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Why The Vast Majority Of All Chileans Live Near Its Capital
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Mar 31, 2025
Chile is the world's longest and narrowest country. And squished in between the Pacific Ocean and the Andes mountain range is 19.5 million people. But despite being a large (if skinny) country, the vast majority of Chileans live within 300 miles of its capital city: Santiago. Here's how Chile's unique geography and history have impacted where and how most Chileans live.
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Chile has one of the most fascinating geographies in the entire world
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The country stretches 2,653 miles along the west coast of South America
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but has an average width of only 109 miles. And because of this, you would think that Chileans would spread out
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and inhabit as many areas as possible within their very narrow country
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But that's not the case. Over 75% of all Chileans live within 300 miles of Santiago
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Here's why. Hello and welcome to Geography by Jeff. Have you ever noticed just how long and narrow Chile is
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Backed in between the Pacific Ocean and the Andes mountain range is over 19 million people
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But unlike Vietnam, another long and narrow country, Chile's population is particularly
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concentrated near its capital city, Santiago. And there's a geographic reason for this
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But as usual, if you like geography, be sure to check out my podcast, Geography is Everything
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Each week, we look at a new topic and explain its impact on the world. We've already covered great topics such as the English language, Lego, and beer
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And many more topics are on the way. You can listen to that right here on YouTube
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Substack, or whatever app you use to listen to podcasts. Chile is a fascinating country to say the very least
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While most countries typically expand in all directions towards any and all available land
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Chile did not. In fact, the Chile of today is the narrowest country in the world
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when looking at its length compared to its width. But while Chile has its unique borders today
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it didn't really start out that way. As with most of Central and South America
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much of the area that Chile exists on was once claimed by various indigenous tribes and civilizations
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The northern part of modern-day Chile was claimed by the Incan Empire, one of the largest pre-colonial civilizations in the Western Hemisphere
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And the southern part was home to the Mapuche people, who would often fight and war with the Incan Empire
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All of this land, however, would eventually be conquered by the Spanish conquistadors
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where the Kingdom of Chile would be established. The Kingdom of Chile, a vice royalty of Spain
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would consist of much of modern-day Chile as well as most of the southern portion of modern-day Argentina
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In 1810, shortly after the capture of King Ferdinand of Spain by Napoleon
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Chile announced its intention to formally separate from Spain. This would kick off a long period of war
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and reconquering of Chile between Chilean patriots and Spanish royalists over the next decade
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But by 1818 Chile would officially declare its independence and would claim the relatively small area around Santiago today In 1826 Chile would formally acquire the archipelago of Chilo This would be followed by the far southern Magellanus region in 1843
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It would take another few decades for the remainder of the southern part of Chile to be formally organized and split between Chile and Argentina
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In the middle of the 1800s, Chile was effectively split in two halves
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It controlled the region around Santiago as well as the southern tip of the continent. But Argentina owned all of the land in between
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After a long, drawn-out war against the Mapuche people and many decades of territorial disputes and conflicts with Argentina
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the two countries signed the Boundary Treaty of 1881, which largely established the two countries' borders
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and gave Chile its missing middle peace. Meanwhile, in the northern Atacama Desert areas
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a dispute between Chile and the newly independent country of Bolivia would begin to simmer
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During the early years of both countries' independence, each would claim the region
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but also given its rugged terrain, neither government cared too much about figuring out who would own what
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That is, until copper, silver, and nitrate deposits were found. This would kick off the War of the Pacific between Chile and a Peruvian-Bolivian alliance
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Chile would eventually win the war and claim its entire northern region that it continues to own today
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This would not only give Chile a huge resource boon, but also landlock the country of Bolivia
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And with that, the narrowest country in the world was born. By 1890, Chile had basically acquired most of its land
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Minor disputes and land changers would occur over the next century, but nothing too major
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And while this has all been history so far, if you haven't picked up on it yet, Chile's
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geography is extreme. Chile is a fascinating case study in nation building around a unique geography
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Natural boundaries such as mountain ranges and rivers form the national boundaries of
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so many countries, but fewer is unique as Chile. But before we explore Chile's geography, if you're enjoying this video, hit that subscribe button
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More fun geography videos are just a single click away. Chile is a long country
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We've already established that, but it's still probably longer than you think
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At its very northern point, the country sits at the 17th parallel, well above the Tropic of Capricorn, and at its southern tip is the 56th parallel
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Because it spans so much of the planet in a north-south manner, Chile is subjected to a wide variety of different climates in relatively quick succession
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In terms of climate, Chile can really be broken out into five distinct regions
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In the far north is the Atacama Desert a desert so dry that some areas have no recorded rainfall As you move south things start to get cooler A little to the north of Santiago is a semi region where cattle and other livestock are raised
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In the central region, home to Santiago and most of Chile's population, a Mediterranean climate brings more rain
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and a climate that is ripe for agriculture. South of Santiago is a cooler and rainy region
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with forests and grasslands alike. This is also where Chile's lumber industry
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primarily harvests wood. And finally, in the far south is a much colder region comprised of many fjords and channels
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It's also where Chile's oil deposits can largely be found. All of this is in the shadow of the mighty Andes mountain range
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Stretching all the way from Colombia to the southern tip of Chile and Argentina, the Andes have had a huge impact on the geography of the continent at large
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But few countries have to contend with it in the same way that Chile does. Because Chile is squished between the Pacific Ocean and the Andes
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about 80% of the land in Chile is made up of mountains. And most Chileans live near or on these mountains
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This has had a huge impact on the viability of where Chileans can live prosperously
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If you haven't picked up on it yet, when looking at the geography of Chile, there are relatively few places that are actually comfortable for Chileans to live
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In the north, it's hot and very dry. In the south, it gets pretty cold and wet
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But there's a sweet spot in Chile, and it's right in the middle. Mediterranean climates around the world are very popular
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Due to a combination of mild winters and warm summers, people tend to like living within them
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In California, from San Francisco to San Diego are nearly 40 million Americans
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In Europe, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece, and western Turkey are all lauded for their climate
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and have become huge tourist destinations. And in western Australia, Perth has quickly become the country's fourth largest metropolitan region
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and is growing considerably. Santiago, of course, also has a Mediterranean climate which, as far as Chileans are concerned
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seems to be the ideal climate. But while climate certainly had a hand
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in why so many live in or near Santiago today, the reality is that the city has also become
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the economic engine for the entire country. During the early parts of the 1900s
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Chile began to industrialize, and this drew tens of thousands of Chilean farmers
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primarily from the southern regions, to set up a new life within Santiago
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or one of the surrounding cities. As the decades came and went through the 1900s
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Santiago only became more economically powerful which led to even more Chileans moving to the city
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And if there one thing we know about human migration patterns it that people tend to move most often when there are economic reasons to do so In the case of Santiago and its surrounding area the climate provided the historic reasons for the city to be settled where it is
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But it was the economy that drew in the millions of Chileans that live there today
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And this isn't to say that Chileans living in this region are completely immune from Chile's geographic issues
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Chile also happens to be subjected to the whims of the Nazca Plate, a particularly active plate that is constantly pushing underneath South America
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And it's this plate that caused the 8.8 earthquake off the coast of Malay, Chile
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leading to a tsunami that wreaked havoc on coastal Chilean communities. Santiago, of course, is not near the coast and was safe from the tsunami
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but not the earthquake itself. Today, Chile is home to 19.5 million people
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making it the sixth largest country in South America. And of those 19.5 million people
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over 7 million live directly within the Santiago metropolitan region. This is followed by the Valparaiso region, just to the north with nearly 2 million people
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the Biobio region with 1.5 million people, the Malay region with over 1 million people
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and finally the O'Higgins and Coquimbo regions with 2.5 million people between the two of them
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All told, over 75% of all Chileans live within this relatively condensed area of an otherwise
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very large country. The northern dry regions of the country are home to nearly 2 million people
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and the southern wet regions are home to nearly 3 million people. And those 19.5 million people enjoy a pretty good life economically speaking
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As of today, Chile is one of the wealthiest and most economically viable countries in all of South America
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And much of this is on the backs of the country's extensive mining and natural resource extraction industry
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As of 2019, Chile was the world's largest supplier of copper and one of the largest suppliers of silver and salt
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It's also become the second largest supplier of lithium, the material that powers basically everything in modern day technology
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and due to having such a strong economy, Chile is expected to grow considerably
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over the next few decades, mostly within the central part around Santiago
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Chile is a dynamic, diverse, and fascinating country. But as with many other countries
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most of its people have gravitated towards the economic center where most of the jobs and wealth are located
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In the case of Chile, this center would be Santiago or one of the regions nearby
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And that's not likely to change anytime soon. I hope you enjoyed learning about Chile
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and its unique geography. If you did, please subscribe to my channel
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And if you wanna watch more of my videos, you can do so here
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Thanks for watching, see you next time
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