Chile
Free and always accurate driving directions, Google Maps, traffic information for Chile (CI). Explore satellite imagery of Santiago, the capital city of Chile, on the Google Maps of South America below.
Chile (GPS: 30 00 S, 71 00 W) is located in Southern South America, bordering the South Pacific Ocean, between Argentina and Peru. The country’s area measurements are total: 756,102 sq km; land: 743,812 sq km, water: 12,290 sq km. This sovereign state is slightly smaller than twice the size of Montana. The total irrigated land is 11,100 sq km (2012).
One of Chile’s important features: The longest north-south trending country in the world, extending across 39 degrees of latitude. Strategic location is relative to sea lanes between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans (Strait of Magellan, Beagle Channel, Drake Passage). Chile is one of the countries along the Ring of Fire, a belt of active volcanoes and earthquake epicenters bordering the Pacific Ocean. Up to 90% of the world’s earthquakes and some 75% of the world’s volcanoes occur within the Ring of Fire. The Atacama Desert – the driest desert in the world – spreads across the country’s northern part. Ojos del Salado (6,893 m) in the Atacama Desert is the highest active volcano globally, Chile’s tallest mountain, and the second-highest in the Western Hemisphere and the Southern Hemisphere – its small crater lake (at 6,390 m) is the world’s highest lake.