10 Interesting Facts About Chile
- Chile’s Atacama Desert, at 7,500 feet above sea level, is the world’s driest place. It is also the world’s oldest desert.
- A few truly “groundbreaking” statistics: Chile has 2,300 volcanoes (many of them active). And the most powerful earthquake ever recorded, measuring 9.5 on the Richter Scale, struck the country in 1960.
- Astronomers love it. Because of its ideal location, the largest telescope in the world is being built in Chile.
- Chile has great wine – and a lot of it. With more than 100 wineries, Chile is the 5thlargest exporter and the 9thlargest producer of wine in the world. Wine was introduced to Chile in the 16thcentury by the conquistadores.
- It’s a good place if you don’t like snakes. Chile has only two species of poisonous snakes, and they are small and relatively harmless.
- It is the longest country in the world, with 6,500 kilometers (2,653 miles) ofPacific coast. But it’s also very narrow, with a maximum width of only 200 kilometers.
- It competes with Egypt in mummies. Nearly 300 mummies have been recovered in Chile. One of them, the mummy of a young girl, is said to be the oldest ever found, dating from 5,050 BC.
- It is home to 5 UNESCO World Heritage Sites: the wooden Jesuit churches of Chiloé, the historic quarter of Valparaiso, the Humberstone and Santa Laura Saltpeter Works, Rapa Nui National Park, and the Sewel mining town.
- It boasts the world’s largest swimming pool. In Algarrobo City – 1,000 yards long, with an area of 20 acres and a maximum depth of 115 feet, it holds 66 million gallons of water.
- Some call Chile the land of poets. Two Nobel Prize winning poets are from Chile: Gabriel Mistral (1945) and Pablo Neruda (1971).
