Southern Cone of southwestern South America. On 12 February 1818, Chile was proclaimed an independent republic. During the 1960s and 1970s, the country was marked by severe left-right political polarization and turmoil, which culminated in the 11 September 1973 coup d'état, with support from the United States, that overthrew Salvador Allende's democratically elected left-wing government. This was followed by a 16-and-a-half-year right-wing military dictatorship led by Augusto Pinochet, during which the 1980 Constitution was enacted, along with numerous political and economic reforms, and which was marked by widespread human rights violations, including more than 3,000 deaths and disappearances.
Seat of power: Santiago
Rulers
José Joaquín Prieto
President of Chile, 1831–1841
As General, he defeated the Pipiolos (Liberals) in the Chilean Civil War of 1829–1830. He led Chile in the war with Peru between 1836 and 1839.
Portrait of José Joaquín Prieto: Charles Clotsworthy Wood Taylor, Public domain, file
Manuel Bulnes
President of Chile, 1841–1851
His presidencies were characterised by educational and cultural expansion, supported by the encouragement of foreign intellectuals to come to Chile. In Santiago the University of Chile was founded during his watch, in 1842, as well as a technical training school from which the University of Santiago is descended. Bulnes also presided over a general amnesty in order to reconcile the groups who had opposed one another in the Civil War of 1829.
Portrait of Manuel Bulnes: Raymond Monvoisin, Public domain, file
Manuel Montt
President of Chile, 1851–1861
He was the first civilian to serve a full term as President of Chile. His election as President in 1851 set off Revolution of 1851, which Montt successfully subdued. During his tenure, he governed in an increasingly authoritarian manner.
Portrait of Manuel Montt: Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, file
José Joaquín Pérez
President of Chile, 1861–1871
As president, Pérez's administration promoted reconciliation and reform. He enacted an amnesty law for political disputes from 1851 to 1861, allowed greater freedom of the press, and passed the Law of Freedom of Worship in 1865.
Portrait of José Joaquín Pérez: Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, file
Federico Errázuriz Zañartu
President of Chile, 1871–1876
In 1871 Errázuriz became president of the republic of Chile, and introduced liberal reforms of great importance to the country, tending toward the secularization of public instruction and freedom of worship. He amended the constitution of 1833 by means of a law which was very much discussed in congress, abolished ecclesiastical privileges, and built several railways in the northern and southern parts of the country.
Portrait of Federico Errázuriz Zañartu: anonymous, Public domain, file
Arturo Alessandri
President of Chile, 1932–1938
Alessandri served thrice as president of Chile, first from 1920 to 1924, then from March to October 1925, and finally from 1932 to 1938. In the 1920 Chilean presidential election, Alessandri was the Liberal Alliance candidate for president, narrowly defeating his opponent of the Coalition Party, Luis Barros Borgoño.
Portrait of Arturo Alessandri: Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, file
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Gabriel Gonzáles Videla
President of Chile, 1946–1952
González Videla served as the 25th president of Chile from 1946 to 1952. The early years of the Presidency of Gabriel González were marked by serious unrest between left and right-wing supporters, and on 2 August 1947 González named a cabinet of military officers and independents in a supposed attempt to depoliticise the situation.
Portrait of Gabriel Gonzáles Videla: Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, file
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Carlos Ibáñez del Campo
President of Chile, 1952–1958
Ibáñez served as president twice, first between 1927 and 1931, and then from 1952 to 1958, serving for 10 years in office.
Portrait of Carlos Ibáñez del Campo: Manuel Herrera, Public domain, file
Jorge Alessandri
President of Chile, 1958–1964
Jorge Alessandri was the 27th President of Chile from 1958 to 1964, and was the candidate of the Chilean right in the crucial presidential election of 1970, which he lost to Salvador Allende. He was the son of Arturo Alessandri, who was president from 1920 to 1925 and again from 1932 to 1938.
Portrait of Jorge Alessandri: Biblioteca del Congreso Nacional de Chile, CC BY 3.0 cl, file
Eduardo Frei Montalva
President of Chile, 1964–1970
Frei Montalva was the 28th president of Chile from 1964 to 1970. Said political party supported the Armed Forces intervention to remove his successor Salvador Allende from office in 1973, after the Chamber of Deputies, on 22 August 1973, accused Allende of violating the Constitution. He was later a vocal opponent of the Augusto Pinochet regime.
Portrait of Eduardo Frei Montalva: This image is taken from the website of Political History of the Library of the Chilean National Congress, which is u..., CC BY 3.0 cl, file
Augusto Pinochet
President of Chile, 1981–1990
He led the Chilean Army in the overthrow of President Salvador Allende in 1973 and established a military junta. After his rise to power, Pinochet persecuted leftists, socialists, and political critics, resulting in the executions of 1,200 to 3,200 people, the internment of as many as 80,000 people, and the torture of tens of thousands. He was proclaimed President of Chile by the junta in 1974 and served until 1990, when he stepped down to pave the way for democratic elections.
Portrait of Augusto Pinochet: Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Chile., CC BY 2.0 cl, file
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Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle
President of Chile, 1994–2000
His presidency was marked by a consolidation of Chile's transition to democracy albeit the indictment and arrest of Augusto Pinochet in his last year of government heated up national politics. Economically, he oversaw a period of rapid economic growth that was only temporarily stunted by the 1997 Asian financial crisis.
Portrait of Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle: Biblioteca del Congreso Nacional, CC BY 3.0, file
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Ricardo Lagos
President of Chile, 2000–2006
Lagos was the third president from the centre-left Coalition of Parties for Democracy to have governed Chile since 1990. During the 1980s he was a well-known opponent of the Chilean military dictatorship and astounded contemporaries in 1988 by openly denouncing dictator Augusto Pinochet on live television.
Portrait of Ricardo Lagos: Biblioteca del Congreso Nacional, CC BY 3.0, file
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Gabriel Boric
President of Chile, 2022–2026
Upon taking office on 11 March 2022, he became the youngest president in Chilean history. His cabinet was the first in the Americas with a female majority. A proposed new constitution supported by his government was rejected by voters in September 2022.
Portrait of Gabriel Boric: Gobierno de Chile, CC BY 3.0 cl, file
José Antonio Kast
President of Chile, 2026 to today
Kast has served as the 38th president of Chile since 2026. His administration, a self-described "emergency government", has focused on deregulation, cutting taxes, and a hard-line policy against illegal immigration.
Portrait of José Antonio Kast: Unknown authorUnknown author, CC BY 3.0 cl, file
Culture
- The regime ended in 1990, following a referendum in 1988, and was succeeded by a center-left coalition, which ruled until 2010.
- The Mapuche are the largest Indigenous group in South America, with a population of nearly two million, primarily residing in the Central Valley of Chile, with a smaller population in Argentina. Despite colonization and loss, the Mapuche have retained many aspects of their culture, identity, and tradition to this day.
- On September 11, 1973, during the military coup led by Augusto Pinochet, Army forces attacked the palace with tanks and artillery, while the Air Force bombarded it from the air; President Salvador Allende died there. It was rebuilt over the following years and reopened in 1981.
- During the 19th century, Chile experienced significant economic and territorial growth, putting an end to Mapuche resistance in the 1880s and gaining its current northern territory in the War of the Pacific (1879–83) by defeating Peru and Bolivia.
Picture
La Moneda Palace is the seat of the president of Chile.
Image: Miguel hernandez, CC BY-SA 2.0, file
Sources
Text adapted from the Wikipedia articles listed as sources, CC BY-SA 4.0.